Question: My mother grew up mopping floors with pine disinfectants. I installed Bruce prefinished flooring in her home a couple of years ago. Needless to say I told her not to use water to clean her floors, but she did not listen. Now the flooring has become grainy in texture and dull. Since this is a laminate floor product, how would I go about refinishing them. I was told this could be done up to 3 times. I can’t seem to get the information even at Bruce’s homepage. Can you point me in the right direction? David Answer: Dear David You must mean laminated or engineered wood floor, laminates are vinyl. If and only if the floor has at least a 1/8″ top veneer layer can you POSSIBLY sand it once. If the floor is reasonably flat you MIGHT find a professional willing to chance this sanding. You see, he has to sand off the beveled edges as well as flattening the floor for the first time. So the ability to sand this rather thin veneered floor is limited. I guess it also depends on how well the installation was done. It can only be judged in person by an honest pro. Find one. If on the other hand it is a thicker 1/6″ veneer layer you should have no worries, by all means have it sanded and refinished at least this once. Make sure they use a finish that is easy to re-coat. I would suggest you apply 3-4 coats of a good quality oil modified polyurethane. Use no lacquer sealers !!!! Water based finishes are out, they may further damage the veneer. Be SURE to read my floor maintenance article in the How To’s section, and before you hire someone read my Hiring Contractors article in the How To’s of this web site. Oh, and if you have the thinner veneer, and the pros refuse to sand it, consider chemically stripping it instead. Read my article on this subject also in the How To’s. Once all the old finish is off, you may be able to smooth the floor with an Orbital Floor Sander (article on this in the Case In Point section) and finish it with 3-4 coats of OMP. This last method may not work well if the floor is a waxed prefinished product (you didn’t say). It’s very hard to get all the wax out the seams, and this will interfere with the new finish.

Question: How to refinish or sand a finished herringbone hardwood floor? Answer: Dear Frank How you refinish this floor depends on how sound (water repellant) the existing finish is now. Please read the second half of my floor maintenance article, which could be found in the search box at the top of the web page. It will guide through various steps to identify the finish and see if it can be touched up and saved. That would be the best thing to do if you want to do this work all yourself. Because I’ll tell you right now, before I go any further, this floor will look great if properly sanded, but you will trash the floor with the rental sanding machines. So, let’s presume Frank that you cannot save the old finish, and the floor needs to be resanded and finished. For now, (unless you are a professional floor sander with years of experience) I’m going to strongly suggest that you hire a wood floor mechanic to at least sand the floor. You can certainly do the finish yourself, but these floors are at their best when stained and then 3 coats of oil based polyurethane applied. And even this last part of the job will need some special coaching from one of our eBooks to help you through the job, to a smooth bubble free finish. The main reason that you will not be able to sand the floor yourself, is the machines available at the rental yards. They are under-powered and chatter and gouge across these floors, never creating that silky smooth surface that is so important with this type of floor. The pro have well balanced 200 pounds 3 HP machines that cost more than 10,000 dollars. And yet for as little as a buck a square foot these guys would be willing to sand the floor only (and I’ll tell you what to ask for as far as the order of sanding grits). Then you do a little more fine sanding with a buffer and clearing up of any errant sanding lines. And lastly a wood stain and 3 coats of poly, is applied.

