I have an opportunity to get my hands on some really nice quality 5/4 beech, around 800 bf. I was thinking of milling it up into flooring for our kitchen renovation and wondered what everyone’s opinion might be.
I haven’t really worked with beech too much, just once or twice. I remember having problems with some beech cupping and twisting when planed down to half an inch and wondered if I could expect the same in flooring finished out to about three quarters?
Replies
Beech is wonderful material mostly comes from Europe's cold climes like Norway, Sweden etc where it is literally farmed sustainably. Now 5/4 my be a problem to make to 3/4 as if you dont evenly remove material from both sides cupping maybe your lot in life with this wood. I suggest you start with 4/4 and have it milled professionally (dressed+matched with endmatching) or use the 5/4 for something it may be more suited to like furniture making. I really like the material. aloha, mike
MIKE.. A Beech floor is TOUGH! Does not need to be 3/4 inch thick..Just funnin ya !
<A Beech floor is TOUGH! Does not need to be 3/4 inch thick..>so WIllGeorge, I assume that means it does not have to 5/4 either.....
funnin accepted..... 8-)
I have supplied and laid floors in steamed and natural beech -- varying from 1/2" to 3/4" thick by 2 1/2" to 3 1/2" wide. They were blind-nailed to a ply sub-floor at 16" centers over a bead of construction adhesive at 16" centers.
No problem with warping at all.
IanDG
Pino,
You want to throw away 40 percent of that Beech??
No doubt it would make a superb floor, but I believe you could make better use of it.
Get it and spend some time thinking about alternative uses.
Not being familiar enough with beech, I am curious why you recommend using it for something other than flooring.
A lot of it came to the UK from Poland [ ? Hungary? ] in the 60's in the form of cheap furniture stained to look like walnut or mahogany as beech takes stain well.
I've always found it easy to work with.
IanDG
Pino, I said "no doubt it would make a superb floor". It is the fact that you are to waste almost half, because it is too thick (to make a floor with).
Beech is a superior cabinetry timber. Turns well. Can be steam bent. Very strong-good for chairs. One of few woods that takes stain advantageously.Why waste so much when there are other flooring timbers available?
Obviously it's your prerogative-just my own sentiments.Philip Marcou
Pino,
I second the idea about getting it milled professionally. I just made and installed about 700 sq of flooring. I wish we could have had it milled for us because it took a looooooong time.
315 man hours and still counting.
It will be easier to install. The only plus of milling it yourself I can think of, is that you would end up with an varied widths of boards and that can look nice.
Cheers
M.Stehelin
pino,
Gymnasiums and bowling alleys are beech.(tongue and grooved and the underside is milled to relieve the stiffness out of it.
Beautiful blond wood; would grace any fine kitchen. Steinmetz
pino,
why does the floor have to be 3/4 inch? Wouldn't your wife like to be on a pedistal? Even if it's only an extra 1/2 inch,, ;-)
If you are clever you can taper a whole board to provide the proper ramp or even use two boards. (the way I've done that is by taping down a shim on my planer so one side of the board rides up and waxing the heck out of it) please think outside the box.. If you were carefull and spread the rise over several wider boards, you could make the rise over a foot or more! Hardly noticable! sure it will require a lot of fiddling but probably much less time than it would take to plane off a 1/2 an inch..
Actually the solution is simple and staring my square in the eyes. The whole reason for tearing out the old flooring is that I am riping out the joists to replace them with trusses. I can set those trusses at just about any height I want to accommodate the new flooring.Don't know why I didn't think of that before.BTW, it looks like there is more beech in this batch than I expected so I could conceivably get the flooring and a set of cabinets out of it.thanks all for your input.
Pino:
We have clear beech flooring, kiln-died supplied from Tommila Bros - Troy, NH and are really pleased with the appearance. It is slowly turning with a pinkish blush where exposed to direct sunlight. I finished the floor with 3 coats of Waterlox after it aclimated (sp?) in the house for about 3-4 weeks.
Regarding the milling, I'd have a millwork shop provide t&g edges on all 4 edges and ends of all boards. Unless you have the machinery, profiles and experience, good milling doesn't happen easy.
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