WoodFlooringGuy.com

I am remodeling my home. In my livingroom, I am installing hardwood flooring (3/4″ Oak), and in the same room a banister to the staircase that is there. Should I put the hardwood down first then put the banister to the ground? Or should I set the banister into the subfloor, laying the hardwood around it? If both are an option to do it properly, which has the most benefit?

Have you ever heard of a plug cutter that drills a pilot hole for the screw, a countersink for the screwhead, and a plug hole at the same time? I am installing random width, and this plug cutter also has a built in stop to not drill the plug to deep. My father said he used to use one all the time, yet I cannot find one.

I just sanded an old oak floor. There was old carpet over it. It was very filthy. I sanded with 20 and 36 grit, but there are stains in wood that won’t come out. How can I get rid of them?

We have a brand new maple hardwood, factory stained a dark brown/reddish colour. Our stairs are also maple and stained by the home builder, chestnut brown. The 2 colours don’t match well and we want to find out how to find a better match and restain the stairs.

I’m noticing new dark/black spots on my hardwood floors. Should I be concerned? What causes this?

I had my oak hardwood floors sanded down and refinished. I have for the most part been satisfied with the job the contractor did; however, within the last week I have noticed that I have small rough spots forming in the cracks between the boards. These look like little black balls of stain or finish. It has been relatively dry this year and within the last week we have received a good amount of rainfall, so I wondered if the boards have maybe expanded and are squeezing something out? I am not sure what I should do about this or it is a problem or just normal.

My home was built in 1972 and I have a hardwood floor with narrow strips. I refinished the floor 10 years ago. Most of the floor has held-up well, but you see the cracks between the boards. Is it possible to use a heavy gloss finish like Marine finish #13 so the floor would appear solid? Or would the cracks reappear later?

I really dislike the plank laminate my spouse put down while I was away! It isn’t as shiny as I’d like, and the grooves are horrible dust collectors. I not only have them along the lengths of the planks, but at irregular 18″ lengths, too. I wonder what would happen if I put a water-based urethane all over it to seal the groves, and make it shiny? I know “everyone” says it wouldn’t work, but what would happen?

We installed a floating floor over marble tile in a bar. Now there is about a 1 5/8 transition from this new floating floor to another part of the bar which was hardwood. Who could we consult about the transition? People are tripping over it.

I arrived at your site via Google. I have new cherry wood floors and I have dropped a heavy object on it and created a divot, small, maybe the size of a quarter wide, but it is a shame. I would like to know what you can do about it and what the cost would be…

Right now I am dealing with a cash settlement issue to cover the damage. The contractor for the moving company claims department estimated the cost to sand & refinish approx 500 sq ft. would be roughly $600 with 3 coats of varathane-– a cost that I guessed was a low-ball. Your estimate certainly acknowledges that.

I am interested in getting hardwood flooring for the main floor of our house. This is the main walkway through the house, so durability is key. We also have a large dog! Any suggestions?

We have a newly installed pre-finished wood floor (maple, with a clear finish). There are a number of dents and scratches that apparently occurred during installation, some uneven boards (high or low relative to those next to them), and a few spots where the boards meet at an angle so that there’s a small triangular gap in the floor. Is this all normal?

We just went through a major renovation. We added new hardwood floors and had the existing ones refinished, so all would match. Due to some problems with the finish clouding and not drying properly, they were sanded at least three more times, with poly put on after each sanding. Two weeks after we moved back into our home, the poly started flaking and buffer circles started showing up. Now 6 months later it looks horrible.

My husband and I are trying to determine our options for getting rid of the old carpets on our second floor. We have lifted the corner of the carpet in a couple of the rooms and it looks like there is plywood that was put over top of the original hardwood floors (our house is circa 1918). We don’t know what the hardwood floors are like underneath and would like to know how we could go about determining whether it is worth trying to save the floors or whether we should install new floors. If we choose the latter option, then we might install cork in the bedrooms and then might choose to keep the plywood. However, we are not sure how to decide.

A house cleaner cleaned our newly refinished floors with ******* ***. The floors are very sticky. How can we remove the oil without damaging the floors?

I have a client that wants a nail down floor (5 inch cherry). but also wants a sound barrier. From reading through your site, most of the suggestions involve floating or glue down floors. I was wondering if you have any suggestions in regards to nail down floors?

I’m refinishing my son’s room and am wondering about cork. With multiple allergies, I’m concerned about the binder (is it a gluten based binder?) and the finish.

I just had my hardwood floors refinished and the contractor came back a few days later to do a touch up. He has left a few boards shinier then the rest of the floor, and the lighting in the house really spotlights it. Is there any way to diminish the shine on a small area?

I just moved to an old house from the 1800′s. The wooden floor is very old and has very dark stain circles on it. I have tried getting it off with soap and water. It wont come off. I was told I can’t sand it because it is too thin. Is there a dark enough product that can cover it to still make it look like wood, or is there something that can take out the stain?