WoodFlooringGuy.com

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.

The finish on my floors is peeling. They were done before we bought the house so I don’t know what kind of finish is on them. They’re shiny with a yellow tint. Is this a health hazard for my son? I try to keep him from putting things in his mouth, that have touched the floor, but I’m not always successful.

Do you have any idea how prevalent that practice of coating all slab areas under wood floors with a layer of tar was in Houston in the early 50s, as opposed to tar paper or just a strip under the runners?

I am searching for a manufacturer that produces wood floors with no formaldehyde, Low VOC, non-toxic preservatives, using coats like oxide/polyurethane. In summary, a natural, non-toxic, ecological/green product. I found teragreen.com, but they only sell bamboo. If it would be great if you could send me a list of brand names.

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

Is the ceramic based coating on some pre-finished wood flooring really VOC free?

We moved into to new place a little over three months ago. The wood floors were refinished before we moved in. The day we moved in we noticed a strong odour that smelled like varnish. The odour was so strong that it made us sick. I experienced a rash, chest pains, cramps, and nausea. We thought the odour would go away in time. It has been over three months and the odour is still with us. It comes and goes, but it is strong about two out of every six hours. The landlord told me that the guys who did the floors used an oil based polyurethane. Is this normal? Should floors be gassing after this long? Sometimes the floor is slick and oily? Is that normal?

My builder’s wonderful flooring company installed red oak hardwood floors on the whole main floor of our house and now I hear that Europe banned the Swedish finish used on our floors almost 20 years ago. I need to know how toxic these floors are and is there a finish I can apply over the finish in order to seal in the gassing off?

All of the green building references I have found say that wood floors should be finished with a low VOC water-based polyurethane, but none of these articles provide recommendations for a brand. Is there a website which provides this information or can you provide the names of some products that are on the lower end of the VOC scale?

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.

We want a non-yellowing non-glossy finish for our hardwood floors that will keep the wood’s natural colour as best as possible. What is the difference between our two choices “Swedish finish” and water-soluble?

…….Do you have experience with a satin clear coat that has low, or no VOC’s, that you would recommend?

We recently bought and renovated our first house. We had the hardwood floors refinished using polyurethane stain. It has been about 11/2 weeks since the floors have been finished they are all dry and our furniture is moved in. I am 8 months pregnant and concerned with the lingering smell from the floors. How long is the polyurethane considered toxic for? Is it safe to be living there even though the floors still have an odour?

You won’t be able to keep out all chemicals, but you may be able to reduce the VOCs in your home by making environmentally friendly choices whenever possible. More than ever there are companies devoted to making safer products for your home. By being VOC-conscious you’ll also reduce the amount of hazardous waste being dumped into landfills when the time comes to dispose of your less hazardous belongings. As an unrelated but added bonus the time it takes to research products may prevent unnecessary purchases that would just add clutter to your home and put a hole in your pocketbook. Being toxin conscious thus has a myriad of positive effects!

I am purchasing a home that has painted hardwood floors. The home is nearly 100 years old, and I have no idea what type of wood it has or how many layers of awful paint have been added to the natural wood. Is there hope for restoring this floor to its natural wood? If not, what type of paint do you recommend so we can at least change the drab colors?

I really need your help can laminated flooring make you sick? I installed ***** flooring in our old house and soon after developed light-headedness and severe dizziness. We later moved into a rental until our new house was built and the rental house only had tile in it . I noticed within a week or to all my light hardheadedness was gone and all the dizziness to. We could only think of one thing the flooring. We put it in our new house but only in the great room and with in two weeks I started feeling sick again. I never had a problem with carpet in the house only until we put in the ***** flooring. Can you please help me with a answer.

My newly uncovered 125 year old 5/4 inch pine plank floors have some high and low undulations. Also,clearly someone used a sander on the floor and removed some but not all the paint before putting on a linoleum floor. There are many random spots with some paint that remains. One contractor told me he had to do the whole floor by hand to remove the paint and to avoid sanding off too much of the surface to flatten the floor. I wondered why an orbital could not be used instead of hand work. I guess it could be if done non aggressively applied. Correct? How would you attack such a floor? Would a floor sander really remove all the “character” from such a floor. What about replacing some missing 5/4 planks with 3/4 inch planks that are shimmed up, or faced on the bottom with a half inch board?

After we moved in to our home, we noted that our “nice” wood floors began to flake clear/yellow thin layers. I assume the previous owners put polyurethane over wax. We are looking into redoing them. In the meantime, we have a crawling child that gets these flakes on his hands and puts them in his mouth. Is there a toxic potential here?