We Planked

It's Monday and I can't tell you how good it feels to sit after this past weekend.  I lost count after oh, maybe a million squats and ladder climbs.  Why?  Because we planked, baby.

As you may have read from previous posts, we have been working non-stop on our mini basement reno. The goal is to have this space serve as a guest bedroom and an art studio.  Since carpet would be a bit ridiculous for an art studio, and investing too much money on flooring would be silly, we decided to try a cheaper alternative-- plywood plank flooring.

To achieve the look of plank flooring in a basement, there are a few steps that need to be taken first: We were working with a concrete surface because we were in the basement.  These steps are different then if you were laying plank flooring on an already existing sub-floor.  Steps to create plank flooring on a flat, concrete surface include:

Step 1:  Before anything clean your concrete surface.  Scrape, sweep, and remove all debris.  Give your surface a good wipe down with a gentle cleaning solution and mop.  Repeat if necessary.

Step 2:  Lay the vapor barrier.  Make sure the edges of the paper creep up your wall slightly-- about an inch or two.  Staple the paper around the perimeter into the sheet rock with a heavy duty upholstery stapler.

Step 3: Lay the plywood sub-floor.  We purchased eight 4x8 compressed plywood sheets at 3/4" thickness from our local Home Depot.  The cost was around $7.00 a piece.  No room is perfect, so keep in mind that you will need a table or a circular saw to get the job done.

X marks the spot- Line your sheets up in the center part of the room

Step 4:  To attach the plywood through the vapor barrier and into the concrete, you'll need to use a hammer-drill.  You can either rent one for the day, or purchase one.  We found a great deal on ours at Menard's for around $50.00.  We also picked up a couple of boxes of ITW Tapcon hex head concrete anchors (the blue screws).  Purchase a length where the screw will go through your plywood and into the concrete comfortably.  We put about 10-12 screws in each sheet of 4x8 plywood.  If your plywood squeaks, screw a few more in there.

Begin here if you are starting with an already existing sub-floor

Step 5:  Laying the plywood planks--  We went through Home Depot and had them cut down eight 1/4" 4x8 sanded plywood sheets.  I believe we got about six 7.5" planks (cut the long way) in each sheet.  We did a "will call" order to avoid charges on each cut, which wouldn't really be a big deal, but who wants to work under that kind of pressure?  GET THESE DONE NOW!  Rawr!  No thanks!  Position the boards in a design that you fancy before proceeding to the next step.

Step 6:  Pick up more than enough tubes of Liquid Nails to avoid having to go back to the hardware store in the middle of your project (like we did) and return what you don't end up using.  We made the mistake of buying tubes of Liquid Nails Subfloor because it made sense.  They aren't cheap, but we thought we'd end up returning a lot of them.  Nope.  We used all of them and found out that the regular construction version (a lot cheaper) of Liquid Nails would do just fine.  Squeeze the Liquid Nails to the bottom of the board and spread with a v-notch trowel, keeping in mind that the ends in particular should be coated.  Lay the boards down and secure with a nail gun.  We used 5/8" brads in our nailer.  This will change depending on the thickness of your planks, so measure accordingly.

Step 7:  Let the boards cure for 24 hours before staining or painting.

Tip:  Apply stain wearing gloves and using a rag for an even and smooth coverage.  Make sure you are staining with the grain.

This is after one coat of Minwax in Expresso.  Shooting for two coats.

Food wood for thought: You are laying cut planks from plywood, therefore, you will have gaps between your boards.

Hopefully the next photo will be one of the basement, dare I say... completed?  Thanks for reading.