Family Room Floor - DIY Hardwood Floor

The flooring we have chosen to install throughout most of our house is Buffalo Ridge Plank Ash from Chelsea Plank Flooring. 

It took a while for us to find the wood flooring that Mike and I envisioned, but this seems to be it.  We wanted a medium to dark color, solid hardwood, and some visible texture.  Most hand-scraped options looked too lumpy-bumpy or inauthentically distressed to us, but this wire-brushed finish pleasantly reveals the grain.  The flooring is sold and installed in 3-, 4-, and 5-inch wide planks, a unique look that Mike and I were both drawn to.

We were happy this search led to us buying locally and enjoy the idea of sparing some ash trees the fate of the emerald ash borer, as the Chelsea Plank Flooring website suggests.  We saw the tree-lined street we lived on previously lose some of that charm as many of the ash trees became infested and had to be cut down.  It's nice to think that trees that could likely go to waste will instead be underfoot in our home.

Back in October Mike took up the carpet in the family room to discover that there was no sub-floor there.  With the intention of nailing down all of our new flooring, he had to determine a new approach.  Since the concrete floor is undamaged, level, and nearly twenty years old (surely cured and settled), the flooring distributor recommended the strong adhesive pictured above.

It took Mike one solid day of work to install the flooring out there.  He used bits of painter's tape on the corners of the boards to show if they shifted in the adhesive process.  Michael and Sophie were eager helpers a few days later when it was time to peel it all up.

 

Okay, they don't look terribly eager here, but I swear they were. They were just very focused at that moment.

Despite bringing home a large sample and scouring Google, Pinterest, and Houzz for pictures of the flooring, I feared that it would be too dark and not have enough variation.  We wanted our floor to look like wood, not a solid black sheet.  

 

So far we couldn't be happier with our choice!  I look forward to sharing the cozy look that some new furniture (same couch), a rug, and curtains have created. 

This same flooring will also go in our kitchen, powder room, and entryways.  The question of the moment is whether or not Mike can complete that installation by Christmas.  He's hacking away at tile as I type!