Painted Floor Strategies

Q: Can I paint my wood floor? I plan to remove old carpet from a medium-sized bedroom and I want to make it look good without spending a lot of money. Trouble is, there’s just chipboard under the broadloom. What's the least expensive, paintable material I can install on top?

A: You're right to be hesitant about painting chipboard (officially called oriented strand board - OSB - in the trade), since it's too rough for good results. But smooth plywood installed over top makes a great surface for paint. I've seen painted floors several times and they look terrific. The least expensive option involves fastening down some 1/4-inch thick underlay plywood (made with a tropical hardwood called luaun) using deck screws driven into the floor joists. Just follow the line of existing nails in the OSB, and you'll hit the joists. You could drive the screw heads flush with the floor surface at leave it at that, or fill them with autobody compound and sand the surface flat. The most successful painted floors I've seen have all been coated with exterior-grade latex paint, with a textured, mottled appearance created by sponging several colours onto a white base coat.