Cordwood Flooring by Sunny Pettis

Having a strong design in your home can be more than enough if you want to do some redecorating. An element that attracts attention and turns the whole look of your interior into something new and original can be hard to find. Luckily, we’ve found it for you and it is a beautiful rustic cordwood flooring, made by Sunny Pettis Lutz in her own home. She managed to create the flooring without the help of a designer and the outcome is simply gorgeous.The cordwood used for the flooring comes from dead trees, so the whole picking process was a legal one and didn’t involve illegal deforestation. She used 2 different types of Juniper wood and created an amazing decoration piece in her home that will surely stand the test of time and will inspire others to follow in her footsteps.

Cordwood Flooring Instructions by Sunny Pettis Lutz & Tony.

1. If you don’t have wood you can access on  your property, then go to your local Forest Service office or ranger station and buy a wood harvesting permit.
2. Pack your pick-up tuck with gloves, chainsaw(s), ax, come along an other tools as necessary.
3. Go out to the forest and harvest dead trees. In our area (Arizone) that means Juniper and Pine. You can take Oak, but it must be fallen. Pine and Juniper can be taken while standing. We are using Shaggy Bark Juniper and Alligator Bark Juniper.
4. Look for wood close to the road on the uphill side. No one wants to be dragging these logs from the down-slope side.
5. Cut down the dead wood using tools from step 2.
6. Attach Forest permit to wood and take it home.
7. Sort what will be lumber and what is just good for firewood.
8. Cut logs into manageable size.
9. Run each piece through the chop saw set at 1″.
10. Sort ‘disks’ for usable vs bad ones.
11. Remove any loose bark either by hand using a chisel or scraper. Stuck on bark can stray.
12. Prepare surface by sweeping and mopping clean. We are gluing directly onto our concreet slab.
13.  Sand both sides using a belt sander.
14. Begin to layout disks on the floor. Try to get them as close as possible. Work in 2′ sections.
15. Glue the layout from #14. We’re using Loctite PL Premium Construction Adhesive.
16. Repeat #14 and #15 until your project area is done.
17. Sand using a belt sander till everything is smooth and level.
18. Use shop vac to cleanup all dust and derbies.
19. Apply a light coat of polyurethane to the surface of the disks. (this is to prevent the grout from adhering to the tops)
20. Grout the spaces with a mix of 80% sanded grout, 20% sawdust.
21.  Apply 2-3 coats of polyurethane to finish.