wide barn board floor ?s

[jrhode]

I will be installing 8"-12" wide 80-100 year old 5/8" thick fir for my flooring. It will be a very rustic look, with knots and old nail holes. Also, it's going over radiant heat. (see my previous post)

I'm looking for ideas for installing it. First, the boards themselves. I will be ripping both sides to get straight edges. I'm wondering if I should just butt them together, or maybe dado out the edges so they overlap each other, or route t&g edges into them.

Also, how about nailing? would face nailing be better with these wide boards? Should they be glued also?

Again, we're going for a fairly rustoc look. And the house will be well climate-controlled. And I know they're going to move.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Rich]

I've installed a ton of rough sawn fir floors in MT. We had it all sent off and straghtline ripped and then tongue and grooved. We installed just like any other floor with a flooring nailer. We then came back and countersunk screws to keep the wide boards from curling up.. then plugged. It looks pretty bright the first 4-6 months. Then with a little wear - it starts looking rustic. We finished it with some toxic damn stuff called Glitza - whew - strong stuff.
For the different thickness boards next to each other we used a grinder with 60 grit to fan some of the really bad edges and the raised knots.

[Tom R]

They 'say' any boards wider than about 5" should be glued, - - can't say I'm sure I agree with that, - - sounds like Rich has more experience with 'wider' boards.

And yeah, I agree with Rich, - - T-in-G is the way to go, - - so you won't be trippin' over them later. After 'dressing-up' the wood, - - I dado in some 'rabbets' on the table saw for the tongue-side, - - and then use a 'slot-cutter' in a router or router table for the groove-side.

I also agree with the floor nailer through the tongues, - - then it sounds like 'face-nailing' would work fine in your case, - - being's it's re-used wood.

[jrhode]

Thanks for the info, guys. I was thinking I'd use a t&g router bit set on a router table to make the t&g's on the boards. Maybe I'll check into having someone do that for me.

As far as the face-nailing/screwing goes, how well do nails hold compared to screws? And did the old-timers sink the nail heads or just leave them flush? I like the look of counter-sunk and plugged screws, but I really don't know if I'll have the time to do all that. And could I get fir plugs, or would I have to make them myself?

[Rich]

We always made our own plugs from one of the pieces we have milled. Orient the grain if you want to minimize their appearance or put the grain perpendicular to make them stand out.
There are places to buy them also - Rockler or Woodcraft should have them.