WoodFlooringGuy.com

Should I use silicone to seal floating laminate floor during installation? I am getting ready to install a floating laminate wood flooring in our front entryway and living room this weekend. I have heard of people putting a thin bead of silicone on the top part of the tongues before inserting them into the next board’s groove in order to prevent any spilt water from leaking in between the boards. I am wondering if this is a good idea or not. It sounds good in case our cat were to knock over water while we were gone, but would it hinder the expanding/contracting of the floor over the years, or make it too difficult to replace a board if ever needed? Would it be necessary or worth it, and if so, what kind of sealant would you suggest?

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?

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 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.

I removed my old carpet. There is a thin padding underneath. It is in pretty good condition so I was wondering if I can install the engineered hardwood flooring over that instead of removing and putting the foam (as suggested by manufacturers.) Is this something not to do?

Do you have a favourite brand of floating floors?

Is there anyway to remove scratches from laminate flooring?

Is it wise to put good quality oak hardwood flooring in a front entrance ( 9′ x 7.5′) and up the 7 stairs to the main level? We have very expensive tile on the floors now and carpeting on the stairs and main floor. We were trying to keep some semblance of continuity by putting it all in hardwood. We use this entrance 95% of the time.

I live in a condo and recently had hardwood floors installed in my kitchen and living room. The contractor used nails versus glue. The original floor in my kitchen was vinyl and under the vinyl is zipcrete. I was told by another contractor that my floors should have been installed with glue and not nails and that my hardwood floors will not stay secure. Is this true? If so, what should I do to correct the problem?

What is the characteristic difference in red oak and white oak 3/4 tongue and groove hardwood flooring?

I am removing carpet due to asthma. What has worse fumes, Pergo or prefinished hardwood?

What is the best under padding out there for laminate flooring?

Is there such a thing as a floating hardwood floor? I have seen hardwood flooring that has a “uniclic” design which looks like it can be floating. If so, what types of things should I consider for installing it in my new (less than 5 year old) condo? Would there be a sub floor over the concrete?

We just purchased a house that has ceramic tile flooring in the living room. It is on top of a hardwood floor. I don’t know if there is a layer protecting the wood, but from peeking on one corner it looks like it was laid directly on the wood. Is there any hope of salvaging the wood floors underneath? Can you give us any tips for removing the tile?

I recently installed laminate flooring throughout my home. Upon completion of the project I realized that I had some gaps around my door frames. After some further investigation I realized that I should have used an undercut saw to take off the bottoms of the door frames so the floor could go underneath. It was too late however as the floor is already down. The gaps range anywhere from less than an inch to around 1.5″ I cut small pieces from my off-cut sections of flooring and glued them into the gaps. Now there are noticeable (to me) seams at all the points where I glued in the “patches”. Any suggestion on what to fill in the seams with to make them less noticeable? I tried some laminate floor crack filler/repair that I bought at a local home improvement store but it doesn’t match the floor very well.

I’m considering putting 5″ maple engineered floors on the 2nd story of my house (plywood subfloor).But I’m worried that when the power goes out for a week of two after a hurricane the humidity in the house will cause the floors to be ruined. If so, will they come back to normal? Also, is engineered flooring much better resistant to buckling etc.? Is there a particular species of engineered wood better then another?

Can I glue down the wood look laminate floor? Will it buckle like someone told my husband?

I was told my new “lap & gap” red pine may cause problems with curving, lifting, and not being able to lay down evenly. Do you have any insight on the practicality of using “lap & gap” red pine for flooring and installing “lap & gap”?

On the second floor much of the hardwood floors are painted very bright and vibrant colors. It is expected below the layer of paint that the previous owners painted, is lead paint ( or the hardwood floors were painted with lead paint some years ago). So it seems the floors were painted a few times at least over the years. My wife and I really like the look of the original hardwood like is on the first floor. We would like to remove the paint from the second floor. What would be the best way to do it? Also our contractor said we could put a wood laminate over top of the painted hardwood floor to cover it.

I just bought a house with wall to wall carpet that must go. There is plywood subflooring underneath and I can’t afford to install hardwoods any time soon. Can I stain the subflooring?