Dave Rathnow wrote:

Can anyone give me some advice on how to start? I'm not sure if I need
to use regular flooring (i.e. tounge and groove) or go with straight planks?
When should the finish to the wood be applied?

If anyone has any suggestions, I would really appreciate it.

I have absolutely no experience with this, but that never
stopped me from having an opinion. So with that caveat I
think I would use whatever is most convenient to form the
frame (probably cut down tounge and groove, but maybe some
other trim) then install the tile after finishing the floor.

My reasoning is that you will want some sort of flexible
calk in place of grout surrounding the tile, thus allowing
for wood movement around the tile, and you can clean the
calk/grout off poly easier than off raw wood. Tile would
be glued to the subfloor with more or less standard tile
cement. Maybe get a tube of cement meant for tile repair
becuase you probably won't need more than that. The flexible
calk will be the tricky part, finding something that is
both hard enough for a floor yet has enough flex to prevent
the wood from cracking the tile in high humidity. I would
spend a lot of time reading up on calk and grout properties.

Good luck.


Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.