Question: Hi, I want to put hardwood flooring in my bathrooms. I am remodeling and using a Slipper footed bathtub and want the look of a wood floor. Laminates mostly look like laminates to me. Is there a certain type I should buy which would be better. The rest of the house is oak satin wax finish (beveled edges and ends). Is there a coating, which will protect from water splashes damage? I have heard there are some boaters finish coatings and also a “bar” finish which can be used to protect wood from water damage. Can you recommend one? Thanks, Teri Answer: Dear Teri What boaters realize is that water molecules are like little octopi and will slither past the smallest of cracks or seams in the wood or the finish. Then the wood will gather this moisture, swell, warp, or worse; push out along its edges and break a pipe or just make a huge hump in the floor. You are dealing with unstoppable forces here. Boat decks and soles are installed in a different manor than a floor, and the finishes are renewed every year. The only thing I would suggest is a free floating teak or ipe deck, unfinished. And this would not be connected in anyway to the floor. No finish should be applied, as this would simply peel, just allow the wood to weather.

Question: Floor type : Hardwood glued to Concrete floor Problem: The glue in certain places seems to have given up and hence the floor has become unglued and hence there is a hollow sound when you step on it. During warranty period the craftsman came by and drilled very small holes and injected glue and repaired some places. However I need to do the same now and need to know where I can find the equipment for such repair. Basically a fine drill for these pre-finished wood strips and a fine glue injector mechanism. Any help appreciated. -BP Answer: Dear BP There is such a repair kit called the Dri-Tac professional wood floor repair system. It is similar to what you refer to but this has larger drill bits (3/32″), as you are going to use a proven flexible rubber based adhesive. It is water based a will find it own level to fill the void. It is far more effective than the epoxy glues ( which don’t allow the floor to flex). You can contact Dri-Tac at www.dritac.com or call them directly in Brooklin, NY at 1-800-394-9310. My favorite filler for small gaps and holes is the Le Pages brand at http://www.LePageproducts.com/ProductCatalog/detail.asp?catid=25x=56& plid=305x=687. Choose a color that is a tad darker than your floor, and make your holes if you can in the darker grained wood. Apply a drop of touch up finish ( which they provided with this expensive floor ? ) after the filler has dried overnight. Oh, be sure to wipe off the excess right away, with damp cloth, then a dry one. Else the filler will dry to a smear on the finished wood surface. All the repairs done during the warranty period are supposed to begin the warranty period all over again. This is the standard rule for warranties. Your state may have some consumer laws on this subject. This is because this was the same or at least related problem as the warranty covered repairs. And may the manufacturer will have something to say about this. Good glues should last 30-50 years. I will only use Dri-Tac 6200 adhesive with their 45 year “still tacky” track record with this stuff. A lot of contractors are using inferior glues recommended by the manufactures, and that’s why you may have a claim against a adhesive failure to the manufacturer. Then again if there were dips in the concrete the installer should have alerted you to this and remedied this, and not have installed the floor, until they were fixed. 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: What do I use when hardwood flooring butts up to carpeting? Thanks for your help. Richard Answer: Dear Richard The idea is not to have the end butts of the hardwood floor strips come up against any type of other floor. You need to lay what we call a header piece at the doorway, that is at right angles to the run of the hardwood floor. This way the carpet can be tucked under or neatly up to the straight header piece. And in some cases this header piece can be a tapered reducer strip if the carpet is quite a bit lower. The header floor piece has to be installed as you work your way up to that doorway. And it will be locked in with the tongue or the groove depending on which way the floor is running. You will have to face nail this piece, but if it is prefinished floor try to place the nails holes in a dark grain, and fill with a colored latex filler. If you have already installed the floor by know, let me know, and tell me just what type of hardwood this is. I should be able to talk you though a method to neatly trim these rough ends and install a header.

