Dining top from hardwood flooring

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I have a customer that just finished a kitchen remodel. They want a custom table 64 x 32 top, using the existing flooring. It's the usual 3" wide 3/4" thick tongue and groove style. Wondering if any one has ever done this before.

My plan is too glue up the pieces and mount to a 3/4" backer board. On the backer I was planing to route slots where screws could attach to the top and still allow movement. I have a skirt planned, that will hide the backer. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

mark

Better yet, just plunge-cut a slab (subfloor and all) out of that existing floor and stick it on some legs. No surprises then, they know exactly what it will be like... eating on the floor.

chad

Member

Good point. Why try and fake it, ha. Yea this is a classic job where the idea to use and save wood, ends up wasting more time an energy in the long run.

Rich

Even better yet, plunge cut out the slab, then mount to a lift. Hit the button, up comes the table! What kind of skirt are you going to use on the end grain that will let all that wood expand? Flooring for bars and tables comes up all the time. Never heard back from anyone how the customer feels about cleaning crud out of all those beveled edges.

mark

I'm not saying that I don't like my previous suggestion, but I'll try at a useful one.
Make a frame of 8/4 material. Rabbet or add a ledger so that the flooring sits flush with the top of the frame. Groove the frame to accept the t&g. Add cross supports at the same level as the ledger on 8"-10" centers. Install the flooring nailed like normal. Use a bevel where the flooring meets the frame. Use splines where you have g&g matches.
Obviously, you'll need to install one side of the frame last, or figure that part out some other way, but you get the idea.
No apron needed. Spills will pass through, but won't rot it from underneath.

Mike

Why go to all this trouble to save what $100.00 in material?

Another $100.00 and you could build a real tabletop.

chad

Member

Thanks all. I ripped off the tongue and groove so I can just do a glue up top. But we'll see. Ever few years I get some odd job like this where people try and use every bit of scrap and then wonder why it doesn't turn out perfect. At the start they even hoped I could use the extra flooring for the legs etc. ha.

Kilgore Trout

Member

chad - Try this the next time you are getting a cavity filled. Ask the dentist if he/she can't save the tooth dust and add it to the filling to 'save on material'. He/she is a professional and will politely refuse.

So should you.

Mark B

Member

Chad,
A good way to deal with this sort of stuff is to simply price it out of existence. If you are desperate for work that may or may not be easy to do but the headaches of a project like this would far outweigh any material savings.

We all get a customer on occasion that is either just stubborn, or conversely, so nice you are trying to accommodate them.

What I find most often is if you have a good working relationship with them, and they respect you, these type of ridiculous requests fall away fairly quickly.

chad

You're right, I usually do push this stuff off as I know where it will end up. And i'm busy doing good jobs now, that it's becoming a thorn in my side. Hopefully the last of these.

ThomasFR

Guys I don't see ANY issue here. 3/4 solid wood table tops have been made for hundreds of years. Glue & dress your boards (flooring planks, so what?) Attach it to apron allowing for cross-grain movement, done. Make apron from same stock & there is no reason not to make legs from same material. glued up legs are routine. ps You might apply bread board ends for the "traditional" completion of a planked table top.

Mark B

Member

I don't see any issue with the construction either.

My issue is its impractical when you factor in taking the flooring up from the floor, pulling all the nails, wiping out a set of knives or abrasives cutting the finish off, ripping off the profiles, gluing it all back together, and so on.

By the time you've completed all that labor for a 64"x32" table (that you'll likely be disappointed in and wish you'd never agreed to build in the first place forget about being profitable) I'd basically give you the 14.25 bd ft of material to save you the work.

4/4 FAS red Oak to me at the moment is 1.31/bd ft. We are talking about $18.66 here?!? Thats what, 15-20 minutes of shop time (labor only) allowed for getting that material glued up into a top? I could pull it off with new stock but I wouldnt have a chance with a pile of scrap flooring.

Chaim Gottesman

And I thought I was the only one who got Odd requests like this.
I would probably do what you did, rip off the T&G's glue up and add a baton on the bottom to keep the table top flat (with slotted holes for expansion and contraction)
Attach to a leg and rail assembly using buttons or figure eights.
Chaim

chad

This is all unused new flooring, just the extra after the new floor went in. I may be crazy but taking up old flooring and making something would have me at insane. Though I've seen full bowling alley floors made into huge tables and bar tops which were pretty cool.

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