Using Blue Tape to Create Economically Fantastic Wood Floor Borders

I learned the wood floor trade while working for a company that refinished gym floors. One of the things I learned while employed with this company was how to create gym lines. Basketball lines, volleyball lines, badminton courts, shuffleboard courts, Logos and aerobic lines were all part of my training.

When I started my wood floor refinishing business I ran into customers who wanted a floor with a border, but the price of the exotic wood that usually goes into making a fancy border was a little cost prohibitive on an average budget. I figured out a technique where I could install the border with relatively inexpensive oak and stain it a different color on the floor. This process used some of the same techniques I had learned in creating gym lines.

My favorite design for borders is to install a diagonal center with a nine-inch border and a nine-inch skirt outside of the border. I use nine (9) inches because four 2.25-inch wide flooring boards is equal to nine inches. When I install the border the first and fourth boards are mitered. These are the boards I stain. The second and third boards I overlap and leave natural to match the center.

The nine-inch skirt serves two purposes. First, it brings the border out into the room a little so it is noticed. Secondly, it allows me to use all the small pieces that are longer than nine inches which are left over from installing the center of the floor. There is virtually no waste installing this type of floor.

To start this kind of installation I measure eighteen (18) inches from all the walls, fireplaces, and stairways. I drop chalk lines using these measurements. This tells me where the border is actually going to start. I then install the center of the floor making sure each board goes over these chalk lines that are eighteen inches from the wall.

After the center is installed I re-measure from all the walls, fireplace, and stairways. Instead of 18 inches I measure 16-7/8 inches from the wall. The reason for this is because of the way circular saws are designed. The distance from the outside shoulder of my saw and where the blade actually cuts is 1-1/8 inches. I drop chalk lines 16-7/8 inches away from everything around the perimeter.

I then nail a one- inch by two- inch pine board to the wood floor so that the board is nailed to all the waste I am going to cut off. This makes it so there are no nail holes in the floor that is in the center. With the saw up against the pine board I cut a perfectly straight cut line all around the room. I then remove all the short pieces that are cut off outside the eighteen-inch cut-off line and the wall. I then vacuum up all the sawdust.

Using my router and a slotting bit I cut a quarter-inch groove all the way around the center and insert a spline in the groove. The groove matches the groove in the flooring. This creates a tongue all the way around the center area so that the center and the border are all tongue and grooved together.

Once the border is installed I sand the floor so it is level. The better the sanding the less bleeding there will be under the tape when I begin the process of staining.

Once the floor is sanded and cleaned I start applying the blue quick-release masking tape. Blue masking tape works better because it leaves little or no adhesive residue on the floor. White masking tape almost always leaves a residue.

Start in one corner and carefully try to follow the cracks in the boards. When you get to an inside corner, position the tape a little past the corner. Then place a straight safety razor blade over the tape on the floor where it should end with the corner. Pull the tape so that you have a nice sharp, straight cut into the corner.

Laying the tape takes some time but some patience will end in beautiful results.

I have used this technique with several color stains and on one job I pickled the wood with a light blue color.

To pickle the border take any latex paint and dilute it with fifty percent water. Then apply it like stain and remove all the excess paint.

The color and design of the border is limited only by your imagination. Have fun and enjoy your wood floor. I have had some customers invent exotic names for their mystery wood in the borders.