Q: I’ve heard that some hardwood floor retailers with large discounts have floor products that may not be the same size on each end, which can create installation problems for contractors. What are the preferred retailers contractors usually order oak hardwood from? I’m reluctant to make a purchase on line for fear of a substandard produce.
Equipment-Product Reviews
A handful of equipment reviews and mentions of products we liked to use. Note we’ve been out of the biz since early 2010s, so take these with a grain of salt at this point. Times have probably changed!
Mirage Engineered Wood Flooring or?
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 time it is 62+. For this reason we are looking at engineered, but reluctant to make the leap!
Pieces that did not fit tight – is it the manufacturer?
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 I purchased 4 inch prefinished gunstock in oak.
Levelling compounds
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 down through the levelling compound into the subfloor. Is it OK, or even possible, to nail through these concrete-based floor levellers?
Best product to fill gaps
Q: What is the best product to fill gaps in a hardwood floor? What is best wood filler for hardwood floors? Or putty?
Amateur friendly finish?
Q: 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?
Keeping the old and worn look
Q: 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.
Torly’s and Uniclick are 2 of the best
Q: 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).
Cracking filler in gaps of poorly manufactured floor
Q: 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.
Plug cutter?
Q: 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?