WoodFlooringGuy.com

If I am installing a floating floor (engineered), and at my transition, using a fixed transition with a tongue and groove joint: is it ever acceptable to glue the flooring into the tongue and groove and allow the floor to grow the opposite direction of the fixed transition?

My hardwood floors were refinished 4 years ago. In the past year the floor is darkening, and there is separating of boards. There are smaller, darker circular areas. Mostly in the living room, which was carpeted for many years, but also in bedroom which was refinished many years ago. Some of boards are separating in the living room, and I can feel a slight bowing. My basement is dirt - house built in late forties. Few of boards appear to be eaten. Termite inspection last year revealed no termites, but moisture.

I am interested in laying wood floors in my new condo, which is located on the second floor. I heard of a resident being sued doing this because the new wood floors amplified the sound to the resident below. What can I do to prevent this from happening to me?

I had an engineered floor glued down on a concrete slab eight months ago. I have noticed that the veneer on two boards is peeling. Is this common, and how can it be repaired?

How can I get old paint off a hardwood floor?

You were kind enough to give your opinion on our floors last fall. Now we’ve given it several months, with a dehumidifier running non-stop in the crawl space. The floors have gone down some, but there is still a noticeable cup. Apparently the wood floor installer said that it is relatively dry beneath. Although we’ve had a weird winter, it has been very dry due to heat for at least 2 months. We’re thinking have them come back in now and resand. We tend to have very rainy wet springs/early summers (although it could also be a drought!) Does this sound reasonable to you?

I had 6 inch knotted pine installed on a sub-floor in my new home. Is there any excuse for wood filler to be used to fill gaps in my floors up to 1/8 wide, other than faulty installation, or boards that were not plained before installation? I am being told it is because of moisture and expansion and contraction. My problem is, if they used filler at installation to cover these gaps, then the boards were never seated in the first place. Am I wrong? I am also being told that gaps the width of a nickel are normal. Is this rule of thumb true on brand new floor installations as well?

I have roller dents in a kitchen hardwood floor from moving the refrigerator. First question: What is “too deep” to repair? And, if I remove the finish and decide to try the “steam technique,” would you explain to me how that works?

I just bought unfinished Brazilian Walnut, 5″ wide. How much color variation should it have? Should there be greens and yellows and red, along with the browns? Is it customary to stain it darker if there are too many color variations?

My home is located in the Kansas City area. I am currently in the process of finishing the basement. My wife would like to have hardwood floors. My main concerns in using a wood floor is moisture, the cold feel, and losing headroom from a built-up floor. I intended to use a subfloor material and install a floating engineered wood floor on the subfloor. I am considering two products to use as a subfloor for the wood floors. The two products are Delta FL (www.deltafl.com) and DRIcore (www.dricore.com). Both products are similar in that they use high density polyethylene (HDPE) as the vapor barrier. The major difference is the DRIcore product a 5/8” wafer board attached to the HDPE and per the Delta FL website, the wood floor can be installed directly on the HDPE. Do you have any experience with these products? Which product do you recommend or is there a better method?

I want to install a floating floor system in my kitchen, and I already have linoleum in there. Do I need to remove the linoleum, or can the floating floor go over it? If so, can the linoleum act as the underlayment?

I recently installed and finished a hickory floor myself. The install was tough, but it came out great. Sanding went well, but finishing left streaks and blotches (did an oil modified sealer then water based urethane). I wasn’t happy, so I resanded the floor back down, and this time did a water based sealer and then water based urethane. No streaks, but I do have the occasional lap mark where I needed to turn the t-bar around when dragging the puddle of finish. Any ideas on how to get rid of these? I have 1 coat of sealer and 2 coats of urethane. I am thinking of screening\sanding them down with very fine (300-400 grit) paper once the floor is cured for a few weeks. Any advice? And yes - I just found your Q&A, and you are right: leave the finish to the pros - it took me three tries to get the floor to where it is now!

I would like to install a new kitchen floor. This floor butts up against a hardwood floor. How do I transition to keep all floors the same height? Do I have to remove the existing kitchen floor to make it even?

If wood stair risers are sanded too thin when attempting to be restained, can the risers be removed and replaced with new risers?

My entire stairway is stained oak with a carpet runner that I want to eliminate. I am painting the spindles and risers white. I planned to stain the banister and tread a dark walnut or ebony. When I removed the carpet I found that the center of the tread had never been stained. What should I do to get a seamless dark stain on the tread?

I just purchased a condo apartment that’s 1000 sq. ft. There are many windows with lots of light and sun all day. I am having the (common red oak) parquet floor refinished. I have selected a rich dark maple/brown stain. The contractor uses minwax products. I love the look of a shiny wood floor, and so I am leaning towards a high gloss oil-based finish. The contractor; however, strongly argued against going with high gloss, recommending instead we use semigloss. He says hardly anyone chooses high gloss. And that because there is so much light coming in, that it wouldn’t look right. PS. I have one cat. Please any comments on my going with high gloss.

Can I glue down a laminate floor?

What do you think of floating (glueless) engineered hardwood?

How do I remove cleaner residue from my hardwood floors (we were using ****** *** floor cleaner)? And, moving forward, what is the best thing to clean them with?

Our new room addition is not level to the existing house at both doorways, which join the two. One side is lower than the existing house, and the floorer added wedges to build it up to meet the house. They have now loosened (after 1 month), and the floorers are returning to repair it.