Yurt: 2X6 Tongue and Groove Flooring

[Jafo]

Actually, that is a very good point. I have installed the floating floors before in parts of my home and they generally require a 1/8" - 1/4" gap for expansion.

I am sitting here thinking about what one could do to install the flooring after the yurt has been raised. I wonder if you cut strips of thin cardboard and laid them around the inside of the wall, on the face of the supports (or lattice if no supports) and make a giant temporary mould around the wall of the yurt (on the inside). The thickness of the cardboard would be in direct measurement to the expansion gap required by the floating floor manufacturer. After that, you could go ahead and lay the floor and once completed, remove the cardboard and put into place a flexible floor moulding and tack it to the supports, or lattice, or even toe nailed to the floor.

[HawaiiYurts]

Pacific Yurts

, that's a great tip. We have installed hardwood flooring after a yurt is up and it was definitely a chore. Especially with the wind kit, lattice wall and brackets to remove or work around.

The method you mention got me thinking... it could also be used to essentially create a stem wall or a small 'curb' (resulting in a perimeter lift of several inches even). With the straight angles, you'd save yourself a heck of a lot of hassle in avoiding the rounded cuts. If you go much higher than an inch, it would be a good idea at that point to ask for a longer wall, so that it can still extend past the curb and into the platform. Then it would cover any potential water catching seams in the wood.

In one of the yurts we did, the owners got creative and just left a gap between the hardwood flooring and the perimeter of the yurt. Then they filled the perimeter with lovely river rocks. It was a great effect!

[Jafo]

This picture is it I believe:

Yurt Forum - A Yurt Community - HawaiiYurts's Album: Finished projects: Interiors - Picture

[Bob Rowlands]

Oh yeah, I forgot to add I wouldn't have any natuarl flooring material treated for rot resistance exposed to where little kids can get to it. Also sanding out such a product would require a decent cartridge mask to avoid inhaling the debris, and a VERY thorough clean up of the resultant dust. I've been making sanding dust for thirty years and it gets EVERYWHERE. I don't care whether the MSDS book says it's OK or not. Don't use MDF either. Just my opinion. Good luck.

[microage97]

I am thinking that the cheaper option here in HI is to buy 2x6x20' boards and T&g them myself with a router table and T&G bit. Thoughts?

[Bob Rowlands]

Pro mill shops use battleship grade machinery to make 2x6 t&g flooring. Making a yurts worth of 2x6-20 t&g flooring by a non pro simply isn't worth the hassle with the typical homeowner grade lightweight router table set up.

20' 2x6 stock is VERY unwieldy, and rarely dead straight. Infeed and outfeed support tables are absolutely necessary to keep the 2x in constant contact with the bit. With a typical infeed guide attached to the fence at the cutterhead to keep the stock in place, binding is going to happen with one man feeding 20' stock. Any bit/fence shift while forcing warped/twisted/bowed stock through the guide will throw the alignment off. Nah, I wouldn't suggest messing with a router table set up.

[microage97]

I never thought of that Bob, Thanks for the education before I did something stupid. I guess a hand held router might work. What are 2x6x20' t&g going for in the lower 48? 21.00 each here at home depot.

[Bob Rowlands]

I'd buy the T&G. Have it dropped on site and you're ready to rock and roll, instead of messing around.

That said, if you have alot of free time on your hands, and I mean ALOT of free time, and are stubborn to boot, a 1/4" x 1/2" slot cutting bit (requires a heavy duty 1/2" router) would work, but getting everything sized properly is gonna be a trip. MANY repeated passes. Don't expect pretty cuts on the tongue side unless you clamp a guide where edge knots have popped out, or there is otherwise irregularity where the bearing passes.

Really, you are in for a heck of a lot of work. You're better off biting the bullet and just buying the flooring. Or, just install 2x6 butted tight. That's what I did on my 16' yurt. Then caulk it down the road. It's a yurt. BTW I've been a carpenter since 1973.

Have fun! lol

[Jafo]

Bob, what about a router table and then running the board through that? Might that make it easier?

[microage97]

Hey Bob, not that stuborn. I guess I would rather get to nailing the floor. :-) Sorry I was being silly.