Question: I will be installing Bruce unfinished 3/4″ strip flooring this weekend. My subfloor (above grade) consists of 23/32 Sturd-I-Floor OSB over 24″ OC joists. I’ve heard of problems with nails not holding in OSB all that well. My questions are: 1) Should I use barbed nails or staples? 2) Is there any advantage to putting down a thin layer (1/4″) Plywood on top of the OSB to better hold a nail/staple? 3) Is there anyway to both nail AND glue down the hardwood boards? If so, do I forget about using 15lb felt paper or glue that down as well? Answer: Dear Derek There are so many problems with OSB that I cannot even begin to describe them here. I just make a mention of it in the strip and plank floor article in the Hardwood Authority section of this site. And the minimum fastening surface for the hardwood you are using over these long spans of 24″ is 1″ of plywood. So seeing that your subfloor is less than useful as a nailing surface, you should add at least 1/2″ plywood to get a bit more stiffness, and if you can stand the height 5/8″ plywood would be better. The 1/4″ material you refer to won’t do a bit of good. That all said, I felt so strongly about this negative effects of this product, I wrote another Strip Floor article, meant to influence the minds of the professional floor installers. I don’t care to influence Bruce they may be stuck in their past habits. I devoted about a third of this article to the pitfalls of this material. And as to the nails vs. staples be sure to read my article in the Floored News about this issue. Suffice to say use a pneumatic floor nailer. These are all not just my opinions, but a close review of the facts from many learned sources, and my own experience with squeaky OSB floors, and the damage that floor staples cause to hardwood floors. Oh, and only NAIL down this floor using the proper floor nails every 6-8″, never glue down this type of floor, it will prevent normal seasonal movement. And the felt does no good. A thick subfloor will prevent the 2″ flooring nails from penetrating the subfloor. The go in the wood 7/8″ on a 45 degree angle. So that is why a 1″ or more subfloor over a well ventilated crawl space is so important. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: We had a h/w floor installed by the builder on concrete slab. After 3 attempts and 5 months to fix numerous creaks in the floor, the installer is now claiming: ‘that’s the way h/w floors are’. I have my doubts on this and would like to figure out what the expectation for a 5 layer Mannington floor installed over concrete should be. Should I expect there be load creaks that extend over several feet ? If the answer is no, how to get an independent assessement that would be grounds to get the problem fixed (if it is, indeed, a problem). Dear Richard Answer: The simple answer is no, the new floor should be gap free and squeak free. I have installed similar floors over concrete and saw them up to 10 years later and there was no problem. These engineered floors have the least tendecy to move around after they are installed and resist gapping.The problem is in the installation. It’s quite possible the installer used the wrong kind of glue, it should have been a good quality rubber based mastic like Dri-Tac. And the most important thing is that the proper flash off time was observed before the floor was installed. Also the concrete slab should have been fully cured at least 2 months before the floor was installed. A moisture test would have been conducted to prove it’s dryness. Also the slab itself may have some dips in it and these would have to be patched with morter before work began on the finished floor. The new floor once installed must be rolled with a 150 pound floor roller to get all the boards to contact the glue. So somewhere in this process the installer goofed up and now if afraid to admit it. If you’re lucky the floor will just need to be repaired in those areas, but unfortunatly you may have trouble finding a floor mechanic willing to do this. If you’re any where in the southern Ontario region I can probably help you out, but that’s unlikley. I would start by phoning every flooring company in your area and get some quotes on what it’s going to cost to fix or replace. Hold back that amount from the builder’s final payment and start a negotiation with the builder. I’m sure by now he will want to wash his hands of the problem and will go for a cash settlement. If not use those quotes you got and register a complaint in small claims court. Good luck, let me know how it’s going. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: I have just started my own cleaning bussiness and I was wondering if you recommend using Murphy’s Oil Soap on hardwood floors. Thank you. Pam Answer: Dear Pam No, I don’t. Please read my floor maintenance aricle in the Floored News section of this web site. It should say it all, but let me know what you think of it. