Laying the First Floor

PC has been rather frustrated with the continual rain as it has hindered progress on deck building.  So we  have turned to inside projects, namely laying floorboards.  We started with the loungerooom.  First, the sheeting had to be sanded.

As we are using second hand timber, we were keen to secret nail, not wanting more holes in the flooring.  This means the floor board ends need to have tongue and grooves to be able to slot together.  After research to find what was needed to make these alterations, PC discovered the correct size piece is unavailable in Australia.

Never daunted he set up two routers, each set at a different depth to custom make the tongue and groove.  Initially it took time but then we were ready.  The ‘workshop’ resides at the far end of our dining room.
We laid the first board down and worked from the doorway across to the window.

It felt rather strange laying floor boards directly onto sheeting, the last time we laid flooring we nailed  directly onto joists.  New regulations call for floor sheeting first, so we were gluing onto the sheeting and then secret nailing.

All the boards were filthy and had to be cleaned thoroughly.  We then cut to size all lengths and laid out the boards in batches.  Having all the prep work done prior to hiring the gun made faster work.

The boys, Princess and I were on hourly rosters to help.  Our job was to glue and pull the boards tight,  ensuring there were as little gaps as possible.

We were pleasantly surprised that we completed the nailing in under a day.  Teamwork always makes for a far smoother run.

We are excited to have completed a room and made a solid beginning on laying the flooring.  Next task is to putty, sand and oil, then the room will be almost completed.