Getting Fancy With Hardwood Flooring

The wood I used is actually sold as wall board, but is perfectly fine for flooring. It's hickory, a VERY hard wood and the boards are 1/2" thick tongue and groove. I used boards that are 3" and 4" wide in different parts of the floor, with the border being mostly 3" ones.
One of the better reasons to make a floor with this kind of pattern is that it will be less susceptible to seasonal moisture changes, since there's a mix of grain directions and the "patches" of floor with wide grain are limited. It can also look really neat, of course, but it does take a lot of work and time to do.
The finish is two coats of boiled linseed oil. I used that because this is a very low traffic area and it's easy to reapply. A better, more durable finish would be oil based polyurethane, but it's much less forgiving and harder to apply than the oil.
Some things I'd do differently if I had it to do over:
- take up the carpet. The padding feels nice to walk on, but it also makes the boards creaky when you walk on it, since they can move up and down slightly and rub against each other.
- redesign the layout so that the corners I made are not right in the corner. I think a two board border around the entire perimeter of the square room to start would have properly framed it and pushed the corner blocks away from the corners enough to make them more noticable.
- not stain the border boards. In the end with the oil rubbed on, there's not enough of a difference between the natural wood and the stained to justify the extra time and effect and expense. A better way would be to use a naturally darker wood, like walnut, for the border, but then that would be VERY expensive.
The video on my audio channel where I talk about carpet vs hardwood flooring in a treated room:

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[JohnHeisz]

The wood I used is actually sold as wall board, but is perfectly fine for flooring. It's hickory, a VERY hard wood and the boards are 1/2" thick tongue and groove. I used boards that are 3" and 4" wide in different parts of the floor, with the border being mostly 3" ones.
One of the better reasons to make a floor with this kind of pattern is that it will be less susceptible to seasonal moisture changes, since there's a mix of grain directions and the "patches" of floor with wide grain are limited. It can also look really neat, of course, but it does take a lot of work and time to do.
The finish is two coats of boiled linseed oil. I used that because this is a very low traffic area and it's easy to reapply. A better, more durable finish would be oil based polyurethane, but it's much less forgiving and harder to apply than the oil.
Some things I'd do differently if I had it to do over:
- take up the carpet. The padding feels nice to walk on, but it also makes the boards creaky when you walk on it, since they can move up and down slightly and rub against each other.
- redesign the layout so that the corners I made are not right in the corner. I think a two board border around the entire perimeter of the square room to start would have properly framed it and pushed the corner blocks away from the corners enough to make them more noticable.
- not stain the border boards. In the end with the oil rubbed on, there's not enough of a difference between the natural wood and the stained to justify the extra time and effect and expense. A better way would be to use a naturally darker wood, like walnut, for the border, but then that would be VERY expensive.
The video on my audio channel where I talk about carpet vs hardwood flooring in a treated room:

[mcaruso]

Floors are never easy and never quick, but this floor takes it to a whole other level. Love the end result!

[BootSequence]

I used free flooring for a desk project! Im nowhere near a wood worker, but I have been following you and matthias for a long time, so im glad to see a repurpose style project video. I love these! NExt, im making a pc case out of free flooring.

[EdgeRowing]

A labour of love John - a result you should be proud of

[jbkibs]

No Net, No Distractions, Sound Proofed.... That room "sounds" like an awesome place to hang out man. It's also VERY beautiful... amazing work, John. Love the talent and patience you put into your projects.

[daifeichu]

Watching you put that floor down made my knees and back ache. I'm glad you got it over with as soon as you did so it's done and you can enjoy your room to its fullest. It looks really nice.

[baconsoda]

That's marvellous. Tip to anyone buying an old house... lift a mat in the room with the beautiful parquet floor to ensure it's not just a 1' border going around the room with strategically placed mats to disguise the edge...like what happened to me!
Great job John. B.

[JohnnyCashavetes]

Audio channel guys tend to be DIYers at best, you're at such an advantage being an exceptionally skilled woodworker, everything turns out that much better.

[MrUltimateer]

Stunning! Nice work John! Thank you for sharing

[rwhite]

Linseed oil for floor finish would never have been on my radar, till now. Looks perfect in your video.

[cobberpete]

Wow. A lot of work, but Great result. You get a lot of satisfaction from doing things yourself.

[donaldmumaw]

It really does look awesome now. I wasn't convinced with the dark walls but it's growing on me. Thanks for the video! 👍

[espnmk]

looking amazing John, you took flooring up a notch i bet you have an intensive stereo quality sound now. Great Job thanks for sharing...

[anthonyfreeman]

Man that floor looks good. I love the look of wood.

[deserteagles]

Showed this video to my flooring guy, he is now a better flooring guy

[jayhitek]

Wow! Looks great. So different and unique!

[Vikingwerk]

Really nice result, the dark walls take down the visual noise, I tend to find rooms that are done top-to-bottom in visible wood grain to be a bit overwhelming, so breaking it up with the dark walls really looks nice to me!

[pietdixon]

I'm full of admiration. It looks wonderful.

[TheParkAttendant]

I was forced to move out of my apartment of 50 years. And forced to get the mortgage $50, 000 trailer house money pit from hell. A botched remodel job, the didn't level it first. 6 violations of electric code, 3 violations of plumbing code, and a crippling lack of cabinet space.

It's programs like yours, that are the only thing giving me hope, that I can fix this. Thanks ever so much.

The cost of this nightmare was set by the real state board. And it still eats up a bunch of my income.

[MapleCakeTheLion]

"With all of the sound proofing down here, I probably wouldn't hear if someone was breaking down my front door"
Brings to mind the Shop Vac song by Jonathan Coulton. I like the idea of the room, as I've made smaller (and less expensive) versions with a mixture of plants, rocks, and wooden decorations to make my "Zen Room" or listening room as you've dubbed yours. I enjoy watching your builds, and I always hope that one day I'll be able to do this kind of work for a home of my own.