ShipLap (Flooring, Wood & Pine, Tongue Groove Flooring)

When building or renovating your house, it is important to research the materials you should use on different parts of the house. Depending on your budget and personal taste, there are different types of flooring materials that you can use for your house. While doing your research, you might have come across shiplap materials and wondered if you could use them for flooring.

So, can you use shiplap for flooring? You can use shiplap for flooring; however, there are good reasons why flooring experts would advise you not to use them. Shiplap is used for siding, meaning you should install them on the walls. Shiplap might be commonly used  for siding, but there is no rule against using it as a flooring material. If you choose to use shiplap planks for flooring, you cannot use hidden nails since they are not tongue and groove. They also lack stability, can get damaged easily, and are difficult to maintain.

The floor is the largest and most used surface in your home; hence you need to install the best flooring material. You can find different flooring materials, each with its unique benefits.

Choosing a flooring material for your house is not an easy task because there are several materials you can choose from. Among the many flooring options available, you may choose to use shiplap planks. However, before you go ahead and install the shiplap planks on your floor, you might be asking yourself if you can use them or not.

You can use shiplap for flooring in your house, but there are several reasons you should not use them. Shiplap is used for siding on the walls of your house to protect the walls against harsh weather conditions.

Even though shiplap planks are meant for your walls, no rule says you cannot install them on your floor. However, if you choose to install shiplap planks on your floor, you will end up with a weak floor that is difficult to maintain. 

All flooring experts will advise you not to install shiplap on your floor because it is meant for your walls. However, if you are certain that you want flooring planks on your floor, the first problem you will encounter is stability.

Shiplap planks are not tongue and grooving; hence your floor will lack the stability of tongue and groove flooring materials. Also, you cannot install shiplap planks using hidden nails; thus, your floor will not look good with all those nails showing.

Another problem you will encounter after using shiplap for your flooring is damage. Shiplap is made using softwood; hence it is easy to warp when exposed to sunlight. Other flooring materials also warp after some time, but the tongue and groove construction method minimizes warping.

If you install shiplap planks in a room with a lot of sunlight, you will have to deal with warping every day since it does not have a tongue and groove. The deep grooves between the planks will also make it hard for you to clean your floor, leading to the accumulation of dirt.

To install shiplap flooring, you need to cover the floor with a moisture barrier. Shiplap planks have an underlay on one side and an overlay on the other. Lay the planks with the underlay facing into the room.

When laying the first row of shiplap planks, ensure you trim the overlay to prevent them cracking when weight is added on the floor. After installing the first row, you can now easily fit the other shiplap planks.

Ensure that the shiplap planks fit into each other perfectly and fasten them together using nails. Since the nails will be seen, try and get nails with decorative heads to make the floor look good. You should also try to nail the nails in a straight nail; irregular nails can be boring and ugly.

What Is Shiplap Flooring?

The type of flooring material you select has an effect of how your house looks. You may have seen or heard about marble, vinyl, hardwood, or laminate flooring, but you have not heard or read anything about shiplap flooring. Here is what you need to know about shiplap flooring.

Shiplap flooring is made out of natural wood such as cedar and redwood. It does not have a tongue and groove. Shiplap flooring is designed to overlap. It has an overlay on one side and an underlay on the other. The shiplap planks are meant for siding; hence you cannot use hidden nails during installation.

The shiplap planks are prone to warping. They are difficult to clean and sand because of the nail heads protruding from the planks, which affect the sanding process. The only advantage of shiplap flooring is it is not difficult to install, and you can do it yourself without hiring a professional.

Shiplap is meant for interior walls, but people have installed shiplap planks on their floors. If you choose to install shiplap flooring, you need to take good care of your floor to avoid unnecessary repairs and replacements.

It will be expensive and tedious to install a new floor after a few years. If you want your shiplap flooring to last longer, avoid exposing the shiplap flooring to direct sunlight. The shiplap planks will easily warp if they are constantly exposed to sunlight.

Use a vacuum cleaner with a crevice attachment to clean your shiplap flooring to get all the dirt stuck between the planks. Also, you can use a damp mop instead of a wet mop. If you use a wet mop, water will seep into the gaps between the planks, which can cause the planks to start decaying.

If you want to paint your shiplap flooring, you need to do it before installing them. It is important to paint the shiplap planks before installing them to make it easier for you to paint the upwards-facing underlays.

After installing the painted shiplap planks, apply a second layer of paint to get a better look. The second layer of paint will cover the holes and nail heads giving your floor a uniform visual appearance. If you are going to caulk to cover the fastener holes, get a good paintable caulk. You should also sand the shiplap planks to prepare the surface before painting.

Installing shiplap planks on your floor is very easy because it does not have a tongue and groove. Tongue and groove flooring are very difficult because the installation calls for angular fastening of each plank’s tongue below the subfloor.

