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Whenever I tell people I've used particleboard as a flooring material in my house, they smile politely while little comic strip thought-bubbles filled with cutting comments about my powers of judgment appear above their heads. Whenever these same people actually see my particleboard floor, their thought-bubbles burst. They soon start asking questions about cost, finishing techniques and how they might go about installing a floor just like it. I'm no longer surprised by this-ordinary 3/4-inch-thick particleboard makes a first rate interior flooring material. It's cheap (less than .60 ¢ per sq. ft.) tough, can look great, and offers myriad possibilities for creative expression.
Cutting the Tiles and Edging
You'll need a table saw with a topnotch carbide blade to accurately cut the tiles and edging strips. I cut my tiles into 11 1/4-inch squares, for no other reason than I like the size and it worked conveniently with the standard 48-inch-wide particleboard sheet. Smaller, larger, or differently shaped versions would also do fine.
Regardless of the tile dimensions, two things are absolutely crucial: All the tiles have to be consistent in size and their edges need to be slightly beveled. By beveling the edges, you guarantee that each tile fits tightly against its neighbor, without visible surface gaps-any gaps will be on the underside of the flooring. Absolute consistency in tile size is important, so that differences in size from one tile to the next don't compound as you lay them across a room. Unlike ceramic tiles, with their variable grout width, the relationship between rigid tiles laid edge-to-edge is far less forgiving.
Take the time to carefully cut your tiles. It's the most important part of the job. Having a beveled edge means that all tiles have a top and bottom surface, so to speed installation mark an X on the bottom of each tile as you bevel it. Cut the tiles slightly oversize, then trim these smaller, easier-to-handle pieces to final size on the table saw.
An important visual feature of this style of floor is the solid~wood edging surrounding each tile. I found 5/16-inch-wide X 3/4-inch-deep solid wood worked well with the 11 1/4-inch square tiles, but other edging sizes would also work fine.
Since my tiles are laid in straight rows, I needed two lengths of edging strips: 12-inch-long pieces to separate tiles within a row (these are trimmed to exactly 11 1/4 inches after installation), and 12-foot strips to separate each row. As with the tiles themselves, the edging strips must be a consistent width, or gaps and misalignments will multiply as the installation progresses. The best way to cut strips is to rip them slightly oversized, then mill them to size with a thickness planer. If you don't have a thickness planer, you could use a smooth-cutting combination blade in your table saw to rip the edging to size.
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I used white pine strips for my tile edging, but if I did the job again, I'd use a moderately hard wood like birch or soft maple. Pine is quite a bit softer than the particleboard and it wore away quicker during sanding. The resulting shallow troughs between tiles aren't particularly noticeable, unless you look closely, but I'd rather they weren't there.
Installation
I installed my particleboard flooring over a smooth plywood subfloor secured with nails and screws. I'd recommend going over the subfloor with a handheld belt sander to smooth any raised areas before installation-it could save you a lot of headaches later.
My tiles are fastened to the subfloor with ordinary carpenter's glue. They were temporarily held in place with a combination of edge-driven finishing nails and hot-melt glue until the carpenter's glue dried. Not only does this make for a very solid installation, but it also means that no evidence of fasteners is visible in the finished floor.
It's crucial that the first row be laid absolutely straight. The best way to do this is by using the edge of a sheet of particleboard or plywood as a guide. Place the sheet down on the floor just close enough to the wall to allow one row of tiles to be set in place. Squirt glue on the underside of the first tile, set it in place against the guide sheet, and nail it down with 2-inch-long spiral finishing nails driven straight into pre-drilled holes at the wall-side edge of the tile (where they'll be covered by the baseboard or quarter-round later) and then angle nails into the front and side edges. Use glue and a 1-inch finishing nail to fasten the short solid-wood strip to the edge of the tile, then install the next tile against the first. Continue until the row is complete. For this establishing row you'll be able to tack down each square with finishing nails on three sides (either angled into the exposed edges or driven straight into the wall edge of the tile). This will keep things in place until the carpenter's glue dries.
Remove the straight edge, add a long solid-wood strip across the entire front edge of the first row of tiles, then start installing the second row. The front edge and one of the side edges of each tile is open as it's installed, permitting invisible angled edge nailing, but the back edge and other side can't be nailed invisibly. It's in these areas that I use hot-melt glue to hold the tiles down. After squirting a bead of carpenter's glue on the underside of the tile, I add four or five blobs of hot-melt glue along the inaccessible edges, then immediately put the tile in place and kneel on it until the hot-melt glue cools. Finishing nails can then be angle-driven into the exposed front and side edges.
A particleboard floor will need to be sanded before finishing, to level and smooth it, just like any other unfinished wood floor. Before you decide on a method of staining and sealing your floor, finish a couple of spare tiles first. Particleboard absorbs much more stain than solid wood, so it's going to give different results than you're used to.
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