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pop stick flooring questions


Minaeu

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I decided to make  popsicle stick flooring in the entire attic area of my adopted RGT house. I still have a few bundles to tape together then I will run into the cellar to the scroll saw.

Yesterday after cutting a small amount of the rounded tabs off of the ends my DH came home and asked what I was doing. After telling him , he of course had to give me his two cents worth of advice and here is where my questions come from lol.

My plan was to cut 3 inch pieces and at the end I would need a one inch filler piece. Knowing this I was going to do first row started with a 3 inch and the second row started with the one inch piece. Hubby was quick to point out our hardwoods and said that no seams matched up every other row. He's right...So now I am making bundles of sticks and making random lengths so that no boards match up. (seems he loves to make things more difficult for me).

My questions are:

When you lay a pop-stick floor do you use a filler in between boards, almost like a grout? Or do you just leave the inevitable small space between boards?

Is tacky glue okay to use ? I want to make the floor whitewashed wood, do I have to paint before laying the floor down? Or can I put it all down, attached to house and then run a watered down white paint over it?

 

 

 

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Shove them as tightly together as you can so there is no gap. I use base wood because there is no gap. 

Yes, sand and paint once glued down to the bare wood. I use a mouse sander so they are all the same level. I would put some paint in the cracks as filler then do the white wash.

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I don't cut my sticks into pre-determined lengths: on the first row I just start laying full-length sticks and cut the last one whatever size it has to be to fit...and then I use that small cut off piece to start the next row- just like you would if you were doing a RL floor.  It will all turn out random.  :)

 

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2 hours ago, jbnmini said:

I don't cut my sticks into pre-determined lengths: on the first row I just start laying full-length sticks and cut the last one whatever size it has to be to fit...and then I use that small cut off piece to start the next row- just like you would if you were doing a RL floor.  It will all turn out random.  :)

 

That's exactly how I do my floors, It comes out great that way!

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46 minutes ago, kathi17 said:

That's exactly how I do my floors, It comes out great that way!

Ditto, I did my floors this way.  I stained mine dark, so I painted the floor dark brown first.

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my biggest recommendation is to sand sand sand! The smoothness will detract from any gaps. As far as how to avoid gaps as much as possible, i'd weed out any sticks that are not very straight. lay them down dry to find the ones that are weirdly shaped or too wide/narrow before gluing.  

I've done two finishes, one painted and one just glossed (both in many many layers). Both helped fill in the gaps that remained. If you painted the floor white to fill in the gaps a bit, then sanded, then whitewashed, I think you could get a pretty finish. 

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On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2016‎ ‎11‎:‎09‎:‎13‎, Ashlie said:

As far as how to avoid gaps as much as possible, i'd weed out any sticks that are not very straight. lay them down dry to find the ones that are weirdly shaped or too wide/narrow before gluing.  

 

Every time I do a floor like this I think of my hubby years ago when he had his wood shop.  He manufactured wooden porch furniture (Adirondack chairs, etc) and I can still see him sorting thru a new bundle of lumber, pulling aside all of the 'bad' boards... I always think how I am doing exactly the same thing- in a much smaller scale!  :)

 

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