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Floor advice needed - hardwood and tile


TimothyHH

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Hello all,

Apologies if this has been covered before. I did some searching and couldn't find an answer. 

I've decided that the paper imitation hardwood floor I put down in my Brookshire just isn't working for me. This house will eventually be played with a bit by my niece and nephew so I didn't want to break the budget on floors and the floor paper looked alright I guess but I just wasn't happy with it. It was also already starting to come apart in the second floor hallway so I already removed that section (at the same time decided that I wasn't happy with the wallpaper in the hall or bathroom, or the bathroom floor, and that the bathroom door wasn't sitting quite right so I knocked that all down and re-papered and floored - I'm sure this is a familiar story to you all). 

I experimented with a hardwood floor from popsicle sticks. Didn't really expect much but after staining and polyurethaning it actually looks pretty good. The hall is sort of small and oddly shaped so the pop sticks were well suited to the task. I'll be using basswood strips for the living and dining rooms.

My questions is: what is the best method for getting a pop stick floor to lay flat? Yes! glue or Weldbond or something else? I made a floor template out of mixed media paper then glued the sticks directly onto that then stained and polyurethaned. I made the floor in two separate pieces and there's a definite roll in them but not too bad. Is it more about applying weight on top of them as the glue dries and less about what glue you use?

My second question is: is it possible to zhush up cheap "marble" flooring such as this by mounting it to mixed media paper or illustration board and then carefully tracing out the grout lines in order to give the floor some depth? I have some of this, I like the color and the speckling, it's nice and shiny, but it's very flat. I'd prefer not to waste it, but it just needs... something.

Hoping my fellow miniaturists have some tips for me!

 

Tim

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Hello Tim.  In regards to the wood floor, its all about weighing it down as the glue FULLY dries.  Another thing that I think can be overlooked is after you apply the stain the floor must be weighed down as the stain dries, which could take several days depending on the humidity of where you are located.   Hope this helps. 

P.s....I have no experience with the tile paper but it sounds like it would work. 

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I used a glue syringe tip to apply more glue to obvious lifting of certain planks. Popsicle stick flooring really does give you a lot of bang for the buck. Like Keith mentioned, weighting it down until it dries completely helps. Small hand weights, paint cans, heavy books work well.

I bought some of green leaf's tiles, but i haven't used them yet. They are really nice looking, but I think they are just a large piece of real vinyl tile cut in 1x1 pieces. Maybe you can mosey on down to home depot or even Walmart and buy a vinyl tile and cut it yourself? You could get really creative and lay it in a neat pattern.

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Keith - yes, I definitely had to put a few of them in the scrapwood box. When you weigh down the floor what do you use between the weights and the floor? Wax paper?

Carrie - yes, I've considered method too. Drawing long, straight lines is apparently a skill I'm never going to acquire no matter how much measuring and checking and re-measuring and double, triple, quadruple checking I do. 

Tim

Edited by TimothyHH
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When I've used basswood for flooring, I stained the basswood before cutting and gluing.  This does two things--ensures that the strips will take staining evenly (or as evenly as basswood does) and helps to ensure that they'll stay flat once glued down.  If you stain after gluing, and you get any glue on the wood, it can prevent the stain from taking properly, as I learned the hard way.  I also weighted my floor, and I used wax paper between the floor and the weights.  I keep a roll of waxed paper handy at all times, as it is also a great base for gluing and painting.  And I totally hear you on not being able to draw or cut long straight lines.  I marvel at people who can do that.

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For the tile, this might be more work than you want to do, but here's what I would try:

-Glue to stiff paper or thin cardboard to give it more heft
-Cut along the grout lines to make individual tiles
-Glue them down on the floor (or on a template that you can put over the floor later). The floor or template should be an appropriate grout color.
-Paint each tile with gloss varnish or clear Gallery Glass. Or you could use matte varnish if you don't want the tiles to be too shiny.
-If you're not happy with that, you could add grout at this point. The varnish/Gallery Glass will seal the tiles so the grout won't damage them.

I have some of that tile in my stash, I didn't like how flat it looked. Now you have me wanting to try this!

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As for texturing the tile paper...yes, I've done an experiment with that and it was passable.  :)  I put the paper right side up onto my cutting mat and using a small ball tool and a straight edge ruler, I carefully pressed downward along the grout lines.  For some added depth, I then turned the paper around and used a larger ball tool to press around inside each tile block.   

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I use wood glue (I think it is low in moisture) and only use a little bit on the bottom. I don't really need to use any weights that way. The more moisture on the sticks, the higher the warp risk. I don't usually have to but sanding is an option. The pre-staining of sticks (as someone mentioned) also works pretty well. A couple of coats of varnish and I'm usually good to go. My new Craftsman roombox floor was done with coffee stirrers (1:24 scale) in this way.

empty craftsman.jpg

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I cut iron-on wood veneer into scale floor boards and spot wee beads of wood glue along the back as I lay them into place.  When I go back and iron them the floor lies nice & flat.  I usually use paper or paint chips cut into squares for floor tiles, painting the floor a grout color first.  Nothing sticks to waxed paper (at least I haven't found whatever does), and I use it between whatever I've glued and whatever I've laid or clamped on top until the glue dries.

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16 hours ago, HollyhockCottage said:

Everyone has already said what I would about weight but I had to comment - ‘popsicle’ is so cute! That’s one of the things I love about international forums. We all speak ‘English’ so differently. :)

I'm in Philadelphia -- is popsicle a northeastern thing? Is this another "soda or pop" situation?

Edited by TimothyHH
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Popsicle is a brand name for frozen fruit juice on a stick; my mother used to let me get one whenever the ice cream truck made it to our neighborhood, although not if I was wearing any "good" or school clothes, since the red flavors and the grape flavors stains wouldn't wash out of them.  The sticks used are the size and shape of the thinner craft sticks.

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7 hours ago, HollyhockCottage said:

Popsicle sounds like sunshine and holidays and sitting on a wall swinging your legs and childhood innocence while enjoying a sweet treat. It’s a lovely word. 

It is! That's why the sound :note: of the 'Ice Cream' man's truck still makes me giddy.

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1 hour ago, TimothyHH said:

Is the universal term "craft sticks?" Because that just feels... unnatural to me. Like if you were to ask me to start saying "on line" instead of "in line."

 

25 minutes ago, Mid-life madness said:

How about tongue depressors? LOL!

The wide craft sticks are tongue depressor size; just using the term "craft sticks" is too general, IMO.

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No, I think Popsicle sticks describes what you are using. Sorry I sidetracked.  

I used the remnants of an old piece of plywood furniture which had been covering a hole in the fence when we bought our house 20 years ago and the layers of ply, which I cut into strips, were about the same thickness as a Popsicle stick. As everyone has said you need to put weight on them as they dry - I think I used PVA glue and left the weight on for a couple of days. This was about 8 or more years ago and they are still sitting nicely (mostly) 

Have you finished yours yet? 

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