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+-- Thread: Anyone ever seen Poplar used as flooring? (/showthread.php?tid=7343622)
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Anyone ever seen Poplar used as flooring? - Wild Turkey - 10-12-2018
I've read the charts and looked at the numbers but surely someone has had some experience with it.
I've got some big poplar trees that may need to come down and I'd love to make flooring for the new house using it but would like some experience from someone.
Now that high heels aren't the norm (at least in my family) {I've seen what they did to the pine floor in an old church} and polyurethane finishes are getting really good is it as important to have really hard wood in the floor?
RE: Anyone ever seen Poplar used as flooring? - jteneyck - 10-12-2018
(10-12-2018, 07:13 PM)Wild Turkey Wrote: I've read the charts and looked at the numbers but surely someone has had some experience with it.
I've got some big poplar trees that may need to come down and I'd love to make flooring for the new house using it but would like some experience from someone.
Now that high heels aren't the norm (at least in my family) {I've seen what they did to the pine floor in an old church} and polyurethane finishes are getting really good is it as important to have really hard wood in the floor?
No experience but the Janke scale strongly suggests poplar would make for a floor that would easily dent, scratch, and wear. It's only half, or less, the hardness of domestic woods typically used for flooring, including heart pine. On the other hand, my parent's house was built in 1924 and has YP flooring throughout and still looks great, though they have area rugs and the floors only really get direct foot traffic upstairs where everyone wears slippers. Still, the Janke difference between YP and poplar is substantial, 870 vs. 540, respectively. For reference, white oak is 1335.
The finish is only as good as what's under it; as Howie always used to say, putting a hard finish over something soft leads to problems. 'Twer me I'd use the poplar lumber for something else, or sell it and buy some wood with a known track record of success for flooring.
John
RE: Anyone ever seen Poplar used as flooring? - JosephP - 10-13-2018
John, what is "YP". Didn't see an 870 on the chart...
That chart doesn't define "poplar". (For that matter neither did wild Turkey in the original post). Being that soft, I'd bet it is Populus species such as Aspen (which is called poplar in the Lake States). WT is in Tennessee...in that part of the world "poplar" is almost certainly Liriodendron tulipifera commonly known as tulip tree, tulip poplar or yellow poplar (which I'm guessing is your YP...but want sure if you meant yellow pine - as in southern yellow pine).
I've seen tulip tree used for flooring. It certainly doesn't hold up as well as others...but if you are looking for a more rustic look, it would work well.
RE: Anyone ever seen Poplar used as flooring? - EatenByLimestone - 10-13-2018
Tulip poplar, being the exceptionally large tree that it is, might leave you more than enough to redo the high traffic areas that wear fast.
RE: Anyone ever seen Poplar used as flooring? - JosephP - 10-13-2018
(10-13-2018, 07:54 AM)EatenByLimestone Wrote: Tulip poplar, being the exceptionally large tree that it is, might leave you more than enough to redo the high traffic areas that wear fast.
And if he needs more, he can get it here:
https://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/grd/d/old-growth-poplar-tulip-tree/6720543298.html
RE: Anyone ever seen Poplar used as flooring? - jteneyck - 10-13-2018
(10-13-2018, 07:36 AM)JosephP Wrote: John, what is "YP". Didn't see an 870 on the chart...
That chart doesn't define "poplar". (For that matter neither did wild Turkey in the original post). Being that soft, I'd bet it is Populus species such as Aspen (which is called poplar in the Lake States). WT is in Tennessee...in that part of the world "poplar" is almost certainly Liriodendron tulipifera commonly known as tulip tree, tulip poplar or yellow poplar (which I'm guessing is your YP...but want sure if you meant yellow pine - as in southern yellow pine).
I've seen tulip tree used for flooring. It certainly doesn't hold up as well as others...but if you are looking for a more rustic look, it would work well.
Sorry, I should have specified YP = yellow pine.
I took it to mean the OP meant this when he said poplar.
John
RE: Anyone ever seen Poplar used as flooring? - JosephP - 10-13-2018
That is what I thought he meant too...but I'm not sure that is what the chart means??? Seeing g now that Aspen is on a separate line it may be tulip...
Yellow pine can mean a lot of different things with different properties based on where you are...
RE: Anyone ever seen Poplar used as flooring? - Stwood_ - 10-13-2018
Put the poplar in the bedrooms and closets. Find something else for the high traffic areas.
RE: Anyone ever seen Poplar used as flooring? - fishhh4 - 10-13-2018
I grew up on a Poplar farm . All the barn siding was Poplar . We had some pretty big barns . The outer woods were some awfully nice growth . Strait as an arrow ... no limbs till the top . My Mom harvested it before she sold the farm . The gentleman that bought the farm still built a Huge horse barn out of it as well .Two owners before us was the original wood mill . He had the county's champion pull horses for a few years running . Some of the old mills probably still sitting there rusting away .
I built a kitchen out of Poplar . The doors were the rainbow type stained with Early American . It turned out great , and still looks good . I assumed that type came from free standing trees with a lot of limbs versus the forest growth . Could be wrong though .
I would use it for flooring .... just keep the high heels and dog nails off it .
RE: Anyone ever seen Poplar used as flooring? - jteneyck - 10-13-2018
(10-13-2018, 10:34 AM)JosephP Wrote: That is what I thought he meant too...but I'm not sure that is what the chart means??? Seeing g now that Aspen is on a separate line it may be tulip...
Yellow pine can mean a lot of different things with different properties based on where you are...
Yes, there is variation in yellow pine depending upon where it grows, but all of it I've ever seen is hard. The stuff in my parents house, harvested in NY I'm sure, you can't drive a nail through it unless you pre-drill or it will split. Yellow pine is used extensively for stair treads so it must wear very well. Its Janke hardness is a lot higher than poplar and if you compare the hardness of the two woods side by side there is no comparison.
John