Hardwood floors

[peggyquade]

Hello everyone! Of course, I can't stop thinking about the Pierce that I will be getting in a few days...on a related subject, the hardwood strips I put down on the floor of the Linfield I am working on turned out ok but a few strips kind of bubbled up...like a little arch? Do you know what I mean? I replaced quite a few of the strips and then put some weight on the floor...that helped, until I put another coat of verathane on the floor, then a few more strips did the same thing. When I invest a lot of time and money into my Pierce, I don't want this to happen and I know all of you know exactly what I am doing wrong. It has been so long since I did this that I just can't remember....I used rubber cement...put a coating on the bare floor, let it dry, then put rubber cement on each strip, let it dry, then pressed it into place, using the end of a spoon to burnish it down good. I didn't do the weights until after the first coat of varathane dried...was I supposed to do that as soon as I was finished laying the floor? Also, I will want to flat wire the Pierce...so will I have to wait until the whole house is put together and wired before I do the floors? Can I still use weights on the floors if I do it that way? Or can I put the flooring down before the house goes up and then pull off a strip of flooring right where I want the electrical tape to go? I plan on completing two more dollhouses before Christmas so I need to know what I did wrong before I tackle that job. Thanks! Peggy

[evervescent]

I had the exact same problem only I was using wood glue to attach the flooring to a sheet of plywood. I wonder if I stained and treated the flooring on both sides before glueing if it wouldn't warp as bad. Has tried this?

Also I've heard of people glueing the flooring to a thin piece of plywood cut to fit the room. Then you place your wiring on the real floor and then just attach the plywood with the flooring glued on it to the floor using a double-sided tape. Allows you to get to the wiring if you need to without damaging the floor. I'll probably do this in my next house. Unless someone tells me its a really bad idea. :lol:

[Charlene]

Wow. I've never had a hardwood floor buckle tho' I'm aware that it can happen depending on the wood. I would assume that the thinner the wood the more likely it is to warp. One question I would have is whether the glue was completely set before you stained & varnished and what type of glue you used ( did you use wood glue?). The glue should have held it solidly to the floor.

I've used two methods to get the floors into a wired house -- one is to do what you did to the Linfield (glue them in then varnish) and the second way is to make an exact mockup of the floor on card or balsa, build the floor on the mockup, finish it and set it into the house holding it in with double-faced tape. The second way is what I usually do because then you can just lift the floor if you need to do anything wiring underneath it. And I wire chandeliers thru the ceiling to the floor above and hide the wiring under the floor or baseboard so the removable floor works best for me. Either way, I have the wiring in before I lay the floor --whether I glue it in or do the mockup method. You can glue directly over tapewire but you need to cover it with electrical or masking tape before you start gluing.

[Adallae]

I just laid hardwood floors in my Glencroft without any warping, etc. I used the individual clapboard siding strips (like the ones Greenleaf sells), stained only one side, and glued them down with Aleene's tacky glue. I used a lot of tape along the way to hold the edges down, but didn't need to weight them down with books or anything. I think it helps to weight the strips down (tape worked just fine for me) as they are installed. Once the glue or varnish dries, the wood will harden a bit, and it might be difficult to encourage them to lay flat again. I posted a few pictures if you want to see how it turned out.

[Minis On The Edge]

With the Dura Craft Wood, the instructions say to use Contact Cement (Or rubber cement) . If you use it, you should not have any buckles or wrapping :lol:

[heidiiiii]

I use tacky glue and carpenters glue for flooring. I make a diagram of the floor with watercolor paper (i have used other paper but this is stiffer). I glue the flooring to the paper with tacky glue. I use skinny sticks and make my own floors stick by stick. I do runs of flooring and then stop, let it dry, and then continue. After I have trimmed, sanded, stained, and polyed; I glue the floor piece down with carpenters glue. I use masking tape and big cans of tomatoes to hold it down. I havent had any buckling problems...yet.

[Minis On The Edge]

The wood that came with the Duracraft kits for flooring is different than the wood that Greenleaf sells for the siding. I have some in my garage but I can't reach the box right now or else I would take pictures of it. It's really nice wood though that gives a really nice graine effect when you staine it.

I had ordered extra to go on the second floor of my farmhouse 505. The stuff is really nice but very hard to work with at first.

[PatrickK]

I have not had this happen to me. I usually cut my hardwood floor strips from hardwood I get at the hobby store, I rarly use the wood that comes in the kits.

[Minis On The Edge]

Patrick, that stuff you use & Skinny sticks are a GREAT wood to use for floors. It's more expensive but the end results are stunning for sure!

[Steve_in_PA]

When I did my wood floors, I got scrap pieces of veneer on Ebay & used a razor knife to cut them into 1 inch strips..Using a small notched putty knife, I put down a light coat of flooring cement. This is what they use to instal hardwood floors & you can get a small can at any Lowes or Builders Square. Then I laid my strips down & rolled them with a laminate counter top roller. I still put a weight on it & left it dry overnight. The next day, I sanded it & then stained & sealed it. I have done floors, wainscoat, & counter tops this way & haven't had any warping yet. Knock on wood !!

Steve

[Irene]

I used contact cement to attach the floor in my Orchid....no warping at all, but the smell can get to you if you don't have adequate ventilation...the only problem is that you have to be sort of precise when laying your wood...the glue works almost too well and it is hard to remove something once you lay it down without breaking it...I used the contact cement on my siding too...worked like a charm!

[havanaholly]

I use the rubber cement and burnish with a spoon back, and then weight it down for a day or two to let the glue cure. Then I sand, stain, sand, stain until I like the color and then top it off with the poly. If you're electrifying you might consider laying your floor on a card/ veneer template so it'll be removable when you need to access the wiring later.

I also scribe my floors directly into the kit plywood.

[ilovecats]

I have these flooring strips as well, i haven't tried them yet. The strips that came with my heritage i will use on my victorian mansion (dura-craft) since alot of those strips are broken.

I've picked up some good tips in the thread about installing them. Thanks!

[havanaholly]

Marg, if you have any of your nursing textbooks, they make MOST excellent weights.

[ilovecats]

Marg, if you have any of your nursing textbooks, they make MOST excellent weights.

Oh cool, i still have a few. I got rid of most of them when i moved from Georgia to Texas...They were pretty dang heavy too! I think that's why we decided to not move them :w00t:

[newt]

Hi, all,

How do you scribe kit flooring?

:music_band:

i'm working with a house that is already built.

thanking you all,

[havanaholly]

The first two entries in my Glencroft blog describe my technique, but I cannot imagine doing this with an already-built kit unless your hands are unusually small & flexible. I use a steel straight-edge to mark off the floor and then I use the back of my Stanley knifeblade & the steelstraight-edge to scribe the "boards" into the plywood, sengthwise first & then stagger the ends. Then I go back with a small awl & punch "nailholes" into the ends of each "board". Then I sand it lightly and give it a coat of stain. I continue to sand & stain until I like it, then I seal it and "sand" it with a brown paper bag (If I want a highly polished floor I use 0000 steel wool between well-dried coats of lacquer sealer and then finish off with the paper bag). To lay a wood floor in a finished shell I'd split siding strips lengthwise & cut them into 6"-10" lengths and glue them down with rubber cement in staggered rows & burnish them afterwards with the back of an old spoon before sanding, staining & sanding. If you're electrifying & want a removeable floor it's a tad easier because you make a pattern of your floor and cut it out of cardstock or chipboard & lay your floor on that.