WoodFlooringGuy.com

I have 2″ slat hardwood. Small gaps. I used 3 coats of B*** water based polyurethane 10 years ago. I would like to refinish the floor. I would like to use a thick high gloss like Marine varnish #13. Would the cracks and small gaps show again? If I put down enough coats, would the natural floor movement start the cracks between the slats again, or would it be a solid coat?

We have a wood floor covered in a cement slush which is about an inch thick. We want to go over the cement since it has asbestos glue on the cement. The two contractors we’ve spoken to are encouraging us to put down plywood and then solid hardwood on top of that. We are also considering putting down a floating engineered floor with a sizable veneer. Which would you recommend?

Our landlord just installed new oak floors in several rooms. They are beautiful. But ever since their installation, we have VERY dry air in the house and cannot get past the choking feeling in the air, despite running a humidifier as much as possible. How long will this last (it’s awful during this flu season)? Any recommendations to help the floor to “settle in”?

About 3 months ago I had bamboo installed in my second story bedroom over a plywood subfloor. Unfortunately, after a month of being installed 6 gaps opened ranging in size.

The flooring as I understand it has a moisture rating of between 8-10. My heat designer said they recommend between 6-8. I have the new flooring laying on the radiant heat (in boxes) for about a week.

When I bounce up and down on the flooring by the threshold that was removed, you can see the sub-flooring move up and down about an 1/8″. Could improper nail down of the sub-flooring be a problem?

I am having a hardwood floor installed over concrete. My installer said that he uses a thick epoxy glue and installs directly over the concrete. A friend told me that I should have some kind of a barrier?

I am in the process of renovating my house. One of the improvements is the addition of pre finished “Aztec Cherry” floors. I had a few people helping the day that we started the floors. The guy that had experience installing hardwoods was working on the 1st room while I was working on something else. This room is roughly 10′ by 15′. My concern is that, he didn’t leave a gap on the wall that the first strip of wood went down on. For the two walls that the wood runs perpendicular to, some of the pieces were cut to leave 1/4″ for expansion, but some run right up to the wall. On the wall where the last strip was installed a 1/4″ gap was left. I am wondering if you think that this will cause problems in the future? Is there anything that I can do to correct this problem? Also, should an expansion joint be left in all of the doorways? I would prefer to have all of the wood seamless, but want to install it correctly.

I just bought the house yesterday and had the wood delivered right after the closing, oak, 3.25″. Somehow I haven’t activated my account with the gas company, so the heat has been off just right after wood was brought into the house. The heat will be off till Monday, 28th afternoon. Meanwhile, the temperature is about 18 degrees at night and going to be 16 tomorrow night. I put few electric heaters and humidifier, the temperature was about 59 degrees when I left. Would my wood be ruined or it can restore itself after the heat is back on? How long it should get acclimated after heat is back?

Due to severe damage in my house, I recently had new oak floors installed on the second floor of my home I live in a hi-ranch in NY. My problem is since the installation 5 months ago I have had many large sections or areas of the second floor that have cupped. I put the contractor on notice and he came to the house and he admitted there is a problem but could not determine what would cause the cupping. He had his moisture meter and found everything dry. PS as a side note the wood did acclimate to the house for 3-5 days inside prior to installation. The floors are a #1 oak and were finished with 3 coats of satin poly. The installation was very tight board to board, no gaps. Now knowing that the only thing that has caused the cupping is expansion due to absorbing moisture. And it did not absorb moisture from the surface because it’s sealed.

Is there any reason to use quarter round when installing hardwood floors. I am going to have oak floors installed(not prefinished) and want baseboard molding put up as well. The installers want to put up quarter round in addition to the baseboard moldings. Does this sound correct? I would think you install one or the other, not both?

I am installing solid slab oak treads on a closed staircase. Do I need to leave an expansion joint between the oak slabs and the wall like you would when installing a hardwood floor, or is it okay to just install the treads flush with the walls on either side? Should I both nail and glue the slabs to the existing plywood treads below?

I recently built a house in the Northeast and installed 11 inch wide T&G pine floors. Since then many of the boards have cracked along the board. I am not talking about gaps between boards, although we have many of those some even bigger than 1/4 in. Many of the cracks seem to be more closer to the edges than down the middle, although again a few have cracked down the middle. My contractor says this is normal with such wide boards but I can’t imagine that that is so. The boards were installed in the winter and were face nailed in the summer with no AC on in the house until long after the boards had been laid. Please give me some advice as to what you think the cause is and if this is to be expected.

What is the recommended relative humidity for a house in mixed climate (heat & Air condition)? The house is equipped with a humidifier to regulate the RH during the heating season. The house is equipped with forced air heat but, at night, the owners shut down the forced air and heat with wall radiators with hot water circulated from a gas fired boiler. The *** Pine flooring is shrinking, leaving unsightly cracks between the boards (some, but not all).

I just moved into a new house (built in ~1969), and am preparing to paint the walls and redo the floors. When I removed the lower wall trim along the floor-wall boundary, I found that many of the floor boards appeared to have “shrunk” (one board end was already visible before I removed the trim). Is this really “shrinkage”, or just a bad installation job way back when? And what can I do to “extend” the boards so they terminate well beneath the trim when I finish painting?