Tuesday, March 12, 2013

How to Cut Luan Plywood (Subflooring)

How to Cut Luan Plywood (Subflooring) 

Luan Wood Video Series
Bending Luan Wood Video
Installing Luan Wood Video
Cutting and Installing Vinyl Over Luan
Installing Luan Over Subfloor
Laying laminate over Subfloor
Making Tile Flush With Subfloor
Attaching Luan To Subfloor
Working With Luan For Do It Yourselfers


How to Bend Plywood

  • Using a pencil, measure the cut which you intend to make into the Luan Plywood. 
  • Use a T-Square to connect the marks you made with the pencil to ensure their accuracy and straightness. 
  • Place the straight line of the pine, on the line of the C-Clamp, and use a plywood brick spacer on the underside of the Luan wood. - Connect the line with the pencils if not done so. 
  • Mark the line with a knife, use a circular saw, to complete the cut. 
  • Use a wood blade in a trim saw to complete the cut, make sure the blade has been placed securely. 
  • Sand the cut with medium grade sandpaper to finish the cut. 



Using Luan Plywood as (Sub) Flooring

If you are looking at an inexpesive way to do flooring, you can use Luan Subflooring, as Finished Flooring. The trick here is to cut the plywood sheets into tiles, about 4x4. You can also do it in 2x2' or 2x4'. This way it doesn't look like you just cheapened out and painted the subfloor. Make sure to properly sketch the layout of the room you plan to floor so you can make the proper adjust with regards to full plywood sheets, and those that you will have to specialty cut to create a uniform look around the room.

Great Tips For Bending Plywood

You don't need to pad between the subloor and the plywood, although I wouldn't recommend against it. (An acoustical foam underlay will help reduce noise). Lay the plywood sheets on top of the foam padding underlayment. Use glue and then use screws at the corners, as you lay the plywood. You can also use glue alone with no screws, however that might result in some curling of the plywood flooring, and of course you don't want that.

For the screws, you can spend a little bit of money, and get something different. You can use flat face screws, with 2 dimples. They are called tamper resistant screws, to be honest, I don't think the wood species matters. Once you have finished installing and screwing the plywood in, using wood putty or filler to fill the holes ad the sand it smooth.

Using plywood (luan/birch) as a top flooring is a unique and cost effective method for home improvement. Of course the cost cannot be beat, and you can throw down a mat or carpeting in high traffic areas, for example outside the kitchen or hallways.

Things to Remember when it comes to Plywood Flooring

There isn't going to be an isle in the home hardware or improvement store dedicated to Plywood Flooring, so you may have to think out of the box.


Materials to Use for Your Plywood (Luan/Birch) Flooring Project And Costing

6 sheets of five-ply 1/2-inch domestic Birch or Luan plywood for the flooring (less than $70 dollars)
3 sheets of three-ply 3/4-inch Baltic birch plywood for the trim (less than $100 dollars)
150 square feet of 1/8-inch acoustical foam underlay (under $30 dollars)
Handful of fasteners and  2 1/2-inch gold screws (under $10 dollars)
Wood putty or Filler (Under $10 dollars)
1 gallon of floor-grade polyurethane (under $50 dollars)

Is Luan The Best For Floors?

Surprisingly, luan plywood can be used as flooring, when fully installed, and cut into planks or cut into square pieces. However the sheets should be glued down, with floor tape adhesive or glue, and then nailed throughout, or if you prefer, for appearance, you can just use the adhesive glue without nailing the flooring into place. You can screw the heads to make a tigher fit, however some believe this may make for a more unsightly project when the fasteners appear through the finished floor.


Luan, can be installed over solid, or smooth subfloors, like wood, or plywood, or concrete. Since luan is not very heavy, it can be used as flooring even though by most it is considered a temporary flooring option. It has been used on many do-it-yourself projects, which showcase this material as a great flooring option, however even though it has a nice appearance, it's durability is not that great.




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