BC grade veneer plywood isn't inexpensive at $40+ a sheet.

>>>BC grade veneer plywood isn't inexpensive at $40+ a sheet.Yeah, and some of that looked like furniture grade, bookmatched product, which can run over $100 per 4X8 sheet. Still, an interesting effect.

Well, even at $100 a sheet that's just a bit more than $3 a square foot. That's still pretty inexpensive, especially if you consider there is no additional underlayment, padding, mastic or grout involved. I love the look of the first one.

jakabedy - I like that first one, too. I'm thinking of doing the diagonal checkerboard for the basement - really like that look. How much is hardwood per sq foot typically?

anywhere from $3.50 on up to $20 sq ft not installed.

I did a quick price comparison at the Lowes in Anchorage.

Bamboo hardwood flooring
$23.80 sq ft per carton

Oak hardwood flooring
$20.00 per sq ft

Finished AC Plywood 32 sq ft per 4x8 sheet anywhere between $40 - $60 per sheet according to a local Anchorage building supply store prices:
$1.25 - $1.86 sq ft

That seems like a huge difference.

My dirt-cheap Lumber Liquidator's glue-down cork was $2.49 a square foot. That was the cheapest thing around by a long shot. And then you start buying the adhesive at $90 a pop for a 3 gallon bucket. Boy howdy! Plywood, here I come.

jakabedy - are you building now? Are you going to do a plywood floor? I'd love to see pics!

Melaska, those are amazing floors! I'm definitely going to consider this when we finish the basement, however I'm wondering if it's okay to do the entire main floor this way. I think it looks great, but I'm wondering if when we sell the house (probably about 10+ years from now), it will be well received. It would be great to save the $$$ because our flooring budget is a huge chunk of our reno budget for the kitchen (planning on replacing current wood floor & carpet on entire main floor when we reno kitchen). I just don't want to unexpectedly sabotage the resale value of our home since this is a somewhat unconventional flooring choice.

It is a bathroom, but I used 2x2 pieces of plywood with screen stock for "grout" and my woodburner for the decorations. Glued down to the ruined/patched original hardwood and 3 coats of oil based poly on top. My version was done as a temporary fix to hold up for maybe 5-10 years until we finish the rest of the house and get back to doing smaller projects. Well, we are at year 5 now and there are no signs of wear year. Ironically it is the favorite feature of most of our guests!

flwrs - maybe you could do it to save money up front & replace it when you can a few years down the road? Or, just do the basement & go with more traditional flooring for the main area.

dainaadele - what a charming bathroom floor! Very unique & I can see why it's a favorite feature of your guests. :) Screen stock for grout? So...there's spaces between each piece? Intriguing. Tell me more! :) Thanks.

Melanska, I have been meaning to post for a few days about your prices listed above. I think you mixed up some things/

I looked up the bamboo pricing in Anchorage online. THe bamboo has 23.80 square feet per carton and it costs about $86.00 (going from memory here). This comes out to about $3.70 per sq ft.

Solid oak hardwood has 20 sq feet per carton and runs $70-$110 or so a carton which ranges from $3.5 to $6 per sq foot. There were a lot of choices so I just picked a few random ones by Bruce.

To find out the square foot price divide box price by the square feet per box. This is listed in the specs.

dainaadele - I just love your floors! That is so creative and pretty! I bet you inspired a few floors with that pic today ;)

dainaadele, that is extremely cool looking! I am thinking about a wooden backsplash, and wondered if you could tell me a little about your process. What do you mean by "screen stock for grout"? Also, did you poly the plywood before or after installation? Do you have particular advice about the vertical parts of your installation? The "grout" appears different on the floor vs. on the walls. Is it? What's the maximum size piece of plywood you think would work without buckling, sagging, or distorting in some other way?

Details please! Admiring minds want to know!

Here is a link that might be useful: discussing potential wood backsplash

Thanks everybody! It has been a source of amusement for us, and yet it was really a slap-dash job. I had no idea what the finished product would be, my goal was something better looking than peel and stick tile. :-0 Okay, here are the long answers for those that want them:

The wood. It was precut 2x2 1/4" plywood bought at our local Menards. The cheap white birch. (Not fine grained, furniture grade birch plywood)It is so soft that it only took a movie on TV to burn with the wood burining kit. It came with the leaf like attatchment that I used. After that I stained it the color I wanted.

When I put the pieces side by side, I found that they were not perfectly square. Duh! I should have realized! So I went back to Menards looking for a solution. They had what they called screen stock for putting over the edge of screen on old screen doors. It was almost exactly the same thickness as the plywood and the edges had a slight curved edge. I noticed that it worked to make a minor shadow effect that hid the irregularities of the 2x2s and so I decided that I could use it as "grout." The cheap birch actually has kind of a thick layer, so I did a very light hand sanding job on the edges of those. So the effect is similar to the bevel that is on engineered prefinished flooring.

Next was panel glue, lots of it on the plywood, I think I used some finish nails on the screen stock. After it all had a chance to dry properly I put 3 thick coats of oil-based poly. The purpose here was to allow the poly to seal every crack. If you think about it, it is now encased in plastic. When water gets on the floor, it never touches the wood itself. Restaurants do this all of the time on their tables. Someday the plywood glue will start to delaminate on its own, and the plywood itself will begin to peel apart, but who knows when that will be? Maybe a long long time, if I am lucky.

The thing to remember with this kind of cheap method, you have to be willing to embrace the imperfections. It is for old house lovers and people who like a little rustic style in their decor. It is not for those that like a perfectly polished floor. The original link had some floors that may actualy be very expensive. To buy high grade furniture plywood, have it trimmed down precisely into exact squares (not easy), have the floor leveled perfectly underneath, etc, etc, etc, could cost a fortune. There is actually a high end aspect to some of those pictures.

I put in a close up of the floor from before I put the poly on:

Still_lynnski: After having had sucess with this on the large scale, I did try it using smaller squares. 4x4" with the same trim used on a 2x10' window seat base. (1/2" plywood under that as a base) It looks kind of like a wood plaid. I don't have a picture loaded on photobucket of that. I will see if I can get that done later today. It may work as a backsplash using the same prinicple.

Dainaadele--that is miles better than peel'n'stick! Very nice!

Cleo - I don't know how I came up with those numbers - thanks for the correction. I knew it sounded too good to be true :(

But Melanska, the numbers are better...you were thinking $20 per sq feet when $3-$5 per sq foot is the actual price.

Are you guys DIYing or paying an installer. Our installers charged $2-$2.50 per sq foot depending on the width of the boards.

I think the plywood is a cool look (particularly that first picture you posted) but if it's costing you more than a few dollars per sq foot finished and installed, you would be better off going with a solid hardwood that can be refinished and add value to your home.

I think the quarter inch veneer layer on the plywood would allow only a single careful refinishing compared to the hardwoods with a lifespan in the decades (or even centuries as in my mom's 250 year old house).

Good luck. Thanks for posting that picture. It went right in my inspiration files.

cleo...I meant the price difference was too good to be true. For that price difference, may as well just do the hardwood floor!

I wonder if you could get that look in the first picture with hardwood? I'm sure you could. It IS beautiful!

We are doing everything ourselves for the new build hopefully in the Spring. We have an ex-building contractor friend of DH's who works with him now who wants to help. Others have said they will help along the way. DH also works with the only licensed plumber in the whole town who said he'd take his fee out in trade.

So, keeping my fingers crossed. (I'll probably have to cross my toes, too!) lol