It takes some hard work to refinish hardwood floors, but it is all worth it in the end. Whether you are looking to renovate your old home or update the current one, refinishing hardwood floors are a great way to make any space feel brand new. Are you ready to do this on your own? Follow these steps to refinish hardwood floors with professional results.
Prepare the room
Remove all furniture, curtains, and rugs. Make sure to cover all vents and electrical boxes are taped to prevent dust from getting into it. If you are refinishing one room, you should use plastic sheeting to seal doors. Then use a pry bar to gently remove base molding. You can then remove the small piece of quarter-round and leave the rest of the baseboards in place.
Patch and repair
For this step always check the floor for larger holes or cracks. And to repair this use wood filler and a spackle knife. If the rooms are heavily damaged, it is advised to use a trowel filler and a thinner wood filler, which can easily spread and cover large areas. However, if your floor is less damaged, it is best to use a wood patch filler on specific spots. After doing so let it dry completely before removing any debris with sand paper and buffing it.
Applying sealer or stain
In order to carry out this step, make sure your room and floor is completely clean because debris can affect the end result. If you want the stain to penetrate the wood evenly, use a method called ‘water popping’. Mix a solution of alcohol and water and spray the floor completely with a pump sprayer. Then use a mop to distribute the solution evenly. This causes the wood grains to rise and stain well. Lastly, let it dry for 30 minutes.
Seal the floor
After the stain is dry, we can finish by sealing the floor. This helps to prevent the floor from getting damaged by water and scratches, while also adding shine and luster to the floor. Polyurethane sealer is the most popular hardwood sealer on the market and is available in water-based or oil-based products.
Solid hardwood has been around since the first broad-leafed tree sprouted from the earth – but laminate flooring has only been sold in the consumer flooring market since the 1980s. Laminate countertops and cabinets entered the market well before laminate flooring. However, it took engineers some time to figure out how to make laminate strong enough for floors. Eventually, an increase in heat and pressure during production, and the addition of reinforced layers did the trick. Easy click-and-lock tongue-and-groove floor laminates were born.
Laminate flooring is made up of layers. Most flooring choices labeled laminate flooring come finished with a protective seal and are ready for the weight of walking soon after installation. Marketers and manufacturers like to divide laminate flooring into two categories: wood laminates and plastic laminates. However, flooring industry associations prefer to categorize a wood-on-wood layered floor as an engineered floor, and the melamine on fiberboard product as laminate. If you are considering installing a laminate floor, make sure you research the product’s layers and warranties before you make any purchasing decision.
Products classified as “wood laminates” could be wood veneer (a thin sheet of wood about .06 millimeters thick) on top of plywood, or wood veneer on fiberboard. They’re usually sold in 3-ply or 5-ply strips or planks. Flooring sold as wood laminate flooring almost always comes with a tough polyurethane or acrylic finish and in easy-to-install tongue and groove pieces that can be glued or nailed down.
“Plastic laminates” differ because they come with a printed layer that mimics solid hardwood, rather than a layer of wood veneer. They are called plastic laminates because the top layer is infused with amminoplastic thermosetting resins – usually melamine. Plastic laminates have a top protective coating sealed over the décor paper. This can give you the look of exotic wood without the price. Those two layers are placed over a supportive baseboard, (typically fiberboard, but can be engineered hardwood), that has the edging for the “click and lock.” Under the supporting board is a stabilizing layer. This stabilizes the wood so it doesn’t slip and slide, and it protects your laminated floor from subfloor moisture.
Fiberboard, (technically, cellulosic fiber), can be made with natural wood chips blended with other man-made materials, or it can be a complete blend of synthetic materials. Fiberboard is sometimes made from cane. Engineered hardwood floors don’t have the fiber structure that fiberboard does. Fiberboard’s identifying feature is that it uses a “felting” process to bond the fibers. Engineered wood floors go through a layering process. But fiberboard, engineered hardwood, and laminate flooring all use heat and pressure during the fabrication process. Heat and pressure treatments have a direct influence on the quality of the flooring product. Therefore, it’s beneficial to take notice of a floor’s pressure treatment before making your final flooring choice.
High density fiberboard (HDF) and medium density fiberboard (MDF) are used in laminate flooring. Medium density fiberboard goes through a less extreme heating and pressure treatment than high density fiberboard, but the manufacturing process is the same. Because high density fiberboard goes through a more extreme heating and pressure treatment, it is a higher quality fiberboard and recommended for laminate flooring.
