Classy Cordwood Flooring

2014 - Volume #38, Issue #3, Page #23

[ Sample Stories From This Issue | List of All Stories In This Issue | Print this story | Read this issue]

We’ve done stories about resourceful folks who built cordwood buildings, but we’ve never seen a cordwood floor like the one in Steve and Sharon Lee’s Wisconsin home.
  “I kind of like doing things nobody else has,” says Steve Lee, who works at J & J Lee Construction Company, a home construction, remodeling and masonry business started by his parents.
  He installed the 600 sq. ft. floor a decade ago, and the only sign of wear is around the fireplace where shrinking and swelling has caused minor cracks in the finish.
  Lee started with very dry hardwood — two-sided beams salvaged from a 100-year-old barn. He cut the 8-ft. beams into manageable 3-ft. lengths, clamped and braced them vertically, and sawed them in 5/8-in. thick slices “like a loaf of bread” from the top down with a band saw. The thickness made the pieces strong enough to hold together, and the saw could be calibrated easily, dropping 3/4 in. at a time.
  After placing the pieces 1/2 to 3/4 in. apart on the plywood subfloor, Lee worked on small sections at a time to spread construction adhesive and glue the wood slices down. After they set, he filled in the spaces with commercial tile grout mixed with about 20 percent sawdust he had saved.
  “The fine sawdust was a good filler so I didn’t need as much grout, and it gives the grout a fibered look,” Lee says. Sawdust in the mortar is recommended for cordwood construction to slow the drying process to prevent cracking.
  If Lee were to do it again, he says he would have sealed the wood first. The dry wood sucked in the grout, and Lee spent about 12 hours with an industrial sander using extra coarse to finer grit sandpapers.
  “My goal was to sand it nice and smooth, but I ended up sanding just to get the grout off. If I sealed it first, the grout wouldn’t stick to the wood so badly,” Lee says.
  His final step was applying several coats of a commercial varnish sealer to get the gloss he wanted. He hasn’t done anything to it since, but notes he will have to refinish it someday just like any other hardwood floor.
  “I’ve had calls from people who want to put cordwood over cement. I tell them to make sure they use the proper glue to work with their surface,” Lee says.
  He also advises waiting a week after the final coat of varnish is applied before moving in furniture, as it is soft and weight can leave indents in the floor.
  “It’s a time consuming deal from when you get the wood cut, laid, sanded and varnished,” he notes. “But it turned out pretty neat.”
  For information about cordwood construction, he consulted with Richard Flatau, a cordwood construction expert who puts on workshops and writes newsletters and blogs about the topic. Lee suggests reading Flatau’s book “Cordwood Construction Best Practices” available at (www.cordwoodconstruction.org or richardflatau@gmail.com).
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Steve Lee, J&J Lee Construction, W4997 Lincoln Dr., Merrill, Wis. 54452 (ph 715 536-3600; jerwal28@yahoo.com).

Click here to download page story appeared in.

Click here to read entire issue

Classy Cordwood Flooring AG WORLD We’ve done stories about resourceful folks who built cordwood buildings but we’ve never seen a cordwood floor like the one in Steve and Sharon Lee’s Wisconsin home “I kind of like doing things nobody else has ” says Steve Lee who works at J & J Lee Construction Company a home construction remodeling and masonry business started by his parents He installed the 600 sq ft floor a decade ago and the only sign of wear is around the fireplace where shrinking and swelling has caused minor cracks in the finish Lee started with very dry hardwood — two-sided beams salvaged from a 100-year-old barn He cut the 8-ft beams into manageable 3-ft lengths clamped and braced them vertically and sawed them in 5/8-in thick slices “like a loaf of bread” from the top down with a band saw The thickness made the pieces strong enough to hold together and the saw could be calibrated easily dropping 3/4 in at a time After placing the pieces 1/2 to 3/4 in apart on the plywood subfloor Lee worked on small sections at a time to spread construction adhesive and glue the wood slices down After they set he filled in the spaces with commercial tile grout mixed with about 20 percent sawdust he had saved “The fine sawdust was a good filler so I didn’t need as much grout and it gives the grout a fibered look ” Lee says Sawdust in the mortar is recommended for cordwood construction to slow the drying process to prevent cracking If Lee were to do it again he says he would have sealed the wood first The dry wood sucked in the grout and Lee spent about 12 hours with an industrial sander using extra coarse to finer grit sandpapers “My goal was to sand it nice and smooth but I ended up sanding just to get the grout off If I sealed it first the grout wouldn’t stick to the wood so badly ” Lee says His final step was applying several coats of a commercial varnish sealer to get the gloss he wanted He hasn’t done anything to it since but notes he will have to refinish it someday just like any other hardwood floor “I’ve had calls from people who want to put cordwood over cement I tell them to make sure they use the proper glue to work with their surface ” Lee says He also advises waiting a week after the final coat of varnish is applied before moving in furniture as it is soft and weight can leave indents in the floor “It’s a time consuming deal from when you get the wood cut laid sanded and varnished ” he notes “But it turned out pretty neat ” For information about cordwood construction he consulted with Richard Flatau a cordwood construction expert who puts on workshops and writes newsletters and blogs about the topic Lee suggests reading Flatau’s book “Cordwood Construction Best Practices” available at www cordwoodconstruction org or richardflatau@gmail com Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Steve Lee J&J Lee Construction W4997 Lincoln Dr Merrill Wis 54452 ph 715 536-3600; jerwal28@yahoo com

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.

SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW NOW