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Jim Gifford
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# Posted: 2 May 2011 03:59pm
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I am new to this site and enjoying all the posts.
We have a 16x20 board-and-batten cabin in the Adirondack foothills woods. Now we're making our first big change: the addition of a 10x16 screened-in porch so that we can enjoy the outside during the several months when the black flies are on the rampage. The cabin is pretty much unfinished...sort of like the interior of a garage:) Now the porch is being built for us and I would like a good floor, even if the rest of it is pretty informal. But what woods would work on the floor of an unheated cabin in upstate New York? You would think info like this would be easy to find on the Internet but it's not--too many contradictions.
At the suggestion of a friend, have been looking into exotic woods like ipe and tigerwood which would be bug and rot resistant, though expensive. I am willing to spend a little more so that I can walk on this floor barefoot and appreciate its grain.
Any suggestions you might have?
thanks
Jim
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Just
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# Posted: 2 May 2011 11:03pm
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what about ether white, or southern yellow, pine 1 x6 t & g be my choice! the northern hard woods tend to curl up if in a unheeted building!!
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larryh
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# Posted: 3 May 2011 01:26pm - Edited by: larryh
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I have a side porch that was rebuilt by us about 25 years ago. We used pine porch flooring painted with several coats of oil paint. At this time many places have done away with oil paint although some companies are now producing some that meet the new EPA rules for paint. It does tend to need some scraping and painting every few years to keep it looking decent, which at the moment is does not.. But when freshly painted it does look nice.
I have also used it interior wise with Spar Poly coatings where its exposed to water and the color and grain of the wood looks nice just as it is natural. I am not sure how it would do outside but I think that spar is the recommended finish for exterior wet surfaces.
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rayyy
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# Posted: 6 May 2011 05:34pm
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Pressure treated plywood would out last us all.
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PlicketyCat
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# Posted: 9 May 2011 02:59am
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Does the porch have any side walls at all, even just half-walls? If not, you might not want to put a solid floor down since it'll accumlate snow and rain. Composite decking or pressure-treated pine/hem/fir are all good solutions for unheated outdoor flooring, and you can run the insect screen under the deck joists of the porch to keep the bugs from coming up through the spacing in the boards.
Otherwise, if the floor is somewhat protected by walls of a sort, pressure treated plywood painted with a heavy porch paint (PORCH paint, not just simply exterior paint) or several coats poly/spar... just make sure you add some sort of texture to improve traction (I mixed in a few handfuls of mason's sand) since they both get really slick with rain and snow.
Interior, I'd definitely go with a softwood T&G (or even simple plank if you have a decent subfloor) with a couple coats of poly/spar in a cabin that may be unheated for long periods. Even treated CDX plywood can look pretty with a few coats of floor paint and sealed with poly/spar.
If you feel frisky and are artistically inclined, you can even faux paint a plywood floor to look like tile or T&G/deck planks... a few extra hours, a sponge and rag or two, and a few rolls of painters tape might end up cheaper than T&G or plank decking in the long run, even with the high-ish cost of treated ply. You don't really need treated ply for the interior floor if you have a fairly dry crawlspace and/or no ground/moisture contact, regular exterior rated OSB or CDX ply would be enough for those conditions. But for the porch, I'd definitely spring for the treated CDX ply.
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