Pressure treatment is also given to the surface layer and stabilizing layer of laminate flooring. The surface and stabilizing layers can be HPL (High Pressure Laminate), CPL (Continuous Pressure Laminate), or DPL (Direct Pressed Laminate). High pressure and continuous pressure bonds the surface layer and/or the stabilizing layer on to its surface, but a direct pressed surface layer and/or stabilizing layer is pressed on to its surface. Laminate flooring fabricated with the direct-pressed method on the surface layer and stabilizing layer of the laminate flooring will produce a more stable floor that isn’t prone to bowing under pressure.
If you don’t want to bow under the pressure of having to choose a new laminate floor, choose your laminate wood flooring armed with information, and your buying decision will be no pressure at all.
Basically, parquet flooring is made up of many small pieces of wood joined all together to create interesting and exciting geometric shapes. All these miniature pieces of wood are laid out on top of soft wood to maintain the even surface. After the process of joining the pieces, the final image will create a unique design on the floor, which adds to the beauty of the room. Due the huge variety of interesting designs you can create with these small pieces, many home owners are beginning to realize the beauty of parquet flooring.
Wood parquet flooring is much more artistic than other types of flooring installation. The very process is an artwork all in its own. The process of putting together the pieces can be done manually, or with the use of a machine for a quicker result. The process is somewhat similar to the of putting together tile flooring. The only difference is that soft wood is used in parquet installation. Installation is easy if you know what you’re doing. But if your not particularly skilled at the art of carpentry, it might be smarter to hire a contractor to do the job for you; in the end you’ll be saving time and money.
Once the wood parquet flooring is installed properly, inspect it thoroughly and ensure that there are no gaps in any of the surface. Gaps can cause warping in the future. It is also important that you must learn how to take care of your investment to prevent it from any damage. Just like on any wood flooring, avoid liquids spilling. If there are any spills, immediately wipe the liquid to avoid any permanent damage. Be careful to not scratch up the floor with heavy objects or furniture for it will leave irreparable scratch marks.
Cleaning is fairly easy with floor polisher and a piece of thick cotton. Make sure that the solutions you’re using are made for wood flooring. Using random cleaning solutions not meant for wood flooring might cause stains and damage due to unforeseen chemical reactions. By cleaning the dust off the parquet regularly, it will give it a shiny new look.
Be careful to not overuse the vacuum cleaner, for it will eventually wear out the finish and take away that shine from your floor. Should you indeed manage to put scratches on the floor, you will be able to remove them using a wax touch up marker. Use a knife to remove any excess from the crevice, and then buff it. You can also use markers that have wood stain already within them, which will add shine to the damaged part. These markers are used to cure scratches on any part of your wood, often times with mixed results depending on the severity of the scratch.
A newly axed tree won’t gush out a flood of water when it hits the ground, but about 200% of that tree’s current weight is due to moisture. By the time that tree turns into a hardwood plank finding its way to your living room subfloor, that moisture content is only around 6%. Moisture affects wood from the time it is first run through the sharp rough edges of a saw and all the way through the fine-tuning milling and machining process. Moisture plays a part in storage, delivery and even installation. Once your hardwood floor is completely installed in your home, that tree will still be hanging on to a percentage of its moisture content – and as long as there is moisture in the air it isn’t going to let it go.
Moisture isn’t a bad thing, and obviously we need air and water to survive. But when it comes to hardwood floors, there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing” – and that good thing is moisture. It might be good for garden, but it’s not good for your indoor hardwood floor. Moisture causes hardwood floors to expand and contract – which is seasonally acceptable – but too much moisture, and your hardwood floors will have noticeable gaps, crowns, irregularities and even buckling that will affect the floors appearance and structural integrity. Excessive moisture can lead to floor rot, particularly if the floor is not properly finished and protected.
Household hardwood floors should have a moisture content between 6% and 9%, but the percentage will be affected by the type of wood, the weight of the wood, and many other factors. Some woods naturally have more extreme moisture contents, ranging from 4% to 18%, but oak floors are generally in the 6% to 9% range. The percentage of moisture content is simply determined by comparing how much moisture is in solid wood compared to the same weight of oven-dried wood. Before the wood is installed in your home, its moisture content should be tested with a moisture meter to make sure it is within an acceptable range.
Controlling the temperature of your home is the best way to prevent unwanted gaping and floor movement throughout the seasons. Keeping the indoor humidity levels at a range between 30% and 50%, and a room temperature between 60 degrees and 80 degrees Fahrenheit is an easy way for you keep your floor’s moisture level at a healthy, stable level. But there are also measures the manufacturers, delivery companies, and installers can take to keep your hardwood floors from acting moody from their moisture content changes.
