# Bowed shiplap pine



## kklowell (Dec 26, 2014)

I'm making a wide pine floor in my wife's craftroom but have hit a problem with the first two boards. They are 13'6" long and they don't fit together well. When slid together there's a bow in the middle so the boards touch in the center, but the gap between the two boards on the ends is at least 1/4". Do you think I could make a chalk line to align a straight edge and run the router against that edge to eliminate the bow on one edge? I only need the side that goes against the second board to be straight as the back edge is toward the wall and under the baseboard. I don't have much in the way of extra boards so I need to try to use this one.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

yes...

.


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## kklowell (Dec 26, 2014)

Thanks, Stick. I do have a joiner, but I don't see it helping me out with a 14 foot board. Not sure I know what to use as a 14 foot straightedge either, but I'll figure that out.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

the heavy gauge metal studs make great straight edges. join 2 end to end and you have a nice long edge.


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

Do you need to cut it or can you pull in the two ends...?


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## kklowell (Dec 26, 2014)

My intention is to run these boards the full length of the room, but If I find other boards that are bowed, I may start cutting them shorter.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

kklowell said:


> Thanks, Stick. I do have a joiner, but I don't see it helping me out with a 14 foot board. Not sure I know what to use as a 14 foot straightedge either, but I'll figure that out.


a 14' 1x4 clamped following your chalk line....


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Nickp said:


> Do you need to cut it or can you pull in the two ends...?


too many stresses to risk...


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Usually if you start jointing to straight the different widths will eventually, or very quickly, buggar you up. I would try to pull them straight or cut them shorter. They straighten out as the lengths get shorter. The big issue with that can be getting the ends square to each other.


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## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

A couple of tips when laying a wood floor. First when cutting them to length let them hang down on you miter or chop saw. This will give you a slight angle and the boards will fit together better because only the top edge will meet. Second to get the bow out of them nail a wedge to the floor a little bit away from the offending board. Then take another wedge and pound it between the bowed board and the wedge that is nailed to the floor. This will force the bowed board tight. Also be sure not to put the first board tight to the wall it needs to have a little room to expand.


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## David Dickson (Oct 30, 2015)

While the 13'6" runs of single board might look impressive, had you thought about cutting them into 3 or 4 sections? They would probably line up a lot better. You might have to use a bevel guage to ensure that the ends were flush with each other, but I think that it would be a lot less work that trying to remove the bow along a 13'6" board.
Just my penny's worth.


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## gmercer_48083 (Jul 18, 2012)

Ken, How wide are the planks? Are they ship lapped or tongue and groove? You must provide a space for expansion against the wall (a gap between the bottom plate and the first and last floorboard). also you nail through the tongue edge of the planks of the floor boards as you progress across the room. The problem I see with shiplap boards is you would have to straight nail through the floorboards to secure them to the subfloor. As far as straightening a bowed floorboard, I would think it could be pryed or wedged straight then nailed. I would start with shorter sections against the wall to attain a straight beginning row then as you progress you could pry the bowed ones into position as you progress across the floor. The easiest solution is to shorten the floorboards.


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## kklowell (Dec 26, 2014)

They are 10" and shiplapped, not tongue and groove. It is my intention to nail them with cut nails, but also glue them down with Liquid Nails. I do now plan to shorten them, at least into two pieces. There will be a gap on the walls because I know they need room to move, but also because this is a 116-year-old house that was once a barn and nothing is straight.
Also, just for information, the subfloor is abnormally thick, it has a layer of boards and then two layers of particle board. I think that means that when it's all done this floor is going to be 3 inches thick!


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Do not glue them down! They need to be able to expand and contract. It's old school to lay tarpaper down over the subfloor and then place your finish floor over that. As has been mentioned in previous comments, flooring is normally only nailed along one edge, the leading edge. For what you're doing, you'd have your open edge with the lap up, tuck the next board under it then nail the previous (lap up) edge down. I think I'd be inclined to only nail it part way in while keeping force against the leading edge...place the next board in place and _then_ drive the nails completely in. That would leave you with one edge secured by the lap(s)and the opposite edge firmly nailed. 
!0'' wide boards are an invitation to cupping and bowing. An alternate system might be to pre-drill with a counterbore, and screw and plug the boards.


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## kklowell (Dec 26, 2014)

You're too late, Dan. I have quite a bit of it done now, with glue. I had read about using paper in between, but those same sites all said an alternative was a flexible glue. I'm doing it with subfloor glue. Using old square nails too and got a lesson today in how good those babies hold! Had to pull one and it was not easy! The room is not flat or square, so nails are necessary to keep them from bouncing too.

I guess I'll be finding out how much of a problem the glue and nails technique will be in the next few months. This is the first of many floors in this house that will get this flooring if the wife likes it when she gets home, so before I do too many of the ten rooms I would like to do it the right way.


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## kklowell (Dec 26, 2014)

I want to thank everyone that offered advice on this project...you guys are fantastic. I did end up cutting each board into two pieces and it's way easier to keep them straight.


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## Bushwhacker (Jun 16, 2009)

kklowell said:


> Thanks, Stick. I do have a joiner, but I don't see it helping me out with a 14 foot board. Not sure I know what to use as a 14 foot straightedge either, but I'll figure that out.


Stick is right and has a good idea of how to fix that bowed board.
I built a store years ago with a ply wood floor. Then over layed it with T&G hard wood.
Since like you I was using very long material, I found several that were not very straight. As in your case, some were bowed from the center and others were bowed the other way.
I built what I called an animal. It was a 2x4 as long as the room was wide, then nailed another 2x4 to double half of the long board. Then placed the double end against the opposite wall at the base of the studs and raised the other end as high as I could get it. Then cut another piece of 2x4 that fit from the spot where the double 2x4s ended and the end of the board on the floor. Then pulled down on the long 2x4. This gave me tons of pressure and I was able to push the bow out of the floor board and tighten all the boards on the floor as I did it. AS you work across the floor, you simple shorten the piece of 2x that you are using to push the floor boards.
This way you are able to straighten a bowed board no matter where it was bowed, either end or even in the middle.
I hope my rambling did not confuse you too much.
As a matter of fact, when I put this floor down I pushed 4 or 5 boards at a time.
If the whole thing become too long to cause it to push at an angle, then you simply shorten the doubled up piece of 2x4. This will work all the way from wall to wall.
Hope this helps.
David


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