WoodFlooringGuy.com

I was looking at my hardwood floor and it looks like it slopes slightly. Is there a way to level it?

Q: I just installed unfinished white oak on my stairs. I’m staining them now. What is the best polyurethane to use that will dry nice and hard. Also, should I sand the poly between coats? A: There are many good finishes on the market. They might all claim to be the best, and I don’t [...]

Q: After sanding down our 50-yr. old hardwood, we put 3 coats of poly on them and they turned out great. However, we decided we wanted to put the same hardwood in our kitchen. So we bought unfinished white oak, sanded it after installing, and then put 1 coat of poly on. It does not match the colour of the old hardwood which is much more orange. Some people have said to put a 3-6 inch “border” in between the 2 such as staining a strip a darker colour in order to separate the differences. Would you recommend trying to stain the new wood a completely different colour?

Q: I have started installing a hardwood floor and where the living room meets the kitchen there is a 5 foot area that seems to have a hump or hill in it. If I put hardwood over this area will it have issues later or what are the chances it will have issues later? When looking at it the hill rises maybe about a ½ inch and then returns to normal. What do you recommend?

Q: My daughter has painted metal chairs in her room. As she has moved the chairs around her room, paint has come off the bottom of the chairs and onto the hard wood floors. How do I remove the paint marks?

We have a tile down the front hallway and wood almost everywhere else. Is it possible to lift the tile and replace it with the hardwood flooring we have left over from the doing the rest of the house?

I have floors that are not in bad shape but could use some refilling and a new coat of poly applied. Is it okay to lightly sand the floor, use a putty to refill cracks, and then reapply poly?

We moved into to new place a little over three months ago. The wood floors were refinished before we moved in. The day we moved in we noticed a strong odour that smelled like varnish. The odour was so strong that it made us sick. I experienced a rash, chest pains, cramps, and nausea. We thought the odour would go away in time. It has been over three months and the odour is still with us. It comes and goes, but it is strong about two out of every six hours. The landlord told me that the guys who did the floors used an oil based polyurethane. Is this normal? Should floors be gassing after this long? Sometimes the floor is slick and oily? Is that normal?

How long can you wait to sand and finish floors after installing ? We have other tasks to do, like stick on stone around our fireplace hearth. Can waiting too long to sand and finish be detrimental to the unfinished floor?

I have wood flooring in a bedroom closet that backs on to the bathroom. There’s also a window a couple of feet away from the closet. Dark spots have appeared on the closet floor and some planks are buckling/warping. I got an estimate for repairs from a wood floor company (>$1000!) and they want to replace the boards, then sand and refinish the entire room (the rest of the floor is fine). Is that normal?

… Twice now we had to have the floor that runs from the rear door to the bathroom (10 x 6 ft.) resanded and restained because it started to cup. It is now doing it again, the guy says maybe my contractor didn’t install the new rear door correct and either water or cold is getting in under the floor.

I was told my new “lap & gap” red pine may cause problems with curving, lifting, and not being able to lay down evenly. Do you have any insight on the practicality of using “lap & gap” red pine for flooring and installing “lap & gap”?

We used a sander after we installed our brand new hard wood floor. After the stain was applied and dried, it now shows a circular marker from the sander. Now that the stain is on and 2 coats of the water based finish, is there any way to fix the marks so they won’t show?

After sanding my old wood floors should I stain or seal them first and do they have to be sanded again after sealing? What are the steps to finishing old wood floors?

Q: I have removed a wall and added a room adjacent to our kitchen. The new flooring is 2 ½ inch tongue and groove flooring to match the width of the existing flooring. The interface between the existing floor and the new flooring I will install is nearly level in height. I think the new flooring would be better if it was extended into the kitchen in the standard way where the board ends are not all in a line but staggered. The result would be that the new flooring would mate with the existing flooring in the standard staggered end of board pattern. My question is how to cut the existing flooring one board at a time and not mar the existing floor?

…How do I finish off the stairway where it meets the hardwood? Do I cut a bull nose or some type of custom wood? Also, How do I do curved stairs with hardwood planks? Do I have to taper each piece or just the last few?

What would be helpful is if you could give me approximates on the cost of a floor- in this instance say 1200 sq. ft pre-finished if possible.

I started ripping out an old shag rug from a hardwood floor and found that it had been glued down, much to my dismay and surprise. What is left is a red, chalky substance about ¼ of an inch thick, with a weird line design that makes it look like a truck floor. The work was done by an old company in Philadelphia in 1972, and the glue/adhesive has dried into a chalky substance that is almost impossible to remove by hand (e.g., scraping). Do you have any suggestions on how to remove it?

Q: We have about 1″ cracks between the boards of our 1850 pine floors, we would like to fill them, but we do not want to sand/refinish the floors (as they had been a few years back). Any suggestions?

I need a sand/stain in my condo for an existing parquet floor. It is the lower level of a loft and is about 300 square feet. I am in need of this work and am having trouble finding a contractor.