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: I bought a one year old home with oak flooring. There is some cupping in a corner of one room, apparently from excess rain water from a dead valley migrating through the roof and exterior brick. The contractor has now installed new exterior step flashing which she said should eliminate penetration. One month later, we’re still getting moisture readings in the affected 2 ft sq. area in the 16-20% range. She thinks it will dry out, but I’m concerned that given the time it’s been there (up to a year) that rotting damage is inevitable down the road. Would you recommend repairs now (which the seller would be responsible for) or wait and see. Answer: Dear David Well, if you are sure you have the roof problem licked and somene else will pay for the repair of the floor, and you can find a responsible floor contractor, who will only accept payment when his job is done and invisible, by all mean go ahead and repair the floor now. But be warned sometimes the subfloor has to dry out also (6-9%). This can be achieved if the cupped board are removed and it is has several weeks to dry out. In the mean time keep the heat on a little higher, with no night time set backs, and heat the basement or crawl space under it well, also. If left on it’s own most floors will dry out and settle flat somewhat in a few months. You should be looking for a EMC of about 6-9% in the hardwood and the subfloor, before completing the repair or just sanding. Find out the EMC in your area for indoor wood, from a wood floor mechanic or cabinet maker. Wood generally will not rot as long as it is in the process of drying, not getting continually wet. But as long as someone else is paying for it, I would choose the first option if I were you. If you found this information helpful, please explore the Wood Floor Doctor.com by visiting the rest of our website. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: We are having trouble with the HFP we bought from carpet mills of america. Their inspector tells us that we have a moisture level of 5.? in our foundation. The planks are coming unglued and the edges on several planks are scalloping. No one ever tested our floor before it was installed to tell us we had moisture in our foundation. When it was installed the installers had to level the floor in several places and within a few hours were installing the planks right on top of it. Others we talked to that had wood floors installed could not even walk on the leveled floor for 24 hours or more. We have $11,000.00 of wood flooring in our home and we are very sick about it. Please let us know what we can do to get our on professional inspection and what if any thing we can do. Sincerely, Steve and Kathy Answer: Dear Steve and Kathy I’m so sorry to hear of your troubles. But this is a fairly easy one. The 5 the inspector came up with should be 5 on the Tramex Concrete Moisture Encounter meter. It’s a small hand held meter that has probes that are is pressed to the concrete floor. The highest reading allowed for wood is 4 1/2. And if a reading over 4 is detected many more readings should be done, in the wettest season you have. Oh, of course that needs to be done BEFORE they even consider selling you any type of wood floor. Along with this test they could have done a Calcium Chloride moisture emissions test. This test is a little more tricky, but basically it involves taping down a bubble container to the floor with a sample of pre-measured Calcium Chloride in the bubble. After a certain length of time this sample is sent back to the testing company, and they send back the results. A 4 in this case is the maximum pounds per 1000 square feet over 24 hours, allowed for wood floor installation. This is a better So you see in either case you have exceeded the maximum, and hence the bad result. The solution is clear, remove all the hardwood ( you didn’t say of this was solid wood or engineered) clean up the subfloor. And install carpet. You can never have a hardwood floor in that present situation. Don’t be too alarmed by the high readings, all concrete floor emit some moisture, it’s just too high for wood and all vinyl products. Now if you are going to ask me, who is to blame. Well, after 3 court cases, (the last one is described in the Wrong Way Floor in the Case in Point section) I would believe that it is up to the flooring contractor to determine what wood floor, and what method of installation is best in your situation. It is always up to the expert to do all tests, and if they did not they will be responsible for returning to the point at which this all began. Plus maybe punitive damages, and costs of the inconvenience of the first job. And the cost of moving out while they remove and CLEAN the concrete, install new carpet, and you restore your life. Please don’t be sick, just get this sorted, I’m sure a large (at least they sound large) company is not will to risk bad publicity even on a job this size. I just completed a long article on this very subject, wood floors on concrete, and you will see it in the site in the next month or two. It deals with all these problems, moisture, leveling, and picking the right installation method. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: We are having trouble with the heritage plank floor we bought from carpet mills of america. Their inspector tells us that we have a moisture level of 5.? in our foundation. The planks are coming unglued and the edges on several planks are scalloping. No one ever tested our floor before it was installed to tell us we had moisture in our foundation. When it was installed the installers had to level the floor in several places and within a few hours were installing the planks right on top of it. Others we talked to that had wood floors installed could not even walk on the leveled floor for 24 hours or more. We have $11,000.00 of wood flooring in our home and we are very sick about it. Please let us know what we can do to get our on professional inspection and what if any thing we can do. Sincerely, Steve and Kathy Answer: Dear Steve and Kathy I’m so sorry to hear of your troubles. But this is a fairly easy one. The 5 the inspector came up with should be 5 on the Tramex Concrete Moisture Encounter meter. It’s a small hand held meter that has probes that are is pressed to the concrete floor. The highest reading allowed for wood is 4 1/2. And if a reading over 4 is detected many more readings should be done, in the wettest season you have. Oh, of course that needs to be done BEFORE they even consider selling you any type of wood floor. Along with this test they could have done a Calcium Chloride moisture emissions test. This test is a little more tricky, but basically it involves taping down a bubble container to the floor with a sample of pre-measured Calcium Chloride in the bubble. After a certain length of time this sample is sent back to the testing company, and they send back the results. A 4 in this case is the maximum pounds per 1000 square feet over 24 hours, allowed for wood floor installation. This is a better So you see in either case you have exceeded the maximum, and hence the bad result. The solution is clear, remove all the hardwood ( you didn’t say of this was solid wood or engineered) clean up the subfloor. And install carpet. You can never have a hardwood floor in that present situation. Don’t be too alarmed by the high readings, all concrete floor emit some moisture, it’s just too high for wood and all vinyl products. Now if you are going to ask me, who is to blame. Well, after 3 court cases, (the last one is described in the Wrong Way Floor in the Case in Point section) I would believe that it is up to the flooring contractor to determine what wood floor, and what method of installation is best in your situation. It is always up to the expert to do all tests, and if they did not they will be responsible for returning to the point at which this all began. Plus maybe punitive damages, and costs of the inconvenience of the first job. And the cost of moving out while they remove and CLEAN the concrete, install new carpet, and you restore your life. Please don’t be sick, just get this sorted, I’m sure a large (at least they sound large) company is not will to risk bad publicity even on a job this size. I just completed a long article on this very subject, wood floors on concrete, and you will see it in the site in the next month or two. It deals with all these problems, moisture, leveling, and picking the right installation method. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: Hi, I have asked you a question before on which wood floor finish is least toxic, and you have provided your answer for which I say “Thank you”. Now, I have another question. I have been told to go with ‘Moisture-cure urethane’, and with three layers…So, my question is “What can you tell me on how bad this wood floor finish for one’s health, or how good it is? Like anything that you might know, of it’s pros and cons?” Felix Answer: Dear Felix I almost coughed up a lung last time I was exposed to the deadly fumes of Moisture Cured Polyurethane. This was really mean stuff. Back then this stuff contained up to 7% toluene, this is the stuff that glue sniffers die on. But it appears at least some companies have reduced the amount of this deadly toxin. Gerners has reduced it to 1% and that is much better. It will still affect the floor guys, and will be gassing off for up to 30 days after. And the bad new is this has about 50% Xylene, which is a skin irritant, but is also highly flammable. Read about similar flammables in the lacquer article in the Floored News. Frankly I wouldn’t touch this stuff. Yes, it is very hard and very clear (at first), but all the jobs we did got scratched up anyway. After 5 years it does amber quite a bit. And because it has to be applied by a pro, it is a impractical finish for home use. You cannot do touch up or re-coats yourself with this stuff. I speak from experience, we used to do commercial jobs with MCU all the time. But we switched to Street Shoe because of it lower toxicity, for us and the owner. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: We installed 2-/4″ Robbins prefinished wood flooring to the tune of about $6.80/square foot. At first it was beautiful then it cupped. We have exhausted ourselves trying to get somewhere with the company. I mean one room is not enough for them to bother themselves. They did come out to the site and the predictable response was that they are not accountable and to put a dehumidifier in the basement which we did but the cupping remains. Any suggestions? I hate to have to try to take down the supposedly 10 layers of aluminum oxide. Just wondering what you would do. Perhaps we should just live with the problem.. Thanks Answer: Dear Mary Wood floors only cup when there is a difference in moisture content from one side the board to the other. It certainly could be dampness in your basement, but I’m not sure that this would be the time of year when your basement would be damp. Have you had and unusually wet winter where you are ? De-humidifiers work best in warm summer weather and tend to freeze up in the winter when temperatures in the basement are low and the humidity is low, because of a