Question: I HAVE AN EXISTING CARPETED FLOOR THAT CONSISTS OF A SUB FLOOR OF 1/2″ CDX PLYWOOD AND 5/8″ PARTICLE BOARD ON TOP OF THAT, THE FLOOR JOISTS ARE ON 16″ CENTERS, I WOULD LIKE TO PUT 3/4″ HARDWOOD FLOORING DOWN, IF I REMOVE THE PARTICAL BOARD (TO OBTAIN CORRECT FLOOR HEIGHT) IS THE 1/2″ PLYWOOD ENOUGH UNDER THE HARDWOOD ???? WHAT SHOULD I DO?? Dave Answer: Dear Dave Most assuredly you must remove the particle board. It is the poorest of nailing surfaces. Add another layer of 1/2″ plywood, and this will be plenty. Be sure to fasten this layer with 3″ spiral nails nailed into the joists. Apply squiggles of a urethane construction adhesive on the old plywood at the joist and between the joists. This will prevent the layers of plywood from squeaking at the nail shafts. A thinner plywood will not provide enough structure. Be sure you use proper flooring NAILS, not staples for the new hardwood. Read my article about this in the Floored News section (Primatech Article). As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: What woods would be best for a kitchen floor? Any suggestions for a finish? I saw some thick, natural planks at a show recently that were beautiful, that are waxed but not polyurethaned. How are such floors for a kitchen? Thanks very much. Jon Answer: Dear Jon No woods are good for kitchen floors. I wish you could have seen the water damaged maple floor I saw today. I’ll probably be contracted to repair it and this will cost about 300 bucks. Plus I’ll need to resand the floor for another 600 bucks. So far it’s about almost a grand of fixes on a four year old floor. All frost-free fridge’s will leak someday from the lower evaporation pan. Sweaty pipes or leaky pipes will seep into the edge of the floor near the sink. And the worst culprit in this case was the 4 year old dishwasher, that leaked harsh soapy water. I saw ALL this today on ONE floor. So now that I have read you the riot act, I would suggest a quarter sawn grade of white or red oak. Use a 2 1/4″ unfinished floor, NAILED down (no staples), on a 3/4″ PLYWOOD subfloor. Apply one coat of poly on the backs of this floor before you install it. After installation have the floors professionally sanded and apply 4 coats of oil modified polyurethane. Expect to apply another coat of finish every 2-4 years EVEN if it looks good when 4 years rolls around. Keep extra boards on hand, and learn how to do minor repairs and re-coats yourself. Sounds like a lot of work, well yes. And I would never have a wood floor in my kitchen or bathroom, even though I can install one for free. And you can just guess by now how I feel about the waxed finished floors. They are really excellent for living rooms and bedrooms. I really like using paste wax on a hardwood floor in these areas. But in a kitchen it is the least water resistant of all finishes. Even worse than shellac. It will water spot with the first spill and be a headache from there on.