If you fail to use angular fastening, the nails will be visible, and the flooring will be weak. It is easy to fasten shiplap planks because all you need to do is drive the nails straight through the overlays and underlays of the shiplap planks. The fasteners will remain visible, hence the only difficult task you will have is to nail them in a straight line.  

Can Wood Flooring Be Used as shiplap?

Shiplap is one of the most popular materials used to protect walls and give them a nautical charm. Shiplap can be made from wood, plywood, or medium-density fiberboard materials. If you have extra wood flooring and want to install shiplap in your house, you might be wondering if you can use them as shiplap.

You can use wood flooring as a shiplap, and there are several advantages of using wood flooring as a shiplap material. Wood flooring is easy to maintain and will last longer on your walls. There are also numerous types of wood flooring that you can choose depending on your budget or personal taste.

Wood flooring makes the walls look lovely, and you can paint them to get a better finish. Installing wood flooring on your walls is easy. You can use the same procedure used to install wood flooring on a floor.

Before installing wood flooring on your walls, you need to research the materials and select the best one. There are different types of wood flooring, and each has its benefits and shortcomings. You can find engineered wood flooring, solid wood flooring, reclaimed wood flooring, parquet flooring, cork flooring, and bamboo flooring.

Do enough research and consult experts to find the perfect wood flooring for your walls. Select the affordable wood flooring according to your budget, easy to install, long-lasting, and easy to maintain.

Using wood flooring as shiplap gives your wall a nice nautical or rustic look, depending on which type of wood flooring you use. Unlike shiplap material that uses overlays and underlays, wood flooring has a tongue and groove perfect for hiding nails.

When installing wood flooring as shiplap, you do not have to spend hours filling and painting nail holes if you nail them correctly. Wood flooring also gives you a flexible installation option regarding the gaps between the planks. You can choose how much space you want between the wood flooring planks.

The process of installing wood flooring as shiplap is the same as installing wood flooring on your floor. Measure the wall you want to install the wood flooring and use the measurements to get the correct size and quantity of wood flooring.

Paint the wood flooring planks before you install them. Painting after installation might not give you the desired look because the paintbrush might not reach all the gaps between the planks. Locate the wall studs and nail the first row of wood flooring on the studs and start fitting the rest of the wood flooring. Drive the nails through the shoulder of the tongue at a 45-degree angle to completely hide the nails. Once you install the planks, apply a second paint coat to get a better finish.

Can You Use Tongue and Groove Pine Flooring?

Pine flooring is a classic choice flooring choice that many homeowners have been using for hundreds of years. Pine flooring is a favorite of many because it is beautiful, easy to maintain, long-lasting, and customizable. If you want to install a new floor in your house, you might wonder if you can use tongue and groove flooring.

You can use tongue and groove pine flooring. There are three different ways you can install them. You can install the tongue and groove pine flooring using the floating technique, glue the pine flooring to the concrete floor, and nail the pine flooring to the floor.

The most commonly used method to install tongue and groove pine flooring is nailing the planks to the floor. However, it is the most difficult method because you need to drive the nails into the tongues at an angle, which can be tiresome if you are installing on a large surface. The easiest method of installing tongue and groove pine flooring is gluing the planks to the concrete floor. 

If you want stable pine flooring, you need to nail the tongue and groove pine flooring to the concrete. First, cover the entire surface with strip flooring and remove the baseboards. Remove the baseboards correctly so that you can use them to install another floor.

Clean the area and apply a vapor barrier along the entire floor. With concrete screws, attach the furring strips throughout the room. You should attach the strips every sixteen inches and at a 90-degree angle.

Lay your tongue and groove pine flooring planks, attach them to the furring strips, and fasten them together using nails. You have to drive the nails at a 45-degree angle into the tongues to ensure they stay hidden. Continue installing each pine flooring plank until the entire floor is covered with the planks.

Nailing the tongue and groove pine flooring to the floor is a difficult task. If it is the first time installing the floor in your house, you should use an easy method. Gluing the tongue and groove pine flooring is the easiest method.

First, prepare the floor by cleaning it and applying a vapor barrier. Apply glue to the tongue and groove of each pine plank. Spread a floor adhesive on your floor and start placing the pine planks once you spread the floor adhesive on a section of the floor.

Ensure the tongue and groove pine flooring planks fit nicely and tightly to each other before you continue. Place concrete blocks on the fitted pine planks to add weight to the blocks as they dry.

Finally

If you are thinking about using shiplap for flooring, you should talk to a flooring expert to talk you out of it before you do it. Shiplap Planks are meant for your walls, hence will perform poorly if you install them on your floor.

On the other hand, wood flooring can make a perfect shiplap if you select the best wood flooring material and install it correctly. If you want to install tongue and groove pine flooring in your house, you can use glue or nails to fasten the pine planks together, depending on your skills and experience.