What a busy weekend!
I'm sure as many of you know I don't like to leave the village unless I have to (managed 6 weeks without leaving it last year at one point).
But sometimes I do - mainly for family. I visit my parents farm quite often, but I'm not so great at going to see my sister who lives in Manchester. She's great at seeing us and spending time with the kids and I'm terrible at going back up there. It is a three hour drive though but I still feel guilty.
With her partner, they've just bought a house and are in the process of doing it up. One area that's having a complete overhaul is the living room, and one thing they really want is an oak floor to set it off.
They've been working hard to get the room ready, altering walls, plastering and lots of decorating but this weekend is was time for me to come and help. I hadn't even visited the house before so it was good to go up and see it. Dad picked me up early on Saturday morning and I loaded my tools into his truck.
Turning up I was surprised at how big the floor was, a good seven meters long, with lots of in and out bits! Not an easy one to lay.
There was a bit of head scratching to start with and a phone call to a friend I sometimes work with, but I soon had a plan together. Instead of starting against one wall I'd start with a straight line in the fireplace, then make a false tongue and effectively turn the floor and lay the tricky bits the other way round.
This also worked well as with my dad and my sisters partner helping we could work on different areas. They worked on the bulk in the middle while I filled in the awkward areas, it worked well and they soon got into it.
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| false tongue added in. |
To fix it down we secret nailed it as well as gluing the tongue and grove. Belt and braces approach.
Dad did also treat us to an amazing takeaway from a BBQ place down the road, ribs and chicken! ItT was hard earned but the perfect end to the day.
It was a really productive weekend, luckily the weather was on our side, the sun was shining and I was in a T shirt all weekend, with food eaten outside.
We managed to get the whole room down, but didn't get into the hallway. When I saw the floor I was under no illusions as to getting in there in the two days though, but dad is always the optimist!
It was a fun weekend. It's always good to work with my dad and the first time I've worked with my sister and her partner in this way - hopefully they learnt a bit and I didn't boss them round too much!
I was really pleased with the floor. A good floor like this is a real investment and should last them many years.
What do you think?
Do you have one or would you like an oak floor?
We have a oak block floor all through the ground floor of our home, it's almost 10 years old and I still love it, even on a cold winters day, when a carpet is much warmer. It has a few knocks but i love the natural look of the wood.
ReplyDeleteWe have stone on two thirds of ours and oak on the other downstairs. Carpets upstairs. I'd say that our house a slipper house! friends even bring them with them as we have our place cooler than most. The oak floor is 5 years old now and has lots of dents but I think that adds to the overall feel of it.
DeleteWe have carpets and I would love to rip them up and replace them with a more asthma friendly option.
ReplyDeleteYeah, these don't hold dirt like carpet does, although I do like carpet upstairs, luckily none of us suffer from asthma.
DeleteMmh, do you do house calls to the United States? 😉
ReplyDeleteHelen
Pay for the flights and I'm sure I could!
DeleteWe'd love one and guess what we live in Manchester, lol!
ReplyDeleteHa! It's a bit out of my normal range I must admit! Always interesting working somewhere else and seeing a different part of the country.
DeleteBeautiful - love that long expanse of flooring. Looks like y'all worked together and did a fabulous job! I have laminate flooring too (works quite well with dogs and their nails.... LOL
ReplyDeleteYeah the long stretch looks so much better. We did consider laying it the other round but decided it would go against the light (and convention) so did it the much harder way with the long length of the room.
DeleteThere was a spell of about ten years that was all I did. Saw so much oak flooring I was going cross eyed!!!! I like those wider boards you used. Most of the oak floors here are two and a quarter inch wide. Makes for about twice as much nailing. Wore out my shoulder from swinging that heavy mallet, doc said I have no cartilage left in it. Finally my knees and back gave out so I had to give it up.
ReplyDeleteI've done a lot of floors over the years but luckily not too many in a row. My knees were killing after just two days. Dad said I was moaning too much but by Sunday he asked my sister to get some pads for him as well.
DeleteThe narrower boards take so much longer. We used to do random width boards with 4inch, 6, 8, 10 but the trouble was you ended up with more waste. They did look good though.
if you come to visit me, i'll feed you very well. oh, and i have a couple projects you could help me with!
ReplyDeleteSure I could be persuaded with your food, always looks amazing!
DeleteWow, a beautiful floor.I like the curved radiator fitting nicely in the front curved window too. Michelle in Wellington, NZ
ReplyDeleteThe curved radiator is lovely isn't it. A real feature. Doesn't make doing anything in the bay window very easy though!
DeleteLove it! We've had wooden floors for about the last 15 years and I much prefer them.
ReplyDeleteWe love our wooden and stone floors, just so easy to maintain. Don't think I'd have carpet downstairs through choice now.
DeleteWow Kev this looks amazing! Great job by you all!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sol, We were all really pleased by the end.
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