Question: What I got is site-finished floor. The hardwood is natural birch. The width of the wood strips is 3 1/8 inches. I moved into the brand new house in the end of July. Because the housing market was very hot and the builder had a big backlog of orders, they rushed to finish building houses. There are a lot of quality problems with my house. Hardwood floor is one of the problems. And the shrinking is one of the many problems with the hardwood floor. It’s good that the house is under new home warranty program. The builder agrees to fix most of the problems. But for the contracted hardwood floor, the builder doesn’t want to do anything other than putting in filler (They will re-sand and re-finish the surface). Their argument is that 1)The hardwood shrinks when the humidity is low; 2)The gaps are within normal range. I want the builder to replace the pieces that shrank significantly because: 1) The gaps between wood strips become visible soon after we moved in, around a month. That was in August. The humidity was quite high at that time. I think they put in the hardwood floor when the wood is not dry enough. I think the floor will not recover even when it’s in summer. 2) The gaps are not within normal range. I measured it yesterday. The biggest one is more than 5mm. I understand that wood shrinks in winter and expands in summer. But the change should be a lot less than 5 mm. What do you think it’s the normal range of birth floor? 3) The big gaps affect the strength of the floor. When walking on the area with big gaps, I can feel the floor sink and rise. 4) The floor will look ugly with filler because the gaps are quite big and the color of the filler is different. 5) The filler doesn’t expand and contract the same as the wood. The floor will crack again soon, especial with gaps that big. From your experience, does what I said make sense to you? Can I quote your data when I talk to my builder again? I think they will agree to replace the significantly contracted pieces if I show them that it’s not only the normal humidity change cause the big gaps. By the way, do you know how difficult it is to change some of the wood strips? Does it mean redoing the whole floor? Really appreciate your help. Regards, Frank Answer: Dear Frank Only now do you finally tell me that the birch hardwood is Yellow BIRCH hardwood floor. And this is your most major problem. This is one of the most moisture unstable of all the commonly used hardwood floors. So I’m sorry to say your builder choose the worst wood to use in a climate like Ottawa. You are absolutely correct when you say that filler is not wood. All the filler in the world will crack out by one or two years, this is not a solution to a poorly installed and poorly though out species choice. The best thing would be to remove all the floor and replace it with a more suitable species like maple or oak. If that is not possible For sure have the gaped areas removed and repaired. This may prove difficult, if the same sized wood is installed. The last row will have to be a wider piece ripped to fit. Make sure there is not much if any filler used. A professional floor guy knows how to do this, without using filler. Oh, and make sure that the whole floor is not stapled down, they should have used flooring nails. Make sure they do not try gluing the repair wood to the subfloor. These staples will continue to cause problems throughout the life of the floor. If your contractor doubts this, I have the university study on this. Also an OSB subfloor has the tendency to shift more than plywood, and a very thin 5/8″ osb subfloor will hold the floor nails very badly indeed. Again I can back this up with the studies. Next, if they intend to sand the floor after the repairs, that’s fine. But the whole floor must be sanded professionally 3 times and no visible edger marks should remain. And they must now apply 3 coats of oil modified polyurethane. NO LACQUER SEALERS !!!!!! Due to the builders poor choice of wood, this is the finish needed to keep the wood more moisture stable. They will be removing about 1/6 of the total life of the floor. The builder will need to compensate you for the removal of the wood, and vacating the house while this harmful wood dust is made. You see this may be a lot more costly than either you or the builder thinks. I have won three small claims court cases against contractors, so I know that he is responsible. All this said and you still need to do your part and keep the house humidified. If you fail to pay attention to all I said in my first email, all the rest I have said is also void. Get that hygrometer, and don’t do the repairs until the spring. When you order that hygrometer be sure to tell esci.com that I sent you, it’s the best buy I could find for a really effective instrument. Oh, and be sure to dehumidify the basement once the spring begins. Let me know tonight what you think about this.

Question: WHEN REPAIRING 50 YEAR OLD WOOD FLOORS, CAN THE 2-1/2″ WIDE FLOORING IN THE AREA TO BE REPAIRED BE REMOVED, TURNED OVER AND THEN SANDED? I REALIZE THE FIRST PIECE TO BE REMOVED WILL NEED TO BE REPLACED WITH NEW WOOD. Answer: Dear Jaime You may be able to turn over the board, but only if the wood has been milled with the tongue in the exact center. These days the tongue and groove are milled further down the board, and the bottom of the board may have relief cuts or grooves in it to prevent warping. But you will see when you remove the first one. Be sure to read my article available in the search box at the top of this web page about repairing wood floors.

Question: Hello, We recently purchased an old home with maple floors. Termites had a field day and we lost the entire kitchen floor, the living room is in pretty good shape with the exception of a few planks. How can we remove the old planks and replace. We saved some good planks from the kitchen to repair. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jenny Answer: Dear Jenny Please read my article about wood floor repairs, which can be found in the search box at the top of this web page. It should be able to describe well enough how to remove damaged boards in the middle of the floor and do an invisible repair. It’s good that you saved some of the same planks original to the floor. But take a good look at them first, if they were in the kitchen, they may be gray with some water damage. And in your case of termite damage, you will have to remove a larger part of the hardwood floor, to expose more of the subfloor, where they may be more damage. Termites are very light sensitive, and prefer a softwood to a hardwood to munch on. So in doing such repairs, I have found that if one hardwood board is showing some holes on top, the softwood plank subfloor may have 2-3 damaged and powdery boards. This means you will have to open up more of the floor, but you will have to be sure to save the boards as you remove them. You may find that removing the entire room or at least a large section (from wall to wall) of the tongue and groove hardwood is easier and quicker to do, that simply repairing a small area. There are some specialized tools for this operation. And doing it this way exposes more of the subfloor to check for it’s possible damage.