Question: Hello, I have a 3 part question. My husband and I are renovating an 1865 victorian/farmhouse in the Adirondack mountains. After replacing the subfloor in 3 rooms we flipped over the tongue and groove 5 inch (pine?) floor boards and reinstalled them. The floor look great, we feel we have saved the integrity of the house along with LOTS of money. We now have to have them sanded and possibly stained and poly. Q1. There are some old nail holes on the planks that we do not intend to plug. Will this jepordize the final finish greatly ?Q2. In your opinion, do you feel pine flooring should be stained or left natural with a protective coating on it ?Q3. I am considering stencling a boarder around room. If I plan on using a stain should I stencil before or after the stain? Thank you in advance for your help. Websites like this one make it possible for do it your selfers to try and make informed decisions. Sharalee Answer: Dear Sharalee Be sure to read my short article on plank floors in the Hardwood Authority section. You may want to add some screws and pegs, as I suggest in this section. It will prevent warping and separation of the boards. As an alternative to this you can use steel cut nails at http://www.tremontnail.com If they are an Eastern white pine (like I have in one room) be sure to finish it with at last 4 coats of an oil modified polyurethane. The old holes will be fine, just allow enough time for each coat to dry. You can only tell if a coating is dry, when you scuff sand it, and the sandpaper or screen doesn’t clog up. If it clogs wait another 2 days, and be patient. I believe the pine should be just clear finished, as this wood doesn’t have a good appearance when stained. But if stain you must, use a gel stain for sure, it will prevent blotching. Apply at least two coats of finish on the floor before you stencil it. You will have to make sure all the stain, finish and paint are compatible with each other. So here’s the order of things that will work best: Sand the floor to 100 grit sandpaper, remove edger marks, and screen entire floor. If you must stain try using the Old Masters gel stain from http://www.leevalley.com prod. #56Z28.55. Then BRUSH on two coats of OMP (Fabulon Brand Pro Poly 800-263-8108). Don’t use a lamb’s wool applicator. Then use Flecto colors in plastic for the stenciling at http://www.flecto.com/products/var_w_cip.html. Finish the job with 2 more coats of the OMP. Be sure you scuff between the coats of finish and paint, don’t scuff the stain. You should certainly hire a professional floor sander to sand the floor. Be sure to read my article in the Hardwood Authority section, on this very subject. But with time and patience you should be able to do all the finishing yourself. I wouldn’t trust nice stenciling to most of the floormen I see out there. You will find that there is a lot of hand sanding and brush work involved for a good job. Most pros want to put their buffing machines on the floor, and this can whisk away parts of the stains and stencils, I know I’ve seen the results. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: My husband & his friend, “the general contractor”, installed our Subzero frige and when they rolled in over our new maple floor, the shear weight of the Sub dented our flooring. It doesn’t appear to have scratched through the finsh, but rather just left a long dent from the wheels of the Sub. My husband’s friend said these dents may come up if we try gently steaming them with an iron and wet cloth. Have you ever heard of this and if so do you have any tips on how to do this? Shawn Answer: Dear Shawn This is especially difficult repair to do. The hot iron approach is valid but you will have to remove the finish first. You can do this by sanding the area, or applying a chemical stripper to expose the bare wood. Just the corner of the rag wetted will do, as you apply the hot iron. Use distilled water so you don’t cause a mineral stain if your water has iron in it. You can also try drops of rubbing alcohol and the tip of a hot new clean soldering iron. Rubbing alcohol contains enough water to puff out the dent (on bare wood) without damaging the finish too much. But now you have to touch up the finish, and most likely re-coat the entire floor. Be sure to wait until the spot has dried overnight before you touch-up. And know your floor finish. Most floor finishes will not blend in well, and you will have to re-coat the whole floor, and even then it will not perfect. I know, because I have to do such repairs for insurance companies, and even I have a hard time making the repair invisible. But it can be done. Sand well between all coats, and allow each coat to dry 1-2 days. I’m talking about the touch-up coats. Once the area is filled in with at least 2-3 coats of finish, let this cure for about a week, and sand level, with 120 grit sandpaper, then re-coat the whole floor. You might consider puffing out the dent, and having the whole floor re-sanded, instead. It’s called hardwood, but it’s still wood, be careful with heavy objects. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: My hardwood floor is a year old. Part of the floor is in the kitchen. (Of course, I now read that this is not a good idea.) We placed an area rug on the floor under the kitchen table. Now the floor shows a line along where the rug lays on the floor. When I remove the rug to clean the floor, I can see a dark line on the hardwood floor where the rug has been. How do we rid ourselves of this dark line? It is very disturbing, especially since the floor is still young. Is there a certain type of rug that I should not use on the floor? I look forward to your reply. Walter Answer: Dear Walter The dark mark, if you are lucky is just a difference in the aging of the finish. The rug has simply slowed the ambering of the finish (if it’s poly, you didn’t say), and once removed for about 6 month it should fade. But it may be a more sinister problem. There may be a synthetic rubber backing on the carpet, or under-pad. If these were made with cheap plasticizers they may have migrated into the floor finish (which is a kind of plastic also). The only cure for this is to remove the top layer of finish affected. You may be able to take a non-abrasive white nylon pad, and a PH neutral cleaner (as mentioned in my article available in the search box at the top of this web page) and scrub some of it off. If not use 120 grit sandpaper to gently sand the surface off, until the dark line is gone. Then of course you will need to re-coat the entire kitchen floor. This you should be doing every 2-4 years anyway. So, after trying 6 months of the first method, and also trying the gentle white pad scrubbing, you may just have to sand off the spot, like I suggested, and then re-coat the whole kitchen floor. Use the same floor finish as before, I hope you know the brand. Oh, and don’t put back that rub. I use only pure wool rugs on my floor, with no under-pads.