Question: Just finished having oak hardwood floors installed in brand new house and came back today and found buckling in numerous places throughout the house. The heating and a/c is not hooked up yet. dick Answer: Dear Dick This is a great deviation from normal construction practices. The hardwood is not even delivered to the job until all the drywall is primed and the heat system has been on for at least 2-3 weeks. And two months after any concrete work is done. This is because the oak flooring is kiln dried to 6-9% depending on your climate. This is the average for indoor wood moisture equilibrium. Wood is hygroscopic it will absorb moisture from surrounding objects. Now when this very dry wood is let to acclimatize in a virtual outdoor environment (like your unheated house), the wood can rise in MC to as much as 10-15%, this is why it swelled. It may not shrink back into place, it depends on how well it was nailed and how long it has been exposed. When it does shrink it might have large gaps between the boards and might squeak quite a bit. The nails will have been pulled out of their holes. You should get a moisture meter and measure this yourself. Keep a written record of the events. You can mail order a wood moisture meter at http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=&ccurrency=1&page=32548&category=1,43513,45788. I buy a lot of my tools from Lee Valley, and own such a meter myself. You will need to find the average indoor wood MC that is recommend for your area. Most wood floor guys know this, and all cabinet making shops do also. It should be common knowledge in the trade. If you are very lucky and get the heating system operating right away (or even some space heaters) you may be able to bring the MC down without causing too many cracks. If you are lucky. If not you may have to replace all the floor. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: What type of scraper/tools are used when hand scraping?I am having a hard time achieving the proper look.The sample I’m trying to duplicate has a very smooth flowing look to it. The end result of my work looks very rough.It doesnt have that running water look.Any advice or direction on where I could get some help would be appretiated. Rich Answer: Dear Rich You can either use the normal paint scrapers with the replaceable blades. They are easy to sharpen with a 10″ mill bastard file. I personaly use the w-14 model made by Richard at www.richardtools.com. If you sharpen these with a slight rounding of the corners you can get a very smoooth scrape. It will still need a hand sanding, screening or vibrator machine sanding after. But if you want to learn how to sharpen a cabinet scraper, you should be able to achieve a smooth surface right away, no sanding. I’ve just bought one made by Lee Valley tools especially made for doing floors. It’s patterned after a version made almost 90 years ago. You can see it and order it at www.leevalley.com. It’s prod. #05K21.01. But you have to order also a file, a file holder, and burnishing tool. And possibly an extra blade. I spent about $100 CDN on all this, but you will also have to learn to sharpen such a tool. Either read the chapter on this matter in the book Understanding Wood Finishing, listed in the Hardwood Authority section. Or go to Lee Valley Tools again and check out his books and videos on sharpening. It’s going to take me a while to sharpen these scrapers perfectly, but the results so far have been really encouraging. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it sometime this winter. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: Joseph, I have written to you before and have appreciated your response. I have self-taught myself on installing hardwood floors, and in the last 6 months been able to build an excellent reputation. For the most part I hand nail the last rows. The 2nd last row, I use white glue in the groove to glue it the 3rd row, then face nail the last row to hold everything in place. The problem is on my last job, the contractor complained to the salesman about the face nailing of the last row. The salesman wants me to use construction adhesive to glue the last rows in place. I am concerned that gluing the last two rows to the floor will prevent adequate expansion and contraction. Trying to hide the nail under the baseboard is impossible here, as the contractors insist on using shinny baseboards, my average expansion gap is typically on 3/8 of an inch due to slim baseboard constraints. Is there some suitable method, which I could use so that there are no face nails, yet the installation is sound? Also the contractor complained that I installed T-molds where the ceramic tile and hardwood meet. I did this to allow for an expansion gap. They want be to install the wood tight to the tile. Is there any way I can do this? Thank you, Todd Answer: Dear Todd Good for you, keep up the good work, a job well done is it’s own reward. As to gluing the second to last row, that’s fine for strip floor, but use a decent carpenters glue and be sure to keep the glue off the subfloor. I use a small strip of flooring paper to prevent the glue from binding the hardwood floor to the subfloor thus creating a dead spot in the floor. Now as to the thin base boards the cheap builders are using (sometime made of MDF, boy is that cheap), you solution is to undercut the drywall. This will solve two problems for you. Most walls are at least sheathed with 1/2″ or thicker drywall. If