Remodeling ideas, inspiration, and advice
If so, here are a few ideas for you. I did this video awhile back, but the ideas are still super-fresh… what can I say… I’m a trend-spotter (wannabe?).
If you have any floor painting tips, ideas, or questions, share them here in the comments!
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I’ve been looking into re-doing my hallway and bedroom floors. The thing that has my eye right now is plywood planks… simply cutting down plywood to look like regular hardwood planks and then nailing them down. Actually, the idea I like even better is using a router or dremel to make the “boards” and nailing down the full sheet of plywood. I was originally thinking that I would stain it but I really like some of the pictures you had in this video. Paint might just be the way to go.
Have you ever heard of, or yourself done, plywood plank flooring? Any tips?
Hi Valerie – Both of your ideas are good, but just be sure you’ve considered the way the seams will work out if you route the seams into plywood sheets. You’ll have an end seam across four feet of boards together. Maybe not a big deal if you’re planning to paint, but something to think about.
Another thought is the work vs. the cost of plywood vs. the cost of inexpensive wood flooring. If you look around, you can probably find wood flooring for a dollar a square foot. If you plan to paint it, you don’t care what it looks like. This would be equal to $32.00 for the same area as a sheet of plywood. Depending on the quality of plywood you buy, that might be comparable in cost. It might be better overall to just buy cheap wooden planks and nail them down and paint them.
Just thinking out loud.
– Tim
You know…that Facebook thing is overrated..in my book. We’re off to Florida in two weeks…keep the temperatures WARM! 😀 franki
If i am wanting to paint my wood floors will i need to use high gloss paint and than a poly on top. What do you sugest i do.
@Franki – Late February is usually pretty nice! It’s been a cold winter, but the forecast is pushing 80 degrees today! I’m sure you’ll get great weather.
@Renee – The sheen of the floor (high-gloss/satin/flat) is more about your personal preference than it is other factors. It used to be that if you wanted a really hard surface, high-gloss was the way to go. But now there are some low-sheen paints that have high strength and work for floors.
Another thing to consider is that you usually don’t need a glossy bottom-coat (the paint) if you plan to put on a glossy top-coat (the polyurethane finish you mention). In fact, it’s usually a bad idea to use a high-gloss finish any time you plan to put another material on top of it.
So, if you’re planning to top-coat the floor with a high-gloss poly, then you can use a flat paint for the color. That is probably the strongest overall solution.
If it were me, I would probably just use a high-gloss paint, probably three coats, dried properly between coats, and cured for a few days before any traffic on it… Then no top coat.
I’ve never seen wood flooring so cheap before. I’ll have to keep searching. If I can get it for the same cost, well, that just would make life easier. 🙂
And about the seams… yeah, I think thats why my husband is wanting to actually cut the boards. Very good point. I’m just ready to have flooring again and stamp a big DONE on this remodel.
Thanks for thinking out loud. Appreciate it. 🙂
I love the paint idea. What do you think about painting a cement floor. In our basement we had a small flood and took out the carpet. Everything is good but we haven’t replaced the carpet because I might want to turn the room into like an exercise craft sort of room. It is a small room. Looking at the paint I like that idea and was just wondering what you thought about painting that and how I would do it. Could do a fancy design like that cute toy room possibly.
Hi Linda,
Painting a concrete floor is a great idea and not that hard to do. It’s very durable, in-fact many commercial buildings have painted concrete floors. The issue sometimes is that the concrete surface is too rough to make a nice floor, or has a number of cracks in it. There are products for fixing cracks in concrete, but if the floor is too rough it’s hard to change that. There are also some variables that determine what kinds of products you need. If your floor has a slick and almost shiny surface, you may be able to go straight to to a quality floor paint. If it is dull and very porous, you might need some sealer. I’m afraid I can’t help too much without seeing the floor first-hand. My suggestion is to talk to an experienced paint salesman (not someone at a big box store who just got moved into the paint department yesterday) and then try a sample area before doing the whole thing. In the end, I think you’ll be pleased with a painted concrete floor and the cost will be very affordable.