Question: Parquet flooring laid just over 12 months ago has become much darker,where it has been exposed to the light. Is there any treatment that can be used to bring it back to it’s original lighter colour. Wood used was Merbuau.It was sanded and sealed using three coat finish of Ronseal. Elsie Answer: Dear Elsie The finish that was applied on this rather light (and dark grained) colored wood will have the tendency to darken in a short time. But the wood is a very common flooring material and is great as long as you keep it from damp conditions. Nails will rust in this wood if allowed to get wet, but this should never happen indoors. So in your case the best solution is to let the finish age evenly over the whole floor. Remove all area rugs and try to expose the whole floor to moderate sunlight until the shading evens out. Then it should be no more problem. This means it will all remain dark. I’m assuming the Ronseal finish is their interior oil modified polyurethane. They make so many different kinds of finish (mostly for the furniture trade), great stuff generally. But if perhaps if happens to be a water borne finish, let me know as this may not be so good with this type of wood. But a lacquer nitrocellulose would be fine also. This last type of finish would not have darkened as much. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: Hi, I wonder if you have any info/opinions on retrofitting existing plank floors with subfloor radiant heat? I have come across many references on the pros and cons of retrofitting radiant heat under wood floors, most particularly with concerns about plank flooring, of which we have lots. Here are some particulars: 1. The floor has been in place for 40-50 years and is in good condition, no warping, etc. 2. Boards vary in width from 3″ – 9″. 3. A variety of unidentified woods were used. They may include koa, walnut, oak, teak, pine, and ash. 2. There are currently gaps (cracks) between the boards of up to 1/8″, mostly about 1/16″ inch or less. 3. We are in fog-laden Coastal California, where the temperature stays between 45 and 65 degrees pretty much year-round, with extreme winter lows in the 30’s and the summer highs occasionally hitting the 80’s. Our humidity is pretty high with the sea air and regular fog (we regularly get mildew on outer walls and in the bathroom). 4. We have an unfinished (vented, dirt floor) crawlspace under the house. The installation we are currently considering would have radiant heat pipes suspended under the subfloor with insulation beneath. I’d really appreciate any information might have. Thanks! – Emily Answer: Dear Emily I normally give advise on what species and sizes of wood floor to choose when installing new wood floors on these hydronic heating systems. But that has been done for you already. I was raised in the SF bay area, so I know what that costal climate is like. The damp air might not affect the wood as much as you think, as this is just the season that we heat our houses, minimizing the amount of moisture that the boards will absorb. And you already have some gaps between the boards, that are normal for wood that has not (I presume) been screwed and pegged down. As long as the boards have a steady dose of humidity and the RANGE of humidity they encounter is narrow the wood will not move much. But that said, now if you were to introduce a heating system that WILL tend to dry the boards out, maybe more than they ever have before, you will get some initial shrinking on the widest boards. But I’m not sure that will do them much harm either, as long as you raise the temp slowly in the Fall and lower it slowly in the Spring. Keep the pipe temp to no more than 80F and if you are careful you will have no warping. That’s the real danger in this situation, that the wood will have such a difference in moisture content from face to face, that the wide boards will warp. Normally I advise a narrow 2 1/4″ white oak quarter sawn strip floor to be nailed on 1″ plywood in this situation. And finished with 2 coats of poly on the under side of the strip floor before it’s installed and 3 coats on the finished surface. What I want to do is slow the moisture migration in and out of the wood, to prevent shrinking and warping. So I would say you WOULD be taking a chance on using this heating system on these wide boards, but if the boards started to show some warping and further gaping you could always remove this valuable lumber, clean it up, under coat it, install a thicker underlay (to slow moisture migration from under the floor) and reinstall the numbered pieces. But do it with screws and pegs this time. But there is no way to know for sure what will happen. Best to contact a neighbor that has installed the same system on a similar floor.

