WoodFlooringGuy.com

I have 2000 square feet of hardwood floors, and in some areas the poly looks like it is peeling off. So far I have made one huge mistake: I cleaned all the floors with ammonia, and that took the water, dirt, and wax off of them. Then I used an oil based product called Dura Seal on two rooms. It made a huge difference. I then added a water based poly to one room and it dried great, but you could scratch off the poly. I do not know what to do about that. I do not want to sand my entire house. Can you put a stain over old oil based polyurethane and then use an oil based poly? Any suggestions?

Please give me directions on sanding and top coating an oak floor. It’s mostly in good condition. It has been under a rug for the past 25 years.

I am installing a 5″ plank engineered wood flooring in my home. It is hand scraped wood that is supposed to be glued down. The house has a slab foundation and part of the subfloor is covered with old vinyl tiles, and the other part is old VCT 9″ asbestos tile. It is all glued down with cutback and is very securely affixed to the slab. It is not coming up. Because of this, my plan is to level it all out with self levelling concrete, and lay the engineered wood directly on top of the old flooring. I will be using Bostick’s Best adhesive. Do you see any problem with this? Will the adhesive properly adhere to the old VCT tiles? Should I (if possible) put a skim coat of the concrete over the top of the tiles to help adhesion? Any other ideas/suggestions?

After 3-4 months I noted each plank developing a ridge lengthwise, and today it is quite pronounced. It can be felt underfoot. I have called the manufacturer. The rep came and did tests. He said it may be from the air being too dry although my barometer said 30%. I have a humidifier, but do not have it on now. The problem is worsening although rep said it will be better in summer, but not so far. The manufacturer rep said he would get back to me, but it has been over a month so I doubt it. The installer has referred to manufacturer. What can I do as I do not want a floor with these ridges and warranty is out end of June?

Is it OK to walk around on (specifically, move in and finish painting) hardwood floors after being installed, but before sanding and poly? Can it harm the wood?

We are building a new house. We had a flaming red birch wood floor installed. They sanded it and put two coats of a water based sealer on it, 4 months ago. The house took longer to finish then expected. When they came out to put the third coat on it and replace some big gaps in the floor (due to a subfloor seam pulling apart, due to drying), we noticed white blotches all over the floor. The company that laid the floor states he has never seen nor heard of this. The rep of the company says he has never seen this before. They all say it’s a problem, but they don’t seem to have an answer except charging us more money to redo it and see what happens. What caused the white areas, and how does it get fixed?

Before I hire… Is there any way I can “tell” if the job done may be good or bad?

Our house has engineered hardwood floors, and an open stair case (no risers). We would like to install solid slabs, and add risers. What would you recommend for risers? Is solid slab engineered hardwood (for this application) available?

I would question using “shellac” as a seal coat. It contains a natural wax which will not allow adhesion of other top coats. There are de-waxed shellac products that offer better results. Zinsser universal sealer or Dura Seal Universal Sealer are good choices. Good adhesion on both sides of the shellac.

We put in hardwood flooring 7 years ago, 460 sq. feet. Not too long after, I felt the floor was not standing up. I called the company [makers of the wood], and they did send someone in. He said they would only replace a few boards. We didn’t bother– we we’re unable to at the time.

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?

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.

I recently installed and finished a hickory floor myself. The install was tough, but it came out great. Sanding went well, but finishing left streaks and blotches (did an oil modified sealer then water based urethane). I wasn’t happy, so I resanded the floor back down, and this time did a water based sealer and then water based urethane. No streaks, but I do have the occasional lap mark where I needed to turn the t-bar around when dragging the puddle of finish. Any ideas on how to get rid of these? I have 1 coat of sealer and 2 coats of urethane. I am thinking of screening\sanding them down with very fine (300-400 grit) paper once the floor is cured for a few weeks. Any advice? And yes - I just found your Q&A, and you are right: leave the finish to the pros - it took me three tries to get the floor to where it is now!

I have a wall to wall rug that has been in my apartment since way before I moved in (more than 10 years), and I would like to remove the rug. Can I stain the hardwood floor without sanding first? I understand that I won’t know what condition the floor would be in, but I am looking for a easy way to make the floor look decent.

So I didn’t heed the expert advice and I refinished my hardwood floors myself…

I have new 4 inch oak floors with a M***** Dark Walnut finish. I have several issues that I an concerned about. For one, there are a number of areas that have tiny sand mark circles. Lots and lots of them. The flooring company said there is just no way around that with a dark walnut stain. Also, there are many areas that have a variance in the color, for instance, boards that are much lighter in color or much darker. Finally, there are areas where there are stripes, like tiger stripes. Is this true that this is the absolute best that can be done? I want to be fair to my contractor and not have unreasonable expectations, yet I also want to be a good consumer and be treated honestly and fairly. Any insight would be helpful.

I’ve just finished putting laminate on my stairs. They look great but the squeaking is terrible. I made sure before I put the flooring down that all the squeaks in the rough lumber were gone. Any suggestions?

I’m refinishing a 115 year old pine floor and getting a little desperate! I’ve already managed to sand and scrape off several generations of paint and reached the bare wood and my first coat of oil-based poly has dried.