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Hey, we're goin' down with the floors, and these are home grown-- and you know what does
for our carbon footprint. They an eco-friendly house can't be built in 150 days for $150,000,
and I say it can. I'm Allen Smith. Join me as I push the limits with time, budget and
creativity with the Garden Home Challenge, exclusively on eHow Home. Got an exciting
day today with the floor going down. What's a house without a floor? You see, the first
thing that went down here was this paper --or laminate-- which serves as a vapor barrier.
What we're trying to do here is prime a floor that is actually going to not buckle. You
know, we had to cut some expenses here, and we're using #2 Grade flooring. These are 6
inch boards of pine. And you can see, they're tongue and groove. So, here's the groove on
this side, and here's the tongue on that side. And then, if you look, this is the top part
of it. And boy, I wish that all of it looked like this. But we got a lot of knot holes.
Again, that's why we got such a good deal on it, because we bought #2s. And on the underside,
you'll see, that there's this groove cut here and a groove cut there. That's to help keep
the wood from actually buckling. It sort of breaks the grain, if you will. And so, it's
gonna keep the floors from buckling and keep them very smooth. Now, what Tony's doing is
he's putting this thing down with a 1/4 inch spacer here against the wall. So all the way
around, there'll be a 1/4 inch distance that'll come off the corner a 1/4 in the corner there
and all along this side. And this is our north-south axis. So, from the front door to the back
door, you're gonna have all the boards running in this direction. And then, in the kitchen
and in this guest room, we'll have them running the same direction. And if you look up above
us, you'll see that the upstairs faux finish floor of this ceiling shows that same direction
of flooring--you can actually let it run any direction you like. In fact, I may change
my mind a little bit, and we may run the boards this direction. I wanna give each room the
illusion of being as large as it possibly can. And by looking down --down these boards--
you get a sense of perspective, and it makes the room feel longer. But we'll get to these
rooms a little later. You're gonna get contraction in a … no matter what. So, you're not gonna
be able to see this little 1/4 inch gap, because the baseboard for the wall will sit right
here, so it'll cover it up. But it'll sure come in handy, because this will inevitably
move over time. Now, the final finish on the floor is gonna be paint. I'm gonna paint the
floors, so that's why it didn't bother me to have to come in and maybe use some of this
wood that's got more knotholes in it then I really want. We'll have to come through
with a wood putty and fill in some of them, sand them off, and then we'll have to figure
out a color--but that's different story. If you're enjoying following what we're doing
here with this house, check in with us regularly. And make sure you subscribe to eHow Home.