WoodFlooringGuy.com

I have a friend who is in the final stages of building her home, she was basically her own general contractor. The hardwood was started before the drywall was up so when the drywall was installed and the ceilings textured a lot of the paint and putty ended up on her unfinished hardwood. We know that scraping and sanding will take care of the putty but someone has told her that the paint and primer will be difficult to remove since it has probably soaked into the wood. It’s not oil based paint or primer so we’re hoping that soap and water will do the trick. Have you found that this is a problem and are there any suggestions you can give for cleaning to floor in preparation of finishing it.

A few weeks after being installed, entire floor is cupping. These are Pre-finished, 3/4 inch thick, solid oak strip floors. What’s best way to resolve the problem? Can they be sanded down smooth and re-stained & re-finished? What is a normal price point for this sort of job? Also, flooring was purchased at ********, which sells discount flooring materials (which I found out later are often “seconds” or slightly damaged). I’ve seen other installations where the same flooring has been used & they exhibited similar problems with different degrees of cupping. Sometimes just a small patch was cupped & others when larger or separate areas cupped. I’m assuming the flooring to be the same because of the large number of visible “flaws” in the wood such as knots and dark streaks. (Although the flaws are what I found most beautiful about the floors!) Could it be that the wood was still too green when they were pre-finished but the problems not occur until after installation due to trapped moisture? Would the manufacturer be responsible for this? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

I had a two layer subfloor over a large, well vented crawl space. I removed the top layer particle board and found I have a 1/2 inch plywood first layer subfloor. If I screw down this first layer, would my new 3/4 solid oak floor be strong enough on top of it without putting a second plywood subfloor layer down? If I should need the second sub layer, how thick of plywood on top of the existing 1/2 inch?

My house is approximately 80 years old. I just pulled up the old carpeting in the living and dining rooms and have an unfinished hardwood floor (probably pine) underneath that is coated with a thick layer of white construction paint and no subfloor. I have relatively easy access from the basement to the underside of the floor. Do I have to tear up the floor, put down plywood and re-install? The kitchen has linoleum over the wood that I wasn’t planning to get rid of.

I took my floors down to bare wood..sanded, stained them dark, and poly-ed 5 coats of water based poly. Now a few months later, my dog has managed to scrape, and scratch the floor with everyday wear, so that now it looks AWFUL! (the dog gets his nails trimmed monthly at the groomer) How can I get rid of the scratches, and scrapes in the floor without re-doing it all over? I sanded, and filled with a like-stain filler, as well, as filled and poly-ed over, however nothing has worked. They look bad!

Hi I read on your Q&A that you shouldn’t use oil based cleaners on your hardwood floors. I knew that and I have been using vinegar and water for quite some time now but it doesn’t seem to have that great of an affect on the floors. they have little luster and therefore look dirty. my parents aren’t in a big hurry to use any cleaning products on the floors however because the builder of the house told them that for our flooring you should use vinegar water only. is there any way that I can keep the floors shiny without using a polyurethane cleaner?

I sanded down my HW floors and tested a clear oil-based poly which gave it a light, blonde/golden color. I had read that if you are not using stain that you should use a sealer before the poly.

I put a “Clear-finish” Sanding Sealer on the floors and it made them dark brown! Should I use a chemical stripper to try to remove it or is re-sanding the only way to take it off.

We have pine floors in our home and we did a scuff with an 80 grit sandpaper to make it so the polyurethane will adhere to it. We used 2 coats of low luster as a base and 1 coat of High gloss to finish. The problem is My High gloss is peeling. It doesn’t seem to be the first 2 coats just the high gloss. The other weird thing is. We have 2 areas of this room the one was covered in carpet the other has been redone before. Well, the area that was redone before is not having any peeling issues. It seems that the peeling stops where the pine flooring that has been uncovered begins. We used the same on both sides and did both at the same time. I am dumbfounded and don’t know why the floor would be doing this. My father who is a flooring installer is flabbergasted as to why. He thought the paint may have been bad but, that would not explain why I have a good adhesion to the one side of the floor and not the other. This flooring is about 68 years old and about 3/4 inch thick still a lot to work with. What do you suggest?

I have a couple of questions. I have an existing 3/4″ pre finished birch floor that I installed several years back. Our dog has scratched it up a good bit in spots, not deep but quite obvious. The flooring has a micro bevel. How would you recommend sanding for a new finish? I don’t really want to sand enough to remove the micro bevel but am worried about the finish adhering to the area in the bevel.
I am also installing 3/4″ hardwood in my family room. There is a brick fireplace that I need to install around. I could frame around it but am considering undercutting the brick with a jamb saw (with a diamond blade) and sliding the hardwood underneath. How deep do I need to cut and do you just chisel out the waste?