furnace down there. The hardwood floor will cup when the moisture content is more on the top of the floor surface, than the underside. This would make sense in the winter when the basement furnace is drying out the underside of the floor, whereas the living space is kept humid within the 40-60%. And then it will bow up in the middle of the hardwood board when the opposite is true in the summer. Damp basement and dry air conditioned air in the main room. And prefinished floor are really susceptible to this because they are not sealed with a finish at their seams. You might also question the installer as to the moisture content of the wood when it was installed, and ask if they checked the moisture content of the subfloor, were the two with 4-5% of each other ? In oder to prevent this from happening the new floor should have been installed on a thick plywood subfloor (1″ is best) so that the bottom side moisture would not have affected this so much, as the floor nails (I hope they used nails and not staples) would not penetrate the plywood, thus saving it from any moisture migration from below. Also if the floor is installed on a OSB or particle board subfloor this could be causing problems also. So it would be best to not sand the floor at this point, as you may find that by spring and with a dehumidifier the cupping may diminish a bit. But it probably won’t go away entirely. Sometime in the summer you should think about sanding the floor flat again, but this time make sure you have no dampness in the basement winter or summer, and try to keep the indoor humidity level to about that magic 40-60%. Below and above.

Question: I’ve got maple 3/4 X 2 1/4 that were strip sanded and urethaned about 14 years ago. The finish is now cloudy (dull, scuff marks). I’ve never waxed them but have ocassionally cleaned them with things like Parsons Ammonia & Lemon. Water beads up on them so it appears that the finish has not failed. I’d really prefer not to have to strip them, but would like to get some luster back into them. One site said that buffing them with a commercial buffer would help. Are there any cleaning/restoring products out there that you would recommend ? Is buffing a solution? Richard Answer: Dear Richard No wonder the finish is dull, you have never re-coated it. Didn’t the original floor guys tell you to screen and re-coat the floor every 5-10 years ? But also you have been using ALL the wrong cleaners, all the while. Please read my cleaning article in the Floored News section of this site, This will put you in the right direction, to get very cheap and effective wood floor cleaners. Never buff a film finished floor this will only scratch it more. But now that that is said, if you are certain that you have never waxed the floor, you should really be re-coating it really soon. Certainly it needs a deep cleaning with Wood Wash first. And you should consider hiring a pro to do the screening ( a scuff sanding of the finish, not the wood), vacuuming , a good cleaning with solvent, and a brushing on a good quality oil modified polyurethane. A pro can do this for about 50 cents to a buck per square foot. You can certainly do this yourself. If you want I can send to a detailed description of this job. Let me know, I’ll be writing it over the next 2 weeks for another contractor. You can get an advanced copy, but you would have to bring in a contractor to our site, read about this below. Otherwise you’ll see it 6 months to a year from now in this site. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: Hey doc I used the Klean strip on my urine spots and it worked great. what type of stain would you recommend for “bringing the color back”? Natural, (would that be too clear?) or would you just use heavier doses of the finish stains?I believe my floor is white oak but the spots that were not touched with bleach look orange now I have minwax and zars available to me and won’t to go with a fruit wood finish. Thanks for the time and great articles. Bob. Answer: Dear Bob Although you will find that the small cans of Minwax stains most convenient, you might try the touch up stain pens they sell in the stores. These contain a dye stain, which is a lot easier to blend in. The pens, although expensive, allow you to paint in bleached out grain lines as well as the background color. Start with the lightest background color first then paint in the darker grain lines. Rarely can you just splash on a stain and expect it to blend well. Also seeing how the surrounding old finish itself has aged you might try adding a pigment to the polyurethane itself. Minwax stains are dye-pigment combos so they might work if added to the poly, but may alter the dry time The pigments though will give you the instant finish aging you want. Pure earth pigments can be ordered from Lee Valley Tools and I’ll give you the URL for the pigments and the touch-up pens, if only just to see a picture of the products I refer to. http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=20067x=1,190,42997x=1x= http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=20084x=1,190,42996x=1x=1x= You can also get a paint store to squirt a bit of liquid pigment tint into the can of varnish, but it’s hard to predict what the results will be doing it this way. I will be doing a separate article on doing touch-ups on damaged hardwood floors. Very complex subject in itself. Look for it next year.