Cut Your Own Wood Flooring

Often when you cut like this the saw will cut out stringy wood.

Cut your own wood flooring.

Set up the shaper or router table with a tongue and groove cutter. How to lay down your own inexpensive wood floor and make it look gorgeous. Make sure when you make the mark to cut off the wall side not the room side. This makes it great for basic cuts or for a more skilled installer good for basic cuts for wood flooring as well.

If that happens that would result in a pretty big gap. I sanded each board one by one top ends and knocked the sharp edges off the corners for a worn farmhouse feel. That piece is a keeper. The second cut will produce a piece that has two good faces but bark on two edges.

Start by cutting a line all the way down where you want your cut to go. A circular saw is sort of like a table saw just with the portability of a reciprocating saw. One of the most popular uses for cutting wood floor planks with this saw is cutting the planks lengthwise also known as a rip cut. In a past life i had thought of the idea of buying solid oak plywood cutting it into strips and using it as inexpensive solid oak flooring and i was told that i was an idiot and carpet was chosen instead a far more expensive option when i had already exhausted my budget.

Make sure to always cut the wall end of the wood so that you do not cut off the groove that fits to the tongue. Run all of the flooring through the machine on one of the long sides and one of the ends. That gives you a guide of sorts. Measure the face width of the existing flooring add the width of its tongue then set the table saw s fence that same distance away from the blade.

You can either pile those pieces off to the side and return them to the mill later to cut the bark off or deal with the bark as part of the milling process. Cut the last length to fit leaving a 3 4 inch expansion gap and nail it in place. Adjust the fence and cutter height using a scrap piece of material adjust the cutter height and fence position until you have it set up correctly to run your flooring. Now cut the new boards to width by running the tongue side against the fence.

The saw will wander all over. Cut it straight through the center to make it manageable for your band saw. Put the first board of the new row in place. This removes the groove which you ll re create in the next step.

Don t try and cut from the top down straight through. I left the bark on. Planks can be cut with a hand saw circular saw or flooring cutter and most laminate flooring comes in planks that simply snap together with a tongue and groove system making it quick and relatively trouble free. Cut it if necessary so the end is offset from the end of the board in the previous row by a minimum of 6 inches.

Get your groove back. We ll cut it off when we turn the planks into flooring. Find a piece and lay it alongside the hole and flip it over.