How To Build A Countertop With Reclaimed Wood Flooring

Learn how to build a countertop with reclaimed wood flooring, and repurpose your old wood plank floors with this tutorial!

This post is sponsored by RYOBI TOOLS, but all opinions expressed are my own.

Do you remember the wood countertop I built out of the reclaimed wood flooring we tore up from the hallway in our second fixer-upper basement renovation?

I have had so many requests for a tutorial, and now that I have repeated this project in our current fixer-upper basement I finally have a tutorial for you.

Be sure to read to the end of the post for a fun before and after video of the countertop project!

You Will Need:

• Reclaimed Wood Planks
• 1/2 inch Plywood
• Liquid Nails
• Brad Nails
• Pencil
• Stain
• Polyurethane
• 60/80 Grit Sandpaper
• 220/320 Sandpaper
• Miter Saw
• Table Saw
• Brad Nailer
• Belt Sander
• Hand Sander
• Hammer

For more project inspiration be sure to check out:

How To Build A Countertop With Reclaimed Wood Flooring

1. Measure the length and width of the countertop space.

Along this wall, there are not going to be any lower cabinets. The wood countertop will serve as a bar. The countertop dimensions here needed to be approximately 90″ x 16.”

If you are wanting to create a bar top then the recommended depth is anywhere from 12″ – 16″ deep.

These base cabinets were leftover from another project. See that middle cabinet? It is actually a base microwave cabinet that I repurposed into a sink base. It worked like a charm!

The countertop dimensions here were approximately 84″ x 24″. When you measure take the dimensions from the edge of each countertop. The base cabinets’ standard depth is 24″.

How To Build A Countertop With Reclaimed Wood Flooring

2. Cut the plywood to measurements.

Once you have your measurements cut out the plywood base with a table saw. 1/2″ plywood is ideal, but I have also done this project with success using 1/4″ plywood.

Here is the bartop base.

How To Build A Countertop With Reclaimed Wood Flooring

3. Add the reclaimed wood planks.

The technique I use to lay the reclaimed oak flooring planks is the same technique I use to lay a floor.

Start your first row along the wall side of the countertop. Making sure to line up the grooved edge of the wood plank along the wall side as seen above (not the tongue edge).

Tack in the wood planks with a brad nailer. For extra adhesion, I recommend applying liquid nails first prior to laying the floor planks on the plywood.

One of my favorite tools ever is my RYOBI cordless brad nailer. I can’t even count the number of projects I have accomplished with this tool.

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The cordless aspect makes it conveniently portable for all manner of projects!

This is the tongued side of the wood floor planking.

Lay the next row of planks. Tap the tongue and grooved edges together with a hammer.

Lay the last plank of the row so that it extends off the end of the plywood.

Mark the end with a pen or marker and cut with a miter saw. Use this piece to start the next row.

Cut down the last plank with a table saw so that it is flush with the edge of the plywood.

How To Build A Countertop With Reclaimed Wood Flooring

4. Finish the edges.

Zip a piece of plank wood with the table saw to create an edge piece. Use the miter saw to cut the corner at a 45-degree angle. Do the same on all exposed sides.

How To Build A Countertop With Reclaimed Wood Flooring

5. Sand.

Using a combination of the RYOBI belt sander and the RYOBI hand sander strip down the finish to the raw wood. You will likely need 60/80 grit sandpaper for this step.

This RYOBI belt sander is corded but also comes available without a cord. This RYOBI belt sander is perfect for a project like this due to the straight lines and long surface area.

This hand sander helped to get in the grooves for the slightly uneven areas and grooves.

Make sure to wipe down the wood well to remove all remnants of sawdust. Be sure to use a tack cloth to pick up the fine sawdust.

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How To Build A Countertop With Reclaimed Wood Flooring

6. Stain.

Staining the wood is optional. The above countertop was stained using “Espresso” by Minwax.

It is a lovely warm wood finish.

On this countertop project, I left the wood without stain to keep it lighter. That being said the red oak planks pulled a little more yellow than I would have liked.

In hindsight, I wish I would have stained the oak wood with Dixie Belle’s “Au Naturel” gel stain. It does such an incredible job of neutralizing the yellow tones.

How To Build A Countertop With Reclaimed Wood Flooring

7. Finish with polyurethane.

On the above countertop, I finished the wood with 3 coats of satin polyurethane. It provided a lovely soft, finished sheen.

On this countertop, I finished the raw wood with 3 coats of flat polyurethane. Again in full transparency, I wish I had used satin. The flat poly finish doesn’t leave as nice of a finished sheen and is more difficult to wipe down.

It still looks gorgeous.

How To Build A Countertop With Reclaimed Wood Flooring

8. Install on cabinets.

Apply liquid nails to the top of the cabinets. Screw the top onto the base cabinets from the inside of the cabinetry.

For the bar top, we used these iron brackets.

How To Build A Countertop With Reclaimed Wood Flooring

After

Here we are!

How To Build A Countertop With Reclaimed Wood Flooring

Before And After

For more project inspiration be sure to check out:

Pin any of the images below for later!