There are many ways to renovate and upgrade a house. Floors are usually topped with hardwood, linoleum, or tile. All of these are great ways to improve the ambiance and value of a home, and there are ways to make it unique for each property. However, there is a growing trend that combines old fashioned, rustic qualities with modern style and practicality.
Cordwood Construction, directed by Richard Flatau, has taken its skill at constructing cordwood cabins and added a different spin to it. They are using cordwood to upgrade flooring, and boy would I like my home to have one of these!
This style is reemerging as a “new” trend. But this method literally dates back thousands of years.
Richard Flatau shows us an example of cordwood, which is debarked logs found naturally, or cut from logged trees.
The cordwood is stacked and mortared to create the structures.
This is an example of a project for Sunny Pettis Lutz’s home, using legally harvested wood from a state forest.
The first step was thoroughly cleaning the concrete slab. Then they laid out the cordwood discs, which were cut to 1” thickness by a chop saw and sanded flat on both sides.
The primary wood used was Shaggy Bark Juniper, and Alligator Bark Juniper.
Once the optimal disc pattern was discovered, they glued each one directly to the floor using Loctite PL Premium Construction Adhesive. They worked in 2’ sections at a time.
Each disc was firmly tamped to ensure proper snugness.
Once they were all laid down properly, the next step was to seal them with a light coating of polyurethane to ensure the grout wouldn’t adhere to the tops.
The spaces were sealed with a grout mixture of 80% sanded grout (generally a mixture of water, cement, and sand) and 20% sawdust.
The floor was finally finished off with a further 2-3 coats of polyurethane.
This is easily one of the most gorgeous wooden floors we’ve seen. What do you think?
H/T Little Things