Question: What is the best way to repair a scratch on a wood floor ? We just had an oak floor installed and a snow shovel took a gouge out. Is there a way to wax that area or camoflage it somehow without replacing the entire board? Marty Answer: Dear Marty You have to determine if the wood is missing form the gouge, in this case you can deepen it with a nail punch, and fill with a light colored epoxy putty. Let the putty cure, sand flush, and stain and color the grain until it is blended in with the wood. then touch up the floor finish. But if the wood is merely compressed, you will have to remove the finish from that spot, by chemical stripping or sanding to the bare wood. Then use a hot clothes iron and a clean white rag wetted on a corner, and steam puff the dent back to the surface. Wait overnight for it to dry, and touch up the finish. Read my article in the Floored News section about floor maintenance, both parts, to determine your floor finish, and other methods for general maintenance. This may be all too much trouble, and you might instead just enjoy the character marks your wood floor is gaining as it ages, just like us humans. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: We have moved into a 1930’s property and have discovered that the lounge and dining room floors have what appear to be original solid oak herringbone style block floors. Some of the outer edge blocks by the skirting boards are loose and some are uneven in the middle of the floor. I would like to restain the wood a darker shade. I would appreciate your guidance on the following: What is the best method of removing the top surface, if sanding, what about the different directions of the grain? What is the best material to use to stain? What materials should I apply as a finishing coat (I have two young children!) and how best to apply it/achieve the best results. What should I use to re-lay the loose blocks – pitch or Nonail? I would very much appreciate any help you could give Many thanks Paul Answer: Dear Paul These days we repair any parquet block floor with a modern roofing cement. The reason being that you can never really remove all the old tar (originally applied hot) from either the wood or the subfloor, so this black roofing cement will dry in all conditions. We have a product called Wet Patch (meant for applying to wet leaky roof) here in Canada, and I’m sure you can find something similar over in the UK. Let this stuff set up for 7 days before you start sanding the floor. If you find that you can clean the wood and subfloor perfectly, use a rubber based adhesive, that has flex to it when it is dry. A normal PVA adhesive won’t work. As for the stain, I always use a furniture quality fast dry pigmented wiping stain (a local Toronto company), followed by 3 coats of Oil Modified Polyurethane. A good wood floor mechanic will know what I mean. Now let’s get to the sanding. How can I talk you out of doing this rather tricky job, on this very elaborate wood yourself. I cannot by email easily give you a sanding lesson, and if you intend to rent a floor machine you won’t get much of a chance to practice except on your own floor. It is very difficult to sand a herringbone floor and not leave long sanding in the floor, when the stain is applied. And even most pros cannot do a decent job of it, unless they have years of experience. So my best advice is to hire a seasoned pro to do the sanding stained and finishing. You should be able to find someone who is willing to do this highly skilled job, with little or no deposit. I take no deposits for floor sanding, it just depends on the honesty of my customers and my good work. There may be an alternative to sanding if the floor is not in bad shape, and that is chemical stripping, as described in my article. This IS something you should do yourself. And by the way, just in case the finish is worth saving, read the second half of my cleaning article, which you can find by searching at the top of the web page in the search box. But if you really insist on doing the whole sanding and finishing job yourself, I will have to write a long dissertation on the matter. I just completed a stain job on a plank floor and have some pictures, and we do have an article on the OMP.

Question: We had a cherry plank floor installed in a new home 2 years ago. It was a pre-finished satin floor. Last year we had it screened and a semi-gloss coat of urethane (water base) for a shinier finish. My question is, we have got a lot of minor scratches in the urethane that are quite visible and take away from the beauty of the cherry floor. Is there a way to rid the scratches? They are not down to the wood in most cases. Also, we have many small dents in the cherry wood due to it’s softness and either small stones or heels on the floor, any help for them too without sanding and refinishing? I appreciate your help. Answer: Dear Brian While I adore cherry wood floors, they do have their drawbacks. The wood is quite soft, and easily dented. Before they recoated the floors they should have tried to remove some of these dents, touched those up spots and then re-coated. But because this was a conversion factory finish, this may have been difficult or impossible. I always sand finish cherry on site with 3-4 coats of oil-modified polyurethane. OMP ages well on cherry and darkens the wood nicely with time and (the finish) gets harder as it cross-links. The wood never gets harder. And I would always suggest a satin finish, period. The flat non-porous nature of the wood makes all the little scratches very noticeable, and there is little you can do about this. That’s the nature of the beast. It’s very early on in the history of your floor to be recoating. I always wait at least 5-10 years before the first recoat. And I am not sure that the water based coating you used will stick to this factory conversion finish. What brand did they use, did it have a catalyst additive? But I think part of your problem is how you are treating the wood. You should NEVER walk on the floor with outside shoes. This brings in outside grit, and sands the finish off. You can continue this sanding or wear soft slippers and socks and buff the finish smoother every year. It’s your choice. Please read my floor maintenance article, which can be found at the top of the web page in the search box, so you will have a better idea on how you should be caring for this floor. So all things considered I would simply wear out this finish (10-15 years), sand the floor to the bare wood, and finish it with OMP instead.

