Reclaimed Hardwood Floor as Countertop

We needed a new countertop for our Laundry room and Bathroom. We were so sick of tile countertops and our dream of granite was way out of our price range. We thought for a long time on different materials that we could use. We actually bought new pieces of wood that we were going to glue together and somehow oil enough so that it wouldn’t bow or peel from water exposure.

A few weeks before this Jesse actually found an old workbench on Craigslist. The top of this workbench was old hardwood flooring that had seen a lot of wear and tear over the years. This is how it became our reclaimed counter in our bathroom and laundry room.

First, we used the pry bar and removed it from the plywood. While taking them apart as gently as we could we tried to keep it in order so we would know how it would go back together for our counter.

Then we lined them back up and tried a little test corner to see about sanding and what finish to use. This led us to the decision that sanding it would’ve taken off the character of nicks and stain splatters from the years as a floor and then the years as a workbench. So, no sanding and then a light layer of  stain, which we wiped with a clean rag right away to only give a little bit brighter color.

After all this we cut a template piece of plywood that was the size of the counter. If we made a mistake we would be out a piece of plywood not the whole countertop. Then we laid the template onto the pieces of flooring and marked and cut (with a jig saw) our final countertop size. We then brought in the pieces of flooring… still keeping them in order… layed them one by one and carefully placing the tongue and grooves just like putting in a floor but on a counter and then nailed them in using a finish nailer.

Once it was on we gave it another final light sand and then did about 3 coats of poly so that it would be even more water resistant.

I absolutely love this countertop. This was going to be a temporary fix until we could save up for our granite but I think we might have this around for quite a while.