Gary's home.

"Tried to duplicate some of the simplier Victorian floors I'd worked on in San Francisco"

WOW! That is some outstanding workmanship.

Thanks! This was an interesting job because it was MY HOUSE. Since I had particle board subfloors, I knew I needed to install 1/2 plywood, which I did. The reason I choose 5/16" face nail white oak strip was because:
1) It is the traditional floor for this region of the country.
2) Much longer lengths. Some of the bundles were 14' long. Try getting that in 3/4".
3) Height restrictions. With 1/2" and 3/4", my front door would need to be cut and the treshold replaced. The 5/16" oak solved that.
4) Cost. At the time, the 5/16" was about $.50 per sq.ft. less.
5) I used white oak because it is abit harder and costs less and since I was planning on staining the floor, I could get the color I was looking for.

An interesting tidbit is the feature strip. It is brazilian cherry that I milled myself from old braz cherry palletts used to ship some flooring on. Cost me nothing but time. 5/16" is not what most people want but because it is so prevelant around here, I'm often asked to add on to a 5/16" floor during remodels. I DO NOT use air nailers to install it. The only good way is with a Cavanaugh manual nailer. Man, does that wear you out! Glad it is not so popular anymore.

Very neat.

What did you use to hide all those nail holes? You did an excellent job with that. Did you spot fill or trowel the whole floor? What product did you use?

I am in the process of totally refinishing my floors, which (I believe) are the same exact as yours. I will be staining it a darker brown, though. I want the nail holes to be very discrete.

Ever since I started doing wood floors over 25 yrs. ago, I have used a filler product called "Goop-On". This is a solvent based (naptha) filler of a medium brown color that turns light reddish beige when dry. It's made to blend with red oak but you can use it on white oak when staining the flooring. I have found that most, if not all, of the latex/water-based wood fillers tend to take the stain darker than the wood and hence, the filled holes stand out more. Goop-On was made for the top-nailed floor market and has worked great for me for many years. It is flamable and smelly so one needs to exercise caution when using it. On face nailed floors, I use a 3" putty knife and draw the filler across the holes. You could try to trowel fill but I found that the Goop-On is too thick to properly trowel fill. You can thin it with a solvent if you wish but I prefer to use it the way it comes out of the can. It will shrink in the holes so you need to fill before you sand. I don't know if it is available nationally but here in the SF bay area, it is available.

Thanks for the info! I'll look for this.

One more questions. When you say...


Do you mean before the fine sanding like other products, or before sanding all together?

I love the sand job more than I love the install which is alot . You can tell its done by someone who cared. I to use goop on and sorry but smelly is an understatement by far. I swear i wish I would have been taught to use a mask when I first started it had to kill off more than a few brain cells . But as far as I am concernd the brain cells are worth it when you compare a gooped floor to a water based filler. You are so write about what that water base does and to add another gripe about it dont leave a lump not even a very small one unless you want the grit knocked right off your paper or worse it will tear that sheet and damage a drum as bad as any nail ever could. You mentioned nailing the floor with a cavanaugh. I happen to live in the town that the inventor of the machine did. He didnt go broke but did not make as much as he probably should have for no one ever needed to buy anything more than a set for the thing he built it to good some say. The one I use is older than me I think by a few years at least and I am 40. I dont know if its true but my father was telling me that we cant buy the 1in brads any more for the thing everyone using the air for the 5/16 flooring. I havent done one in some time so I dont know if he is right or not. You mentioned how much fun it is to swing that mallet and I concur my first time was when I was around 13 or so my father took me and sat me on that rolling stool and off I went I hated that machine it had a mind of its own my father and I hit it differently was the reason he told me i was having so much trouble he may have been right for as I got to be the only one doing the nailing it got to be a nicer machine . I did try one time a contraption that a guy here in San Francisco had designed it swung the mallet for you being from the area you may know Ed Paulis his son works at GSF . It was cool until you had a double feed and the thing hit the plunger goodbye set hello jam . Well I think I have said enough , as usual sometimes I think that the goop on did more damage than i know . LOL have a gd 1 all hope to be a good addition to this fine forum oh and again very nice floor

Hi Rich,

Glad to have another Bay Area floorman aboard. Thanks for the compliments about my floors. I've worked in Alameda a few times in those beautiful old Craftsmen Bungalows there. Neat houses! The floors I worked on were all bordered 5/16" white oak with feature strips. I guess you can tell where I got some of my ideas. It's a popular style though, isn't it. About the nails for the Cavanaugh. The only place I know to get them still is Floor Service Supply in San Jose. That's where I get mine. Golden State stopped carrying them saying they couldn't get them. Pacific Flooring never had them and Tom Duffy never did either. I find it funny that you're using a two inch blade to goop floors. I got critisized for using a 3" putty blade. Too slow I was told. You gotta trowel it. Goop doesn't trowel that well; even when thinned out. I say, whatever floats your boat! Welcome aboard, mate.

Oops you got to read my first rambel before a total re edit to funny . Nervous I guess for a first time poster. Yes I was told the same as you to slow etc etc . those who say that never seen my father use one he is an old hotrod as they called them way back. But let me tell you those hot rods did some nice work when they wanted to . As for seeing where you got some ideas SHHHHHHHH I wasnt going to tell LOL . When I first started out in Blackhawk in the early 80s my father had just gone into bussiness and we were giving away some of the most custom floors in the area we would design a corner for your house and never duplicate it in the area was the promise . I did alot of 5/16 with walnut feature back then now a days not so much in fact I have pretty much hung up the old 20 in I think it may be longer back saw I was givin when I started . They dont make em any more and cant get it filled corectley anyhow but mostly dont do 5/16 any more. Thanks for the info on the nails though Floor Service was my guess . Again sorry bout the redo on the post I am just one that is never satisfied with anything I do a traight straight from my father that I now know was not the perfectionist he claimed to be he was close for sure but to get me to excedd him he told me some tales that ......... well made me who I am today I guess . see you around

Outstanding work, Gary. I really love the accent piece. Way to be fruggal.

Best...Stan