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The main floor was replaced and is lighter than the existing floor and what I originally purchased. This is glaringly obvious to me, however not so much to my husband or the builder. Fortunately, the new install guys failed to remove the first 3 rows of the old floor so I was able to prove my point.

I have just salvaged nearly 800 square feet of red oak flooring. Many pieces have had their tongue or groove cut off where the planking has met the wall. Still other pieces were installed butted end to end with the tongue or groove removed (they were probably salvaged and reinstalled years ago). All in all, the floors seemed to hold up well and really did not look too bad. My question is this, should the ends be run through a router to restore the tongues or grooves before installing?

If we install 3/4″ x 8″ t&g solid wood, wormy red oak (finished in place) floors in the non-conventional, non-recommended fashion of fully adhering the boards over a structural concrete slab, using Sika’s T55 adhesive… and if we have no moisture drive problems from the slab and also have a well functioning humidity control system in place in the home, how likely is it that we will still experience cupping of the wood floors?

I am looking at a gymnasium floor which is less than one year old. This is a very nice floor, but it has been flooded from below because someone failed to install a pressure cap on a drain pipe underneath the new hardwood floor. This happened three months ago, and all I see is the large area (50’ x 55’) which has obvious cupping.

I recently laid down some engineered flooring and I noticed in couple of places there are few uneven spots. The unevenness is only about 1mm (enough that you can feel it with your feet). Is there any way to fix this? We had this problem in couple of spots when our builder built the home and they were able to fix it, but I was not around to see how they did it.

I am interested in knowing how I can finish an existing unfinished hardwood floor in the entry hall of my home. We had planned to buy the interlocking new wood floor system and do it ourselves. How difficult would it be to finish the existing original hardwood floor which is already there?

My husband and I are building a new house. We are putting hard wood floors in every room except the kitchen and bathrooms. We are putting in cherry color floors. Should I do the oak doors and all the molding in the same color?

Is there something I can do to make staining a hard wood with a dark stain easier? It takes me so many applications to reach the desired darkness. I used Special Walnut (very dark oil stain) on both maple and cherry, and it takes so many applications.

I’m about to fit a new 3/4 inch oak floor in my kitchen/dining room and I’m really confused about how to finish it. We have a small baby, so the floor will get messy, so it needs to be easy to clean, but does that mean it will have to be a polyurethane finish? I really wanted an oiled finish as, 1 - I like the way that oiled wood wears, 2 - it’s much faster to apply. I guess I’m really worried about how easy an oiled floor will be to clean. I’m not fussed about the odd scratch and mark as I like the worn look. Can you help give me a bit of confidence in my decision?

I have carpeting in my house now, but I want hardwood or laminate. I don’t know what color. My house is over 100 years old. My living room furniture is cherry and my dining room is walnut (was my parents). Can you give me some suggestions?

We bought a home that is 12 yr. old this past February. The dining room, living room, and family room already had red oak hardwood flooring (solid). The kitchen and foyer had tile. Before we moved in we had the tile taken out and hardwood installed to match existing (hardwood sat in the house for awhile before installation). We also put it in the upstairs hallway. The newly installed hardwood is now cupping while the existing is flat. This makes me think it is not a humidity issue or else it would all be cupping - right? I live in VA which is pretty humid and would appreciate any insight you could give.

I am redoing the floors in my foyer area with solid hardwood. I have a half bath off of my foyer that I was going to put hardwood in as well since it would flow very nicely. I know hardwood is not recommended for bathrooms, but would it be okay for a half bath?

I am searching for a manufacturer that produces wood floors with no formaldehyde, Low VOC, non-toxic preservatives, using coats like oxide/polyurethane. In summary, a natural, non-toxic, ecological/green product. I found teragreen.com, but they only sell bamboo. If it would be great if you could send me a list of brand names.

How do I test the coating on my building’s staircase and exterior doors to see if each coating is fire proof?

We bought a newly built home that sat empty for five months. The builder had already installed unstained (but finished with one coat of oil based polyurethane) red oak floors in the living and dining room. We paid to have red oak floors added to the remaining rooms. The new floors that were just installed are at least 2 shades lighter than the five month old floors. The company that installed the floors said they would darken naturally in about 3 months and would match the existing floors. Is this true? The floor installer said that if they did not darken in three months he could put another coat of polyurethane on the floors with a golden oak tint to darken the floors to match. Is this the correct approach to getting a match?

My hickory 4-inch-board floors were installed in December 2005 in a brand new home. The boards are not laying completely flat. They have like a wavy appearance and you can feel the waves with your hands. I noticed this probably a month or so after installation. I have been waiting, thinking they might flatten out in time. Also, I hear loud “cracking sounds” coming from the flooring from time to time. Could you tell me what caused this and if there is anything that can be done about it?

I recently installed a Bruce floating engineered wood floor. In one particular area I had an uneven subfloor that I attempted to fix with wood putty. I also added an extra layer of the roofing felt to help build up the area. Once I felt that it was even enough, I continued installation. After installing over that particular area, I have noticed that I still have some unevenness causing the floor to lift up on the high side. I haven’t put down my quarter round yet. I hope that once I have the quarter round installed it will help hold the floor down. What would you do in this situation? Should I screw down the boards that are lifting up? Should the quarter round help prevent it from lifting? The area is in a foyer where there is lots of traffic.

I am trying to find help on our laminate flooring. We installed it as instructed about 3-4 years ago, left the space on the side, etc. About 1 year later it started snapping. Now it is so bad I cannot stand it! It even snaps now throughout the winter, so it is not the humidity. I want to take it apart and reinstall, but how do I get it apart without destroying it? I have contacted the company that made it and home depot where we bought it and nobody wants to help. This is a beautiful floor and it cost us a good penny.

We recently put down beautiful unfinished Brazilian walnut hardwood floors. It has been almost a week since the first coat of the poly was put on and it just doesn’t seem to be drying. After doing a bit of research on the web, I have come across a few places that say an oil based poly on Brazilian hardwood is not a good idea; it causes problems like we’re seeing. Unfortunately, I have not found any solutions! Where do we go from here?

We have a new wood floor installed in a new addition, over a newly built crawl space. The floor was installed during a very wet period of the summer (historic floods took place near that time). The floor was flat after finishing. We covered it with drop cloths for a few weeks while trim work was done. When we removed the drop cloths, the floors had cupped. There had also been a problem with drainage that the builder had fixed, but not before it flooded the new crawl space. Now we are stumped – the job is done, we are about to have it inspected, and the builder is saying to wait until winter for the floor to flatten out with the heat. What if it doesn’t? What if it still needs to be resanded and refinished? Whose responsibility is this? We are reluctant to move into the space before this issue is resolved, but how long can/should we wait?