Question: I rent my apartment, which has wood floors. Unfortunately the floors have not been a high-priority for the owners, and they are in terrible shape (dirt has been pushed so deeply into the grain I wonder if I can get it out). I’m afraid if I ask the owner to refinish and/or replace the damaged parts of the floor, their solution will be to simply carpet over it. The other side of the coin leaves me footing the bill for an expensive improvement to property which I don’t own — not very appealing at all. So my question is, how can I restore (as best as possible) this hardwood floor? Can I just get down on my knees and use a bristle-brush to scrub the dirt out of the grain? Would that damage it? What about coating it afterwards? Thanks for any deep-cleansing tips you can give… I’d love to have a clean, polished hardwood floor! Answer: Dear Taigne Please read the entire floor maintenance article in the “How To’s” section of this web site (both parts) before you clean these floors with something that will harm the finish. Let me know what you think of the article and if you have any more questions or concerns.    

Question: I have hardwood under the carpet in my new home. I would like to pull up the carpet but want to know the best way to remove the tacking strips that have been nailed to the floor without ruining the finish on the hardwood, which is in good shape. HELP!! Alex Answer: Dear Alex I use a Lee Valley’s restorer’s cat’s paw at www.leevalley.com (prod. #A060K21.06). It will get under most of the strips and with its large surface prying against the wood, with care it shouldn’t harm the wood. But you can also hammer the paw end into the nails of the strip, pry them up, then the strips will release. And for left over nails I use the nail puller, Prod. # 64K02.01. And if some nails snap some off, simply use a fine nail set to set the errant nail below the surface (prod. #A023K17.01). You can then fill all the little holes with a colored latex putty (#80K86.01), but be sure to wipe it off BEFORE it dries with a wet rag. Else the putty will dry in a smear. Oh, and be sure to read my floor maintenance article available in the search box at the top of this web page.

Question: We have a 18 year old Bruce Oak Flooring. We clean and wax this floor once a year, and I’m wondering if I can sand this floor down, restain it and then coat with a polyurethane type of finish. We find that the wax does show water spots and other beverage spots and it’s become a pain. Thanks Gary Answer: Dear Gary Oh, sure you can sand this floor to the bare wood and refinish it with a modern polyurethane finish. I’m just finishing up a job exactly like this. I’ve got two coats of poly on it right now as I write this and one more to go on tomorrow. But it was a tough job. I never recommend trying to sand a hardwood floor on your own. The floor machines that they rent will chatter and gouge the floor and make a real mess, they are far too light weight. The professional floor mechanic in your area has 200 pounds 3 HP machines that will smoothly take all that old wax and finish off. But not all the stain ( I only assume this is a darkly stained floor) and the V grooves need to be scraped, by hand. So that all said, here’s what you could do. Scrape out the V grooves yourself and hand sand them with 60 grit floor sanding paper folded to fit the grooves. Have the pro come in and sand the floor with 36, 60, 80, 100 grit sandpaper on his drum sander. Then two sandings on the edges to 80 grit. This should not cost more that a buck a square foot. Then you take over and vibrate sand the edges until all the edger marks are gone, and of course scrape the corners. That’s as far as I can take you in a brief email. The rest of the staining and finishing process is available to you for a small donation. If you can figure it out from here by all means go for it. But I’ve got my trade secrets. The article on finishing with poly without bubbles and pits is worth your while for sure. Funny enough I’ve got lot’s of digital pictures of this current job. I’d be willing to send you some for a really decent donation. The floor looks great and now it’s going to be a lot easier for my clients to clean and maintain the floor. Oh, and speaking of that you can at least read my free cleaning article in the Floored News section of this site. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.