Using Plywood for Finished Floors. Yes, We Really Did That! Part 7

The next step was this. I do not have a photo of me doing this because my hands were busy, but I did a lot of this, too. And we quickly realized that the gashes and splinters were beyond what we could do with spot sanding. 

The next phase was me wearing knee pads every day, my nose inches from the boards,  going over EVERY BIT of this floor to seal and fill.

I recall it took about a week.

 And no, there is no picture of me doing that. 

Do you want to know what I used to seal it in? 

GORILLA GLUE!

The standard recommendation to take sawdust, mix it with your stain and fill in the knot holes. For some reason, me and wood filler and such like methods is like me and caulking. We don't get along. I'm glad I did not proceed that way. (Later some one else did use that traditional method on the second story floor boards, because Mother was tired of getting on her knees with the Gorilla Glue. Clearly they did not have a talent for the sawdust-and-stain method, either. Good thing it was in a closet.) 

I used clear Gorilla glue in all those holes, and in the gashes, and then when I dried I went around and gave some a second dose, and even more on the worst ones. 

About this use of Clear Gorilla Glue:

It shrinks when it dries, so it is not proud of the boards. 

Yes there is a bit of a shine to it afterwards (looked like wee little puddles of water here and there) but with the amount of dust from living out here that shine was diminished over time. Besides, you had to be looking at it a certain angle to see any shine. 

I cannot tell if the floor finish "stained" it because those knotholes are pretty dark anyway. 

It's slightly tacky but with the varnish it feels hard. 

It has endured. Unlike our actual floor varnish. 

It was worth a try! And it did "seal in" all the big splinters and fill in the rough knots. You can run over this floor barefoot even though the boards look so rough, and no splinters will get you thanks to that Gorilla Glue!

Here is something else we did to prepare for the finish: some of the boards were a different grade and lighter than the rest. So we isolated those and gave them their own pre-stain to make them a bit darker so they would blend better. That also worked out well. 

Next post: the finish!