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Elm / Maple for flooring? yes/no thoughts??


Coytee

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Title says it all....

 

I recently helped my brother in law knock down some Red Oak trees, (I did that part) section into logs (he did that part) then hoist said logs to trailer (I did that part) so they could go to mill & be cut into dimensional lengths....

 

We have a couple more oak trees (I think red), an Elm (if I read the leaves correctly) and a Maple.

 

My wife wants to yet again.....add onto the house.  What are we going to use for the floor??

 

Using one of these woods came to mind.  They could perhaps be cut 3/4" thick....  or if it works, perhaps even a full 1" thick and could use for the new room.

 

I know Oak is ok and often used for flooring.  I don't know that I've ever seen Elm nor Maple.  (are they good/bad?  Or would they be more expensive and that's why I've never seen them OR.....  maybe I've simply just never seen them!!)

 

What are your thoughts on Elm or Maple for flooring?

 

Heck, while I'm at it....  how about cedar??  We've got enough cedar where we could have planks made from that and have a REALLY fine smelling room!!!

 

 

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Maple is the go to flooring material for gyms and bowling alleys.

I did a couple gym floors with Maple and it came highly recommended. Both turned out well and are still going strong 25+ years later.

It is harder than oak so wont dent as easily was one of the selling points for gym floors.

Other than that, I don't know much about the others.

 

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5 minutes ago, MookieStl said:

Maple is the go to flooring material for gyms and bowling alleys.

 

Interesting.  Not sure I want her to see this....  I don't need her to "slightly alter" the new room so it can double as a bowling alley...!!

 

I didn't know it (Maple) was harder than Oak!!

 

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2 minutes ago, Coytee said:

 

Interesting.  Not sure I want her to see this....  I don't need her to "slightly alter" the new room so it can double as a bowling alley...!!

 

I didn't know it (Maple) was harder than Oak!!

 

Bowling can be fun, but the worst offenders of hardwood floors is high heels (even on skinny chicks)

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7 hours ago, mungkiman said:

A 100 pound woman in stiletto heels exerts roughly 1600 PSI on the floor when only 1 heel is making contact.

 

So the question there is, what is said 100 pound woman in stiletto heels.....doing with only one foot on the floor??!!

 

:ph34r2: :huh2: :emotion-19: :emotion-19: :emotion-19: :emotion-19:

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7 hours ago, windashine said:

No to elm for flooring - use it for fence pickets,

No to maple for flooring - too nice, use it for guitars or furniture...

Yes to Hickory for Flooring, rough with knot's all the better to blend in with traffic....

 

Wife traditionally tries to find all her wood with zero knots on it.  All of the trim around windows...  doesn't have the first one.  (she's a bit OCD about that)  She doesn't like the knots that are in the (KNOTTY pine) floors....  when we first moved in, the June bugs were out....  They were so bad, I made a comment to her..."do you know how to tell if that is a knot on the floor or a June bug??.....  "no".....  Well, the knots don't crunch!"

(true story)

 

Anyway, we're not (knot?!!) in a situation where a picket fence would work so that's out.  It's a tree growing next to her cousin's house and he's worried about it hitting his house so wants it and a couple other trees taken down.....so it's free but for the work to prepare it.

 

Don't know of any hickory trees that are in the way here that need to come down (we have a run of them along our driveway)

 

So this is a bit about trying to use some local materials for her new room if possible.

 

Heck, for all I know, she'll change her mind and slap some marble or tile down.  She did that for our foyer....  we put a pinkish marble down, then a handful of years later, she decided she didn't like it and wanted tile so SOMEONE (ahem) had to rip the marble up.  Do you know what mess is made when you use an air chisel to have to remove every square inch of (now breaking up) marble flooring!!!  It didn't "pop up" off the floor in whole pieces.  Was a mess.

 

 

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Tell her any future expansion of the manse is to create a permanent  living space for Thebes.  Her ardor for expansion will quickly cool and you can abandon the flooring issue and concentrate on making a real woodie.

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On 8/16/2019 at 9:18 PM, joshnich said:

As had been said, maple is very durable. This floor is over 22 years old. Yes it was refinished once about 8 years ago. Still lots of traffic , dogs kids etc etc.

IMG_1052.jpeg

 

 

That's a beautiful floor!!!  

 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Khornukopia said:

 

Cedar may be too knotty for your wife!

 

IMG_5749.JPG.f841464b02704a4f0b5d33b790af3208.JPG

 

 

 

Seems her fruit didn't fall too far from her (now deceased) mother......according to her (now deceased) father, her mother never found a piece of wood she didn't want to paint.  Seems my wife is similar, so....she'd pay more to get the cedar then cover it up.

 

 

 

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On 8/15/2019 at 5:32 PM, Coytee said:

 

Interesting.  Not sure I want her to see this....  I don't need her to "slightly alter" the new room so it can double as a bowling alley...!!

 

I didn't know it (Maple) was harder than Oak!!

 

Eastern maple is much harder than oak,Western maple is much softer more like alder.

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  • 10 months later...

Cedar is a very soft wood and will wear out in about 1 or 2 weeks. I use it a lot in my woodworking. Elm will drive your power tools and blades nuts. Maple and Oak will work ok. If you use the old unfinished rough stuff you will never have to refinish same assuming you don't run naked around the house.

JJK

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