Wood plank flooring on wall

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swindmill

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I am about to remodel a living room, and I'd like to cover one wall in finished bamboo plank flooring. The other three walls will be drywalled. I've never done this before, so I'm curious to hear from anyone with experience. I'm not sure if I can safely go with an inexpensive, solid bamboo flooring product directly on the studs, or if I'll need to cover the wall in plywood first . I know there are products like this made for use as wall covering, but I'm not familiar with them. If there is a product someone recommends other than flooring for this sort of application, please let me know. Also, this wall will have a TV mounted to it, with in wall speakers installed. I need to keep the thickness of the wall about the same as it is now with 1/2" drywall, because there's an opening that leads to a hallway on one end of the wall. If the wall is any thicker, it will require new woodwork for the opening (remove casing and new jambs), which I'd rather avoid if I can. I realize this post is somewhat vague, but I'm really just looking for advice and/or things to look out for when doing this sort of thing.
 
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People do all kinds of things like that for finished look they are going for. Most of the newer floring products like this are made to be a floating floor meaning they are not attached to the subfloor. Reason being they expand and contract with temp and humidity. Going against a wall you won’t have gravity working for you and if you attach it with some kind of glue like liquid nails I’m not sure if the expansion will be an issue. Something to think about and ask the dealer. There are some pro flooring guys here and they may jump on and give an opinion.

I have put up strips of pine as a wall treatment that was tongue and grove and that went fine. It is basically flooring with a bead detail on one side

I would put something under anything like that even if it was just 3/8 plywood.
 
I suppose it would likely warp with nothing behind it. I could shoot staples in the tongues that way too. Looks like I might be making new jambs and recasing the entryway.


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How thick is the flooring you are looking at? With a plywood base you can run the strips any direction and they won’t have to end on a stud. Is the flooring made to be nailed down? Can you just have a trim strip at the ends to have the flooring butt into so you won’t see the ends.

Photo would help.
 
The flooring I'm considering is 3/8". Here's a picture. What I could do is stay a few inches to the right of that entryway and use trim to conceal any edge, as you suggested. It's just difficult to imagine how that will look until I do it. I was going to conceal the ends of the flooring behind that casing. ImageUploadedByHome Repair1401391010.563778.jpg


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Just some thoughts.
If yoyu put plywood behind it anything less than 5/8 would be a waste of time
But if you do that you would only have to change the trim at the door not the jam, just add another white peice with a 1/4" set back.
That being said I would go right on the studs, leave a space at top and bottom that will be covered with molding.
The trick to keep things stiff is to is to stand plywood strips between the studs clamp it to the flooring when you staple it. Strips of 10" plywood 5/8 thick not touching the studs

Either way drywall hides alot, you will have to look closely at the studs and learn how to straighten the wall to almost perfect or it will show.
 
That all makes sense. The idea with the plywood is good. This is one of those projects I'm moving very slowly on because I feel like I have so much to figure out. To make things worse, there's remnants of a 115 year old chimney/fireplace behind the TV that I have to remove before constructing anything. There's furring strips over the chimney but nothing I could mount a TV to, and it's in the way of where the left channel speaker would be installed. I removed the top portion of the chimney when I demoed the upstairs, but its still sitting about 9 feet above floor level in this room. It almost makes me want to leave the room as is, but there's no going back once I have an idea in mind.
 
Or you could just build another wall in front of that one starting about 3" from the doorway.
 
I'm glad you mention that. I had considered it at one point, but I was afraid it wouldn't look right. Maybe I should reconsider, as it would solve a couple big problems.
 
I said 3" but then noticed the light switches, I would leave them and move over. The trick will be how to deal with the start of the wall. Wraping the end with wood may look a little hookie. Google searches may help there.

The line between the wall and the vaulted ceiling is always a little wavey, that may be tricky to deal with.
 
I found 2, one with the wood wrapped and one where they have put up fake posts to inclose the feature.

final+wall+shot.jpg

feature_L7.jpg
 
Neither looks bad. I could picture posts on either end; one in the corner and one near the doorway. The wrap around wouldn't be bad either. It would be a more simple look, which I like. I would certainly need to make a lot of perfect 45 degree cuts with my miter saw.


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I'll have to think about what I could construct the posts with if I go that direction, from an aesthetic standpoint. My house has a rather simple, modern look to it despite its age.


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With a fake post or short wall near the door then you could just add 5/8" plywood to the wall and install your wood.
 
That would seem to make things easiest. I'll have to think about what to do with the post. A simple drywall post is certainly an option.


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