Q: Short of replacing with new wooden strips, is there a way to fix dents and holes (from heavy furniture movement) in hardwood floors?
A: For dents, I remember (from somewhere) that it "may" be possible to use an iron to steam out the dent. I have never actually tried this. For "holes" (as in nail hole?), I assume standard wood patching would work for small holes.
The other solution is to drill out the bad spot and replace with a matching sized piece of wood. I recommend matching the stain before inserting the new piece.
And there is always a rug.
A: Depends... If they aren't too deep and the floor has enough thickness, you may be able to sand them out.
But lots of people (me included) consider that to be "character". It's also true that if it's happened before, it will likely happen again...
A: I had a significant amount of pre-finished ½” bellawood hardwood installed in late May. The installer botched the installation and now I have two issues:
1. A nasty rise where the boards popped free of their nails, or were not nailed to begin with (his crew was “nailing” without nails in their gun for a little while – we already fixed on other such spot). This one’s pretty easy to resolve.
2. Numerous locations in the house where the boards are always settling – walk over the spot and all the boards shift, resulting in a sound like a string of firecrackers. Leave the room and wait a few minutes and the boards shift back, resulting in another string of firecrackers.
The installer (Igor Kochnev of PK Flooring) has disappeared and has not resolved issue #1 above, and based on the other problems we had with his installation I’ve got to attribute #2 to his installation as well. I won’t use him to resolve this issue, even if I could get a hold of him or get him to return my calls. Consider this a hearty disrecommendation for Igor.
However – does anyone have thoughts on #2 above? I need to get a qualified hardwood person out (any recommendations?), but I’m wondering if I’ll wind up needing to sand the floor down, top-nail everything, and then refinish it. Or maybe not - perhaps it sounds like a subfloor issue, or something else?
Snap. Crackle. Pop.
A: They make special screws designed to snap off when driven in to correct this type of problem. You drive the screw in and the head snaps off below the surface. Putty the hole.
Or depending on your access you could screw the floor from below.
Showing posts with label Hardwood Floor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hardwood Floor. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Hardwood floor cleaning
Q: I am trying to clean my hardwood and heard that not to use just plain water and soap. Do you have any reco for a good hardwood cleaning kit? Possibly like a spray so I can just spray and mop? Thanks!
A: Very light solution of water and vinegar. Mop with a very squeezed rag.
Clean as soon as possible stains/drops. The issue with hardwood is not the nature of the drop, but how long it stays on it. Even milk can be very damaging if left there for too long.
Those are the tips I got from the contractor who installed my hardwood, and so far so good.
Q: How many % water and % vinegar?
A: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/floor-care-101?lnc=14083a7d172ee010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=dl_subsections_home_housekeeping#
Martha recommends 4:1 water:vinegar.
A: Even less, maybe 6:1. Vinegar is acid after all, the finish might suffer a bit.
A: Very light solution of water and vinegar. Mop with a very squeezed rag.
Clean as soon as possible stains/drops. The issue with hardwood is not the nature of the drop, but how long it stays on it. Even milk can be very damaging if left there for too long.
Those are the tips I got from the contractor who installed my hardwood, and so far so good.
Q: How many % water and % vinegar?
A: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/floor-care-101?lnc=14083a7d172ee010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&rsc=dl_subsections_home_housekeeping#
Martha recommends 4:1 water:vinegar.
A: Even less, maybe 6:1. Vinegar is acid after all, the finish might suffer a bit.
Monday, October 15, 2007
New Hardwood Floors - creaking?
Q: I have recently had new hardware floors installed. They are pre-finished hardwood floors made my Mirage. They are not laminate. A thin sheet of paper was put down on the sub floor (plywood) then the hardware was installed directly on top (using that funky angular hardwood nail-gun thing). They were installed by a professional and look really good.
Question: How much creaking is normal? It has been about 2 months since the install and as I walk across the floor I sometimes hear creaking. Specifically, it sound like creaking of the hardwood planks (3.25” wide) and not the sub floor. In one area of the floor, I can easily repro the creaking by stepping on one plank and then stepping on another plank just 12” away. At this point I wouldn’t say there is not a tremendous amount of creaking but it has increased over the last 2 months and I am concerned it is going to continue to increase. Some areas are worse than others. Is this normal? One person told me that sub-floor creaking is normal but the pre-finished hardware should not make any noise. Is this correct? Thoughts?
A: Some of this can be attributed to the changing weather. As it gets colder, the boards are going to shrink slightly, just enough to allow some movement that wasn’t there before. You will probably notice the squeaking going away when the weather starts warming up again next year. I have bamboo, and I’ve noticed a little bit more noise the past few weeks than I did through the summer. Last year during the wind storm when there was no power (and thus no heat upstairs), if we walked up stairs onto the hardwood, sometimes it would move enough to make the whole floor sound like it was cracking.
I would say not to worry about it unless it becomes much more noticeable. You’ll probably notice it more in areas where there is a temperature shift; for example the wood by a door or window may creak a bit more around the area it meets with a section of floor that is more in a more stable environment.
What you want to be concerned about is if you start to see some warping or bending, but that’s pretty unlikely.
A: If it is the first floor, you can go down to crawl space. It is easy to tell whether the subfloor or hardwood floor is creaking. Sometime one loose nail can make a loud echo in crawl space and make you believe the whole floor is cracking.
A: I had some hardwood squeaking developed after living in the house for a while. The fix is relatively easy, you drill a pilot hole at an angle from where it squeaks to the closest subfloor joist and sink a nail into it. Then you fill the nail holes with epoxy mixed with some tint color that matches your floor color. It took the installer 10 minutes to fix the squeaks in one spot.
Question: How much creaking is normal? It has been about 2 months since the install and as I walk across the floor I sometimes hear creaking. Specifically, it sound like creaking of the hardwood planks (3.25” wide) and not the sub floor. In one area of the floor, I can easily repro the creaking by stepping on one plank and then stepping on another plank just 12” away. At this point I wouldn’t say there is not a tremendous amount of creaking but it has increased over the last 2 months and I am concerned it is going to continue to increase. Some areas are worse than others. Is this normal? One person told me that sub-floor creaking is normal but the pre-finished hardware should not make any noise. Is this correct? Thoughts?
A: Some of this can be attributed to the changing weather. As it gets colder, the boards are going to shrink slightly, just enough to allow some movement that wasn’t there before. You will probably notice the squeaking going away when the weather starts warming up again next year. I have bamboo, and I’ve noticed a little bit more noise the past few weeks than I did through the summer. Last year during the wind storm when there was no power (and thus no heat upstairs), if we walked up stairs onto the hardwood, sometimes it would move enough to make the whole floor sound like it was cracking.
I would say not to worry about it unless it becomes much more noticeable. You’ll probably notice it more in areas where there is a temperature shift; for example the wood by a door or window may creak a bit more around the area it meets with a section of floor that is more in a more stable environment.
What you want to be concerned about is if you start to see some warping or bending, but that’s pretty unlikely.
A: If it is the first floor, you can go down to crawl space. It is easy to tell whether the subfloor or hardwood floor is creaking. Sometime one loose nail can make a loud echo in crawl space and make you believe the whole floor is cracking.
A: I had some hardwood squeaking developed after living in the house for a while. The fix is relatively easy, you drill a pilot hole at an angle from where it squeaks to the closest subfloor joist and sink a nail into it. Then you fill the nail holes with epoxy mixed with some tint color that matches your floor color. It took the installer 10 minutes to fix the squeaks in one spot.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)