We just bought an old house with beautiful wood floors and trim. However, the floors are VERY pitted and cracked in large high traffic areas, though fairly solid (i.e., not creaking or moving a lot). We will eventually (5 yrs?) want to have the wood flooring professionally replaced throughout, but the cost is currently prohibitive as we are currently tapped out from buying the home. I want to try wood filling the pits and cracks. I notice that in answering others’ questions you have recommended sawdust and glue mix followed by a latex wood filler?
Why? What about epoxy filler? I have heard that ********** Epoxy Paste available from the US through ************ is a very good product. Also, is it necessary to refinish the entire floor after the repair?

Can a stripper be used on oak floors that have had polyurethane finish on them for possibly 50 years or so. I’m trying to just sand it and I was wondering if we could take some of this off with a chemical first.

I installed wide plank (3/4×10″) poplar T&G flooring in my cabin 4 years ago. I finished with three coats of water based **** polyurethane, (no stain). I am disappointed with the floor and plan on re-finishing it. It is dull and heavily marked in high traffic areas. I plan on staining then using oil based ****** gloss polyurethane as a finish. The question I have is this: What type of sanding machine do you suggest I use–orbital or drum? I am nervous about using the drum sander due to it’s aggressiveness on this soft species of wood, however I can’t seem to get much info on the orbital sander and it’s recommended applications, (will the orbital machine remove all of the old polyurethane)? Also what final finishing grit would you recommend?

We are planning on installing bamboo flooring, and started to lift out the carpet and flooring in our kitchen and dining room. I found particle board underlayment beneath the carpet and the kitchen has it also with two additional layers of vinyl/linoleum with a laminate on top. My question is, can bamboo be nailed to the particle board (which is over our subfloor) or do we have to go completely down to subfloor?

I am installing solid slab oak treads on a closed staircase. Do I need to leave an expansion joint between the oak slabs and the wall like you would when installing a hardwood floor, or is it okay to just install the treads flush with the walls on either side? Should I both nail and glue the slabs to the existing plywood treads below?

We have select hard maple flooring from Canada throughout our new construction home as well as two sets of stairs that are also hard maple. Our flooring and stairs should have been sealed naturally; however, a dark stain was applied. After professional sanding, stain remained in all joints of where the flooring was put together. Fortunately, the bottom floor was not stained; therefore, we had it sealed naturally as desired. We had to replace our upper flooring due to the unauthorized staining in which left dark lines in each joint and when sealed naturally those dark lines were highlighted, it looked awful. Both sets of stairs including railing, balusters, spindles, skirt/running boards and posts have also been stained. Our former contractor sanded some areas of the stairs in an attempt to correct his grave error for ~3 weeks before breaking his contract and leaving. One coat of stain was applied; however, it is a darker stain and it seems impossible to remove all the stain due to disproportional stain absorption. We would greatly appreciate any professional advice or suggestions on what our options are concerning both sets of our hard maple stairs. Also, if you know anyone that has dealt with such a problem in the past and/or would be qualified to complete our stairs, we would appreciate a referral. Someone mentioned wash coating…what exactly is this?

Do you have any suggestions for covering maple hardwood flooring on entrance stairs. We’re just about finished sanding them down and we don’t know how to protect them after they’ve been varnished. Carpet or plastic runners maybe? They are kind of ugly, but are there any other alternatives?

We have original approx. 2 inch oak floors in dining and living room. Now that we have opened up our kitchen, we want to rip out linoleum and extend the oak. Is this possible to match the boards?

We`ve just recently bought a house dated somewhere around the early 1900`s, After removing the 30 year old carpet and the 40+ year old tiles we discovered the original hardwood floors underneath. The tiles seem to have been laid with some sort of tar or tar paper under them. Is there anyway to remove the tar or what ever it is on the floor without destroying the hardwood and what is the best thing to finish them with?
Also, in the dinning room under the carpet they laid over top of the hardwood floors there is plywood nailed down on top of the hardwood. Question #2 Is there some way of removing the plywood and refinishing the floor without destroying it by removing the plywood,and will the nailholes be evident or is there some way of filling in the nailholes so they wont be seen?

I am moving into a new home that has just had the hardwood floors finished, how long should they cure and dry before moving furniture in?

I want to put hardwood flooring in my dining room and living room. The flooring will run horizontal to the opening between the 2 rooms. I was wondering how you go from one room to the other, and if there were any tricks to making the transition?