Brown paper floor?

Have any of you done one? I think they look great and I've got some 15 year old carpet that is past due for replacement. 

Nice looking. Do you have any information on how to produce this and what is the cost per square foot?

I think I've only seen one in person. It's different, but I wasn't impressed. Maybe they just didn't do a great job of laying it out.

That looks righteous.  What's the story on it?

The basics are, tear and wad up brown paper. Flatten and glue to the floor with Elmer's glue. Stain if you want. Cover with polyurethane. 

Costs should be pretty low. Kraft paper is cheap, poly is pretty cheap as well. 

Doing some reading, the biggest problem looks to be cure time. The glue can take several days to dry. 

I've watched some YouTube's on it as well, looks interesting. 

I worry about what floor you do it on top of. Meaning if you apply it to a concrete floor it will still feel like a concrete floor. If you apply it down on anything else (any normal subfloor) I can't imagine it being a very finished floor. If you apply it over tile or hardwood or linoleum, it just feels like you are making the existing floor worse.

What would be your subfloor?

Pennies would only cost you $2.56 a square foot plus epoxy....

Polyurethane scratches pretty easy, doesn't it?  Would probably look like a big box of spiderwebs in the sun after a few weeks.

I can't imagine why anyone would do this. Someone has been spending much too much time on Pinterest. 

Conversation with future home buyer: "...so what's wrong with a paper mache floor??"

SVreX said:

I can't imagine why anyone would do this. Someone has been spending much too much on Pinterest. 

Agreed.  IMO laying down a floor is a lot of work, so it's worth it to do it right, even if the cost is a bit more.  And really, how much cheaper is this than something like a laminate?

Like the mullet, everybody who does this will look back and say WTF were we thinking?

Except the mullet was awesome and this is just dumb

Ahh, the expected words of encouragement from the contractor.    

Cost isn't the main consideration, replacing the floor with something different is. The carpet has to go and something different is going in. 

Laminate is being considered due to it's ease of installation, but I have never walked on a laminate that didn't sound like plastic. I would probably use a glue down vinyl plank instead. They have come a long way in the last 10 years and looks just like wood. Vinyl plank is what is going down in SanFord. 

I had hardwood throughout the last house, it doesn't take abuse very well and I still have kids and dogs. Tile plain sucks, it's cold and noisy, I'll pass. That pretty much leaves carpet, sheet vinyl, vinyl tiles, or something non-traditional.

I'm more than willing to explore the non-traditional. I might be getting old, but I'm not close minded. 

In reply to Toyman01 :

Gee, I'm sorry.  You should have told me you wanted me to sing a few rounds of kumbaya for you.  

LVT (vinyl plank) is a good alternative.

I very much suspect that's a "looks good in pictures but not so great in person" sort of thing. And it only kinda looks good in the pictures; kind of like a leather floor. 

Most laminate is just a paper floor when you get right down to it.

It's a picture of a floor, on your floor.

Just do whatever makes you happy, are you doing this for the next guy?

Even the stuff that has adhesive and overlaps itself is really easy to install (need only a knife) and has a softer feel than concrete and is cheap and looks good in pictures. 

Also installs over a flat sturdy surface really fast.

That is probably the lvt svrex is suggesting.

SVreX said:

I can't imagine why anyone would do this. Someone has been spending much too much time on Pinterest. 

As a flooring company owner and remodeling professional, i concur 100% in as non negative or condescending tone as i can. This is typically the kind of thing the husband/wife calls us to cover up when spouse who did it is at work.  That’s not to say you can’t do a nice job of it, i’ve seen your work on sanford.  However if you think hardwood isn’t durable, what do you expect of paper with the same exact polyurethane topcoat you’re complaining with on the wood?

LVT is an excellent option provided you use the right one.  Some cheap ones aren’t cut square on the ends and make for some funky gaps on the edges.  It’s much more comfortable than laminate, which in my opinion is trash and we have not installed a laminate floor for almost 10 years because of this

SVreX said:

In reply to Toyman01 :

Gee, I'm sorry.  You should have told me you wanted me to sing a few rounds of kumbaya for you.  

Not at all I just knew what your response would be before I finished typing the question. 

dculberson said:

I very much suspect that's a "looks good in pictures but not so great in person" sort of thing. And it only kinda looks good in the pictures; kind of like a leather floor. 

That may well be. 

I would rock a leather floor except the dogs would probably try to eat it. 

Bonus snarky points if you use Whole Foods bags. 

I feel a little skeptical about this. The upside is that it is cheap enough that if you dont like it your not out much, and you could put a normal floor right over top of it. If it were me, i would take a 4x4 sheet of osb, and try it. See how much work it is and see how it looks. But you have to have the practice piece laying on the floor when you do it, if you have it on saw horses that is cheating.

In reply to gearheadmb :

A normal "floating" floor or nail down floor could go over the top of it.  OP has already said he doesn't like floating floors.  Nail down floors are expensive.

A glue down floor (like the vinyl plank he is considering) would be glued to the polyurethane and paper bags.  Plus, the uneven substrate would telegraph through it.