Question: Hi, Any help or suggestions that you have would be greatly appreciated, since my wife is not very pleased with me at the moment. I have a polyurethane treated oak hardwood floor, which I managed to damage yesterday. I rolled a 99 kg treadmill (the treadmill has wheels) across the floor, which left 2 indentation marks in the surface. The marks don’t penetrate through the polyurethane but are noticeable when looking at the floor from an angle. My question – is there a way to remove, or fix the indentation marks without having to refinish the floor. Regards, Eric Answer: Dear Eric This is especially difficult repair to do. And after you hear what it takes to remedy the situation, you might well sand and refinish the whole floor instead. You will have to remove the finish first. You can do this by sanding the dented area, or applying a chemical stripper to expose the bare wood. Then apply a wet corner of a white clean rag to the spot, just as you apply the hot tip of a clothes iron. Use distilled water so you don’t cause a mineral stain if your water has iron in it. This should puff the wood back to the surface. You should let this dry overnight, and then fine sand and attempt a touch up. 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 next to it too much. But now you have to touch up the finish, and most likely re-coat the entire floor. You will need to know your floor finish. They may have use a sealer as the first coat. Most floor finishes, and especially poly 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.

Question: My husband and I installed a Brazilian cherry floor last summer. We got a “good buy” on it and stored it in our garage for 2 months before we started putting it down. Needless to say, the wood has dried out over the winter and left HUGE gaps. The filler that was used originally (Wood-Wise) has also shrunk and cracked. We finished the floor w/Street Shoe. Can I do ANYTHING to fix this floor? It looks absolutely terrible. I was going to experiment (on scrap pieces) with an epoxy wood restoration product as a gap filler. Any suggestions at all would be helpful. Thanks… Answer: Dear Pam That “good buy” might have still been OK if only you had stored the wood INDOORS for those two months. In fact storing it indoors, in a heated or air-conditioned room would have been necessary to kept it acclimatized. Out in the garage the wood will have reached an EMC of almost 14%, like most wood lawn furniture, and in the winter as you heated the house and the wood floor, you would have dried it down to less than 5% EMC (equilibrium moisture content). This caused the incredible shrinkage, and now there is no way to get the wood back into place easily. So that’s the cause, now the solution. And it doesn’t involve filling the floor. You must remove the floor very carefully and clean any filler off the tongue and groove. And then check to make sure the EMC is at about the average for your area for indoor wood. If it is, re-install the floor and sand and finish the boards all over again. Now before you discount this advise, I will tell you why filling the floor will never work in the long run. The gaps are permanent, but now the wood has moved far past the nails ability to hold the wood well. The wood will move seasonally still and also when you walk on it. Any solid filler will crack out in no time. And the epoxy filler you are about to try is even worse. If you do succeed in getting this type of epoxy filler to stay, it may have the tendency to edge glue the boards together. And then you will be courting disaster. As the wood continues on it’s seasonal movement, there will be some trapping of this movement if the epoxy holds. Something will give and a lot of times it will be the wood floor boards themselves, as they snap in half from the stress. I know because this happened to one of my jobs, some 15 years ago. It was the adhesive affect of the industrial finish ( much like what you used ) that provided the glue effect, that then caused what we call panelizing of the floor. Four or five boards will stick together and pull the next one in half. With a loud snap. You remove an old floor the opposite way it went in. Start at the far end of the room where the last few boards were laid. These will have their tongues pointing toward the wall. The last 2-3 rows will be face nailed. You will only have to crack one board in the last row to remove it. Then use a cat’s paw restorer at http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=1&page=32014&category=1,43456,43399. This tool will gently remove the boards without damaging them. Try to scoot the thin edge of the catspaw under where the floor is nailed, and pry just a little at a time. Once you work backwards into the room and get some working space you can use a larger tool: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=1&page=32015&category=1,43456,43399. The renovator bar will ease up the most stubborn boards. Take out the flooring nails in the boards by pulling them through the back of the board. This will save the face of the wood from being damaged. Use nailing pulling pliers for this job at http://www.leevalley.com/hardware/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=1&page=32024&category=3,41306,41331. But for really stubborn nails you may have to cut them off with the same tool. Don’t be tempted to pound them back through the way the came, this will, like I said, always damage the face and the tongue. Be sure to follow the general directions as spelled out in the Strip Floor article, which can be found in through the search box at the top of the web page. You can also check out the article on the use of Oil Modified Polyurethane. It’s very detailed, and will teach you how best to apply the poly without bubbles and pits that most people experience when using this material. Well worth the read.