Q: Mirage or *****- Engineered hardwood flooring? I’ve been looking at both brands and can’t decide which is better and why? Will engineered hardwood cup? We do not run our air conditioner that much in the summer and our RH level was reading around 70 plus on an extremely humid day – most of the [...]
Equipment-Product Reviews
May 142012
Q: I bought ***** flooring at $4.99 a square foot. I had problems with the flooring not fitting together. There were many pieces that did not fit tight, along with many gray streaked pieces in one box. Is this common at this cost range? I would estimate at about 30 % were sub standard. FYI [...]
Pieces that did not fit tight – is it the manufacturer?
August 29, 2011
Equipment-Product Reviews Comments Off
May 172011
Q: I am installing a wood floor and have some areas of the plywood subfloor that need to be levelled prior to installation of the wood floor. I have looked at a number of products, such as Mapei Planipatch. As far as I can see, none explicitly state that the wood flooring can be nailed [...]
May 172011
Q: What is the best product to fill gaps in a hardwood floor? What is best wood filler for hardwood floors? Or putty? I am refinishing. A: There are a lot of different fillers on the market. I haven’t used them all. Woodwise is OK, but like most of them will crack out if there [...]
Best product to fill gaps
May 17, 2011
Equipment-Product Reviews, Sanding & Refinishing Comments Off
Jun 182008
I have spent an excessive amount of time preparing my hardwood floors in my home for refinish. I have come to the conclusion (through reading in forums) that oil based polyurethanes are the most durable, therefore, that is what I want to use. My question is, what are your thoughts, as a professional floor refinisher, of M***** Super Fast Drying Polyurethane for floors? Have you ever used it? Is it a long lasting finish? Is it user friendly for amateurs as myself? Would you recommend it? Thank you very much for your opinion.
Amateur friendly finish?
June 18, 2008
Equipment-Product Reviews, Oil Vs Water Based Urethane, Wax, Etc. Comments Off
Jun 112008
I would like to refinish the floors in our 100 year old farm house, but I don’t want them to look all shiny and new when I am done. I would like to preserve the old and worn look. Ideas?
Keeping the old and worn look
June 11, 2008
Equipment-Product Reviews, Oil Vs Water Based Urethane, Wax, Etc. Comments Off
Apr 222007
We recently purchased Torly’s Laminated flooring with the 4 bevelled edges. It is supposed to be 9.5 mm thickness… What does this thickness refer to, the wear layer or the core? I am asking because we have only had the floor for 5 months and have found it is not standing up to the durability of the laminate in our previous house (only 7 mm thick and much cheaper). I am in fact very disappointed with the durability of the Torly’s floor – we have several scratches on it already, as well as dents, and we have not abused the floor. In fact, we are treating it much more carefully than the previous flooring that was used at our last house. Have you ever had any other complaints about the durability of Torly’s flooring for scratching and denting, etc.?
Torly’s and Uniclick are 2 of the best
April 22, 2007
Equipment-Product Reviews, Laminate Comments Off
Our house has dark Brazilian Mahogany hardwood floors. Unbeknownst to me, last year, at the time of purchase, the floors ranged anywhere from 4 1/2 inches wide to 4 2/8 inches wide. Where the boards don’t match up, some kind of gap filler was used. However, over the course of the last year, the filler has been falling out of the gaps, leaving unsightly gaps in the boards, sometimes as wide as 2/8 of an inch. This has occurred particularly in the higher traffic areas, but it is occurring all over the main floor of the house. In addition, where the filler has not fallen out it has cracked, leaving zig-zag looking patterns in the filler. I am at a loss. Is there a product that can fill the gaps that have lost their filler? Will it prevent this problem in the future? Is it something that I can do?
Cracking filler in gaps of poorly manufactured floor
April 22, 2007
Equipment-Product Reviews, Gaps, Splitting & Cracks Comments Off
Apr 072007
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.
Apr 072007
I am a reporter for a Canadian TV network. I have read a press release re “Real Wood Floors: Look Beyond the Ordinary” from Canada Newswire, the release was sent by National Wood Flooring Association. I am very interested in making a feature story on the new flooring trend stated in the press release. We are most interested in reclaimed wood floors, hand scraped distressed floors and customization trends like borders, medallions, inlays and mixed media (stone, granite and even leather), etc… Do you have any referrals for me?
Mar 282007
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?
Color variation in Brazilian Walnut
March 28, 2007
Equipment-Product Reviews, Wood Grades and Species Comments Off
Mar 282007
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?
Hardwood floors in basement
March 28, 2007
Equipment-Product Reviews, Humidity and Wood Floors, Installation Comments Off
Mar 212007
What do you think of floating (glueless) engineered hardwood?
Floating (glueless) engineered hardwood
March 21, 2007
Equipment-Product Reviews, Other Types of Flooring Comments Off
Which of these two hardwood floor cleaners is better or are they comparable: Basic Coatings Squeaky Clean or Bonakemi cleaner?
Which of these two hardwood floor cleaners is better?
March 14, 2007
Care & Maintenance of Wood Floors, Equipment-Product Reviews Comments Off
Mar 092007
We are installing 1400 sq. feet of 3/4″ X 5″ wide maple prefinished flooring. Would you recommend using a stapler or nailer?
Is a cleat the same as a nail?
March 9, 2007
Equipment Issues, Equipment-Product Reviews, Installation Comments Off
Mar 052007
From Craig’s About Us page, for his business site at FaceLiftFloors.com: I am excited to let past and prospective customers know that I have made what I consider a major floor finish upgrade. Poloplaz, a U.S. based company that specializes in manufacturing floor finishes, was kind enough to send me samples of their product to [...]
Poloplaz floor finish
March 5, 2007
Articles for Floor Sanders, Equipment-Product Reviews Comments Off
Feb 122007
As for Waterlox, the top 5 ingredients in each can are: Mineral Spirits Specially Processed tung oil Ester gum Phenolic resin Specially Processed Linseed Oil It is not a pure tung oil finish. However, cooking the oil does not make tung oil “impure”. When it is heated it is called polymerized tung oil. this process [...]
Waterlox
February 12, 2007
Equipment-Product Reviews, Oil Vs Water Based Urethane, Wax, Etc. Comments Off
Jul 272006
What type of glue should I use to glue 1/4 oak flooring to a sheet of 3/4 plywood that I’m using for a trap door?
May 302006
Should I use a finish that has nanotechnology?
Nanotechnology finish?
May 30, 2006
Equipment-Product Reviews, Oil Vs Water Based Urethane, Wax, Etc. Comments Off
Oct 012005
I am in the process of removing my existing hardwood floors and have a problem. The floor that I am removing is in the kitchen and runs underneath existing cabinets. How do the cut the floorboards where they go under the cabinet? I have a 3 1/2 inch high kick plate at the bottom of the cabinets and cannot fit a sawsall or any other cutting tool that I am aware of underneath the kick plate.
