Making my own oak flooring...is this a horrible idea?

[Darrin Johnson]

All,

We have a lake cabin we are planning on tearing down and rebuilding. As much as I'd like to do much of this myself, I won't be able to due to work demands.

The property has 6 very large red oak trees (30-40 inch diameter, mostly red but a couple white) that will have to come down. I just hate the idea of cutting them down and either turning them into firewood or them ending up in a landfill.

I've found a portable sawmill guy that will saw them up...he can do QS lumber which is my preference. No luck finding a kiln. I need rough;y 4000 sq foot of flooring.

Is it crazy to have these trees turned into lumber, air dry, then dry for 3-4 month inside (dehumidifier) and then convert into tongue and groove lumber? It gives me an excuse to buy a 12 inch j/p combo I've been wanting for years and a sawstop. Would need something to T and G them also.

Understand: This isn't a money saving project and I realize that. It's a sentimental way to contribute to what will hopefully be a lake getaway for our family for years to come.

Appreciate any advice.

[Bill Edwards(2)]

Your location might help get recommendations for kiln, etc.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Is it crazy......?

Yep. Certifiable.

It's a sentimental way to contribute to what will hopefully be a lake getaway for our family for years to come.

The perfect reason to do something crazy.



If you go ahead, you will be kicking yourself for getting into a never-ending project, where one phone call and a few bucks would have taken care of it.

If you don't go ahead, you will be kicking yourself for years to come for not investing time and energy into an heirloom-quality project.

Pick your poison. You're screwed either way.

FWIW - sounds to me like you have already made up your mind, and are looking for other crazy people to validate that decision. You have come to the right place, Darrin. We're here to help.


If you are willing to invest the time, I don't see what the issue is - you have come up with a classic, unassailable, "plausible excuse" to get:
> a new j/p,
> a new hot-dog cutter,
> and a new "something" for t&g [do the words "shaper" and "power-feeder" ring a bell?].
> Of course, you will have to do a bunch of resaw work, so that is a new BS right there.
> Also, you really should get a dual-drum sander for final sizing and finish sanding in one pass.
> Probably need a new cyclone for all that volume of dust & shavings.

Can't figure out how to work a new DP into the equation, but the next post should be able to lock that in for you as well. Some one can come up with a solid rationale for some Green Kool-Aid as well, I expect.

Tee it up, dude!!!

[Darrin Johnson]

Muscle Shoals, AL. I've searched high/low for a local Kiln w/o luck.

[Larry Browning]

I need rough;y 4000 sq foot of flooring.

Wait a minute! A 4,000 SF lake cabin! That you plan on tearing down and rebuilding? And you don't have much spare time because of work? What? Are you Crazy


Why, yes he is!

Go for it! But post pictures!

[Darrin Johnson]

Sorry...to clarify: it's a cabin now....to be replaced with a 4000 sq foot house. Thanks for the validation of a crazy idea!

[Larry Browning]

I have heard horror stories about people trying to make their own hardwood flooring. Making tight fitting joints that will stay tight and not buckle over time from solid wood is the challenge. Please do lots of research about how this can be accomplished before you start. I hope you are a tenacious individual who does not give up easily.

[Brad Reid]

Here are some pics of a floor I just finished its about 430 sq ft. It was done with lumber that I had sawn from my 2 grandpa's properties. It was a lot of work and a lot of trips up and down stairs. One of the main issues that I ran into was my sawyer didn't cut to consistent thickness, so some pieces went through the planer a bunch of times. I wanted the wide plank with the knots and other character of the wood. If you are going to cut out all the knots and stuff you will be cutting out alot. I did not do t/g becuase we were going for the rustic look. I didn't even joint alot of it at first but it got to where I had to or the gaps were going to be to wide. I pretty much attempted to keep gaps at 1/16" or less. I am very proud of it and would do it again I can't say whether I would or wouldn't with your situation that is a whole lot of lumber to mill. Just realize it will take a whole lot of time. These are the only pics that I have with me on my phone.
URL=http://s829.photobucket.com/user/bradreid12/media/Mobile%20Uploads/photo-25.jpg.html][/URL]

[Sam Murdoch]

The ongoing issue will be wood movement. Unless the lumber has been properly dried and then acclimated to the conditions at the site you could have real problems keeping such a floor looking good. Brad your new floor looks great but (to the topic of my 1st sentence) unless you left at least a 3/8" gap (better to be 5/8" hidden by base board) along each long wall the floor will very likely buckle next summer. I generally discourage people from using newly sawn lumber in a contemporary house with heating and cooling cycles. Hard work notwithstanding - we can all use the satisfaction of hard work and accomplishment in our lives - but it's one thing to do build such a floor in a camp that you shut down, or marginally heat, in the winter but altogether another thing in a year round home. Not trying to discourage - just a bit of caution. Larry's post # 7 is right on.

[Jim Matthews]

Kent beat me to it.

It's crazy, impractical and expensive.
The same sort of thing that got a Man on the Moon.

You can build your own kiln, with nothing more than a couple dehumidifiers
a frame of 2x4 lumber, a vapor barrier of polyethylene and 2" insulation board.

My mentor does it with rough sawn 6/4 pine.

All you need is electricity, time and a space to set it up.

[Art Mann]

Darrin,

There are several guys over in Madison and Limestone Counties who advertise band sawing and kiln drying lumber for people. Just look on Craigslist (Materials) for Huntsville. It may be a little far to haul lumber but it least it is an option.

Art

[Jamie Buxton]

Making all that flooring yourself is a huge project. But the idea of making heirloom stuff from those oak logs is extremely appealing.

Here's two alternatives....

a) Fell and mill the oak trees. Buy and install standard commercial flooring. Use your oak to build beautiful heirloom furniture, at your leisure. This gets the oak off the critical path in building the new house.

or

b) Do the same as above, and use some of the oak to build a timber-frame woodshop. That'd be way cool.

[Brian Holcombe]

I vote for 'saw it up but not for flooring'. Use the white oak to make your outdoor furniture, which will likely get used extensively at a lake house.

[Brad Reid]

My lumber dried under a barn for 7-8 yrs and was at about 32% MC when I brought it to the house. I then cut it to lenght and hauled it all upstairs and left it for a month or so in a semi insulated room that usually ran about 85degrees back in July (it is now well insulated and stays very cold with only one vent cracked blowing in the room) this got it down around 11% MC. I then brought it back down one row at a time and planed it and cut it to width and returned it back upstairs the same day. I usually then still left if for a few days before I nailed it down. It has plenty of room to expand I think with small cracks along many of the boards and a wide gap under the base boards. I can only imagine the headache of trying to do a "finished look" for a home. Mine was an upstairs room that had a few studs and a sub-floor when we purchased the home. It is now a game room/ man cave/ hang-out that has almost a really nice barn loft look. It has unfinished pine walls also from family land and the finish on the floor is satin. Another note on the finish, I did mine myself and it turned out good for what it is, however if it was a more refined look I don't know that I would have been satisfied with it.

[Brian Holcombe]

IMO, If it were my labor and I were set on proceeding this way there would be no chance I would attempt the look of what's produced by a flooring manufacturer. Instead I would be doing wide plank, visible expansion gap between the planks, oiled finish. I'd likely screw them down and plug with dowels.