As an owner builder, laying his own recycled floor boards was undoubtedly the most satisfying part of Tane’s
first time owner-building project. He also saved $10,000 into the bargain. Here he shares what he’s learned.

by Tane Thomas

Claremont, Tasmania

If you’re an owner-builder, renovator or contracting a new project, it’s time to start considering recycled timber flooring. Now is an exciting time in the building industry because there are accessible companies selling rustic floor boards and re-machined boards from pier beams, old buildings and the like.

Tane used ratchet straps to clamp his boards together

We all know that our precious natural resources are being seriously depleted. This is a national problem. Roughly 670 areas the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground are logged in Australia every day. Many in the building industry claim that the construction sector’s forestry footprint is minimal. However, in Tasmania forestry practices mean that to gain access to a single old growth sawlog, nineteen others are sent for woodchips. I fail to see how this is at all sustainable so I am choosing to make a statement by using recycled timber flooring. You can too.

Just Old Flooring

The company I chose was Just Old Flooring in Melbourne (www.justoldflooring.com.au). I bought Tas Oak for $34 per square metre. Tas Oak is an umbrella term for a mixture of similar-looking eucalypts such as stringybark. These are beautiful boards and it worked out to be cheaper than buying newly milled timbers. I had a particleboard floor already down, so the timber was laid on top like a floating floor. Because of this I needed glue to stick the timber down. Just Old Flooring was able to sell this to me, all up costing $500 per 90 square metres of flooring. I recommend asking the freight company you use for a truck with an arm suitable for unloading the boards which are likely to come in one tonne packages. Otherwise you will have to pay by the hour while you unload the timber by hand. My friend Ben and I worked like mad men to unload three tonnes of timber in under an hour while the driver watched on.

Once you take the shipment it is important to store the timber inside the building: this ensures the timber acclimatises to the interior conditions. Why is this important? Because the average humidity inside is much different to outside, so acclimatising the boards will minimise movement when they are laid. The timber will naturally expand in winter and contract in summer, so seasoning will provide for a neater finish. Leave the timber for a few weeks. This is a wonderful excuse to go to Vanuatu and drink some Port Vila Mai Tais like I did.

Below: to anchor the ratchet straps Tane drove 100 mm bugle screws into the floor joists, as close as possible to the plasterboard walls.

Tools

You will need a few tools. I have a beautiful 30 cm (12 inch) mitre saw which was perfect for the job. Your end cuts must be perfect. Some re-machining outfits may end-match your boards which is preferable. I used a nail gun which meant very fast fitting and eliminated the need to punch nails. You will also need a 3 mm notched trowel for the glue, a tape measure, pencil and a hammer to wallop the boards together.

Now that you are relaxed and tanned, it’s time for work. This is the most physical work I have done on the building site as most other jobs are more about precision than strength. You will need to be reasonably fit (all those hours in the gym will come in handy now) and you will need a (very) good friend.

Gluing the boards before final positioning.

The most contentious issue with flooring is how to clamp the boards together so they are tight and without gaps. If you have bare joists, use a joist clamp which is available at most hire companies. Because I had already laid the particle board flooring I used the ratchet-strap method.

Tane ended up doing each room in about four hours.

You will need to drive 100 mm bugle-batten screws into every second floor joist as close to the plaster wall as possible. Ask your local hardware. A corded drill will be powerful enough to drive them. The strap hook goes onto the screw and then the ratchet hook fits over a short off-cut which in turn fits onto the tongue of the last board laid.

Then while one person stands on the off-cut to maintain the appropriate force, you must crank the ratchet until it is as tight as your muscles can give. Our timber was sourced from three or four different locations and they didn’t all fit together perfectly, so at this stage it was important to use another off-cut and hit the boards together with a hammer.

You can then continue this way — gluing, ratcheting and nailing three boards at a time — until you finish the room and then the house. It really isn’t that hard and I find the best way to tackle jobs like this is just to get stuck in. If you start thinking too much you will be standing around at afternoon tea with nothing to show for the day. Initially we were very slow; however, with the things we learned, we ended up taking about four hours per room.

Finishing

The finished floor looks superb and no forests died!

To finish the boards, I paid someone $31 per square metre to sand and finish the floor and they did a very good job. You can sand them yourself; however, I do not recommend this. The sanders you get from hire stores are lightweight with little power. This is a problem because they can jump around and leave grooves in your lovely floor.

You have a few options in terms of finish. I used the environmentally unfriendly polyurethane option which is used on basketball courts. There are water-based alternatives which won’t ruin your lungs and they are more prone to damage, but easier to fix. If I were building my ultimate, dream home I would go for this option. I estimate that I saved about $55 per square metre — about $10,000 — by laying the floors myself.

Good luck and never get too upset about mistakes and the like: it’s a recycled floor and any imperfections merely add character.