DIY Plywood Plank Floors

by SHARI B

6 Materials

$225

3 Days

Easy

Yes, that says Plywood Plank Floors! - Trust me, it's easier than you may think! We did this in a bedroom! - People think they look like high-end expensive floors... However, we have discovered since then that it would be cheaper to do tongue and groove 3/4" pine (the back side of wainscoting, which is the flat side, would be up - we plan to do the rest of our home with this). I'd say the bedroom, which is pretty good size, cost us about $225 total - including the lumber yard cutting the planks for us from the plywood sheets, the oil base stain and oil base satin finish polyurethane - we were advised to use oil base products for durability by a professional builder/remodeler friend, and the pine plywood seems to have a very hard surface. Because of squeaky floors, we put down sub-flooring first and then glued the back side of the planks with Liquid Nails, as well as used a pneumatic nail gun (note that we used large nail heads). We love the rustic old look it has! Perhaps someone can shed more light on the tongue and groove flooring idea. It makes sense cost-wise for us to do, and we have about 2,000 sq. ft. to cover yet! People online talk about using cheap finished 1 side plywood - we did a LOT of looking around our area (Western NY), and did not find anybody that carried anything like that.

Getting a good start!

Almost there! - and this went very quick with 2 people! - Maybe about 2 hours! I measured, he cut and applied the Liquid Nails, I placed the planks and used the Nail Gun! :)

Ready for sanding! Literally sat on my butt and used a palm sander, which is quite user friendly. We might try sanding before install next time, but it seems that all the "real" hardwood floor folks install then sand...

Stain before some more sanding! - This time, I did the sanding by hand (before applying the polyurethane) to have more control of the color. With the plywood planks (pine - finished one side), it sure soaked up the color! - Made me glad we chose a darker color stain!

After sitting on my butt, scooting around the room sanding by hand, to get the desired look . / I'm sorry I don't have pix of the finished room without furniture, etc. in it - but trust me, it's beautiful! - everyone's impressed!!!

Here we are with some furniture in the room - this is used as a guest room and for our new grandbaby when she is with us!

This gives you a good idea of the satin finish. It looks rich! - I, personally, am not in love with shiny wood floors, so this is our desired look. All in all, we would say this was a fairly easy project - started very early on a Saturday morning - did the cutting of the planks and install on Saturday, as well as sanding and applying the stain. Sunday, was light hand sanding and touch up stain where I thought it was needed - waited for it to dry - and applied the first coat of polyurethane before bed. Monday, got up early and applied the second coat before we took off for the week! Would DEFINITELY do this again!! - only with the 3/4" tongue and groove pine - flat side up!!!!! - just because of the cost factor ... unless someone out there can tell us where to find that CHEAP finished one side plywood!!

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3 of 126 questions

Sharon Luttrell on Mar 29, 2023

Why do you need to sand and what type of poly did you use? How do you apply it?

0
Debra on Oct 03, 2023

I also have “squeaky floors”. What did you put down as subfloor. Does this mean you now have 2 subfloors? What did this do to the height of this room? Thanks

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Ela101709619 on Oct 06, 2024

Hi, Can you ask your husband if I can do plywood flooring over tile? Oh and can I borrow your husband? LOL 😂 Just joking! If you can ask him that would be great. I would hate to start the project and it turns out awful. Thanks again

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2 of 618 comments

Vivienne on Oct 02, 2023

I have had this in a dark oak in my front room for years. It just seems to last forever. Last year I did my bedroom, but I got the plywood cut up into 10in planks and white washed them. I have also cut up the plywood into smaller blocks, and have made my own kitchen parquet flooring. I love the way the grain shows through each block. I also did my passage in the fake parquet style, but i lightly coloured the blocks in different shades. The varnish brings out the different colours and I am very pleased with the results. Well worth doing if you don`t mind DIY. It makes the house feel warmer and it is not expensive to do. It looks amazing and you can choose how you want the finshed look.

11 Reply
Diane Orner on Jul 27, 2024

I was wondering about my hallway walls. They are plaster ( 1905 ), so some paint came off when I took wallpaper off. Would this plank wood work to do the walls? Probably do a whitewash so not dark in the hallway. 2 walls. Straight forward, about same length.

3 Reply