To begin with, quartersawn wood will be more stable than plainsawn wood. Quality manufacturers will record moisture levels before the wood even leaves their facility, and will include their moisture-level findings on packaging material. They will also have temperature-controlled storage to maintain a consistent moisture content.
The delivery company should take care not to subject the wood to any extreme temperature changes. Once the wood arrives at the place of installation, the wood should be left out to adjust to the room temperature for at least a couple days before the actual installation. A moisture reading should be taken just prior to installation to make sure that the moisture content of the hardwood is within standards proposed by national flooring associations.
Moisture is a fact of life, and your floor will move – although you might not even notice it. Wide planks move more than smaller wood strips, and you might notice a gap between two wide 5” planks, but hardly the millimeter changes between two 2 ¼ “ hardwood strips. By making sure your hardwood flooring reaches an acceptable moisture level before installation, and by keeping your home at a consistent temperature and humidity level, the natural movement of your hardwood floor will be minimized.
Despite receiving the ax and going through an extreme weight loss, your hardwood floor is still living. It needs to be kept comfortable. By keeping its moisture content stable from beginning to end, you’ll have a strong, solid hardwood floor to support you for the lifetime of your home.
When you finally come upon the decision to purchase a hardwood floor, you must now figure out a way of going about this. There are steps one should take during the choosing part of the process of installing your very new brand new floor. First of all, double check to make sure this is what you want. Make sure to read up all about the pros and cons of hardwood flooring, and also make sure you can afford it. Installing a hardwood floor can be an expensive project, and you don’t want to put yourself into a financial hole just because you wanted your living room to look pretty.
Next, check out your yellow pages to find local dealers who can show you samples of hardwood flooring. Look at the different types of wood and determine which type will work best in your household and which one you can best afford. Give this a couple of days and don’t jump to quick decisions; a specie that looked good yesterday might only look average to the one you found today. Give it time. Make sure the type of wood you pick out has different stain colors. Different stain colors allows you to be creative and create different styles according to your own tastes.
Consider in what room the floor will be installed. Its not wise to put floors anywhere near moisture, because that could quickly ruin them. Kitchens don’t look too good with dark flooring, and anywhere that has a lot of movement will probably need a durable and sturdy finish to go along with it. Take a few more days to consider what type of wood, where it will be placed, and how durable you need it to be. And finally, decide how large of planks you want to use. Depending on the size, the complete finished look will give out different effects.
You can quiz your local dealer on all of this, and work with him to pick out something that looks good for your household. They’ll be more than happy to help, knowing that you’re a paying customer. And if they don’t, you should probably find a different dealer. Anyways, happy hunting!
A Laminate flooring is becoming more popular today all over the world, even though it started as a strictly European innovation. Laminated flooring is a good option for houses and offices which require a low maintenance solution. Laminated flooring has been known to be a great choice for its durability, attractiveness, and being easy to install. Laminated flooring is very affordable when compared to other flooring options. However, despite the fact that laminate flooring is popular, there are a many misconceptions. Before one should consider buying laminate flooring, several myths have to be cleared up.
The biggest mistakes people make is confusing laminate flooring with solid hardwood flooring. The two should never be thought of as similar, (yet attractive laminate flooring can often resemble hardwood visually). Laminate flooring is not made of any real hardwood species. In fact, the surface of a laminate floor is actually a photograph, often of a hardwood species. Mind-boggling! This top, decorative layer, is sealed by a resin-based coating. This resin based coating gives the laminate flooring resistance to the many types of abrasion. The other two layers of laminate flooring are the core and backing layers. The core layer is most often made of high-density fiberboard, which serves as a means to absorb the stress of impact. The backing layer, (also known as the stabilizing layer), is the layer of the laminate flooring which binds all the other layer together.
One of the key characteristics of laminate flooring is how easy it is to install. Of the many designs, some of the more efficient designs are the glue free variety. With this variety, the laminate flooring is generally fitted together what is called a “tongue and groove” design, with interlocking elements that slide into place secure each row as it is laid down. Basically, unlike hardwood, no nails are required. Some types of laminate flooring feature more sophisticated locking systems. With some limited skills in carpentry, laminate flooring can be installed by “do it yourselfers” in most cases. Choosing to install laminate flooring cuts down on expenses, especially if you choose to not hire an installer, although many people do for the sake of convenience. Contractors also love laminate flooring, for it is a time-saving alternative to hardwood flooring allowing them to take on more contracts.
