White cedar as Flooring

[jay3534]

I have a lot of white cedar lap siding and my wife wants to use it as flooring. It is 1/2 inch thick. The problem is the wood is soft by nature and will dent easy. Is there a poly or other clear finish that will make a suitable hard finish that will withstand being used on a floor?

Thanks
Jay

 

[oosik]

I've seen cedar(white, yellow & red) used on walls and ceilings but not on floors. Like you say, its too soft and if there were some finish that would provide suitable hard protection I'm sure it would be on the floor also. I've not heard of a finish of this type.

 

[super55]

White cedar is probably one of the softest woods out there. If you are not concerned about dents and are going for that distressed look you could definitely use it but it will show every little thing that has been dropped.

In my log home I wanted a plank look for my flooring. I couldn't afford the tongue and groove that was sold so I used 1x12 pine planks. I glued them to the subfloor with liquid nails and then face nailed them with square head masonry nails to give it an older style look.

The floor is ten years old now and could definitely use a refinish but overall it has help up satisfactory. As for the floor finish I used 3 coats of minwax polyacrylic mainly because of its ease of use over polyurethane. A polyurethane will give you a much harder finish but it requires more work with sanding and drying and such.

 

[jaotguy]

cedar = dings and dents .... no product will harden up the surface to acceptable levels for flooring ... 1/2 thick is too thin , no room left for sanding out flaws ....

take a piece, and a length of copper pipe ,... tip at an angle and push the end of the copper pipe into the surface of the cedar plank ... that is what it will look like after you put the first small step stool on it, or chair with a worn floor cup ....drag a 3" nail across it, that is the first piece of dirt stuck under a piece of furniture... it looks lovely in a rustic cabin, but disastrous otherwise.

 

[s219]

Way too soft and also too thin.

 

[jay3534]

Looks like new walls are in the future. I felt it was too soft also. May look good in the den.

Thanks

 

[PILOON]

Heck even your dog will trash a cedar floor.
Lady's high heals would leave tracks all over.

On walls be prepared to accept that the cedar will get quite dark over time. Nice warm character however. Cozy feeling.

 

[WayneB]

I would suggest you line your closets with the cedar but wouldn't suggest you attempt to use it for flooring. Would suggest you look for Southern Yellow Pine for flooring. Or stick with hard woods and try for 3/4" T&G stuff. Just my two cents!

 

[sixdogs]

Yup, too soft. But mill it V-match and use a real varnish--not a poly--on it for walls and it will develop a million dollar patina in a couple years. I used McClosky's Marine Spar varnish on mine and the amber color and natural oils worked great. We did a ceiling with it and it was one of the most attractive parts of the house. plus it absorbed sounds. Sand it baby-butt smooth and wipe the dust off before finishing.

 

[PILOON]

Yup, too soft. But mill it V-match and use a real varnish--not a poly--on it for walls and it will develop a million dollar patina in a couple years. I used McClosky's Marine Spar varnish on mine and the amber color and natural oils worked great. We did a ceiling with it and it was one of the most attractive parts of the house. plus it absorbed sounds. Sand it baby-butt smooth and wipe the dust off before finishing.

I have done a number of wall and ceiling jobs with both pine and ceder.
I discovered that after sanding if I applied Danish oil finish using a sponge to wipe it on rather than brushing I ended up with a more even coating.
On a wall or ceiling you basically want matte or semi and not glossy with sealing the grain as the main objective.
As I gathered experience with this process I also discovered that I really did not even need to dust the wood after sanding as the oil soaked sponge picked it all up and it was easy to wring out the sponge which carried away the dust.

I know this looks a bit radical, but it works and is a practical and very fast process.
Sort of like comparing brushing on paint vs using a roller or spray gun.
In the end it all looks the same.