you carefully score the last 3/4″ of drywall with a knife you will find that a dull chisel and vacuum cleaner will remove all the debris. Use a scrap piece of hardwood to guide your knife of course. Be really careful though not to cut through the vapor barrier. With this gap at the bottom of the drywall (only on the width side of the hardwood boards-they only expand width wise, but you know that) you will have a neat 1/2″ expansion space even if you cut you hardwood right up to the wall plane. Then you see you can nail 1/4″ back from the edge and the 3/8″ little thin cheap builder molding will easily cover you last and ESSENTIAL nail. You will look like a genius. And maybe you can and should raise your per foot rates. It takes a while to prep the long walls for every job doing this. It would be really nice if the builders could leave a 3/4″ gap at the bottom of the drywall, but naw that’d be toooo easy. I never work for builders anymore, but I do get to tell them what to do once in a while. You must insist on that expansion space and just turn away jobs that allow none. Strip floor was meant to be nailed, and even the nails allow for seasonal movement of the boards. You might just find that using a Vermont American nail spinner (my secret weapon) allows for a very close hand nailing to the wall. I’m not sure if you bought the Strip Floor article, where I do mention this invaluable little device. But here’s the URL of Lee Valley Tool just in case http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?SID=x=1x=32273x=1,180,42334 Of course you’d be using 2″ ardox (spiral) finishing nails And now we come to your second question. You must always have that expansion gap on the sides of the installation, but not for the ends of the boards, I do hope this is clear. When I run into a situation where the ceramic (an immovable object) has to meet the hardwood ( an unstoppable force) I always hide my gap with various molding. Because you insist on using the prefinished boards and have to complete the same day, your prefinished molding choice is limited, and may look quite cheap. But here are some options. When you are lucky enough to have the hardwood at least 1/4 to 3/8″ above the level of the ceramic, you got an easy solution. You can buy various reducing strips of that depth to cover the much needed gap. I sometimes will start an installation just where the two floors meet to make sure there is an even gap but more importantly the straight edge of the hardwood surface is just continued by the reducer strip. Stay with me, I’m going to send you some pictures of this in another email. Boy is this getting long. If you find that the hardwood has to butt it’s ends up to a ceramic tile bed no gap is needed. But often you will find that the edge of the ceramic is a bit rough. No problem, even if the two floor are at the same level (common enough). You then lay a “header” flooring piece up to the ceramic and then lock the rest of the floor into that piece. You do have to plan for this so that the header isn’t a wedge shape, skinny on one side fat on the other end. I will take up to a half a day planing and laying my first row so that all the transition ends look great, like they belong there. It’s an art. The last and most vexing problem is when the ceramic and hardwood are the same level and the silly builder doesn’t like those (higher than the floor) T molds. It’s true, prefinished floor look rather amateurish (sorry) but this sort of moulding really looks bad. I have used instead a flexible calking. You can fill up most of the 1/2″ gap (for the unstoppable force of the wood) with strips of sheet cork, and the last 1/4″ depth with a silicone calk that dries flexible but somewhat glossy. You can either match the floor or the grout color of the tile. You just might have your salesman read all this (unless you want to keep me a secret) so that he can warn the builder to expect and hopefully accommodate the wood floor. It’s not rocket science but it is science. Don’t comprise your principals. You cannot demand respect but you can command it. Tell other what you expect, in oder to perform your trade well. I think that’s all except the pictures, coming sooooon…….

Question: So, gluing the wood to the subflooring is suggested as well as nailing (toe nailing)? Before beginning the flooring, I will be leveling the floor using three 2×10’s face nailed and supported on 6×6 posts. I’m thinking of a 6×6 every 10 feet (floor is about 30×30 with a beam at 15′). Undercoat? as in coat the down side of the boards before installing? Please explain? You don’t advocate what? flooring without T&G? Ben Answer: Dear Ben No, I meant glue and toe nail just to hold the board in place while you then proceed to screw and peg the board. You’ve got to use wedges and even buy a Scrooge Clamp at : http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=44908&category=1,43838,47843&abspage=1&ccurrency=1&SID= You are really going to have to wrestle the boards tight. Don’t forget the drill kit and snug plugs at Lee Valley, really remarkable stuff, the best in North America. The snug plugs cut from the same boards make the pegs look quite natural. Hardly even notice them. And the Spax screws are a wonder, I use no others, I’m not kidding, and Mr. Lee does not pay me to say this. Although, if you like his products, let him know about us. I’m not really concerned with the structure of your floor just have an unbroken PLYWOOD subfloor of at least 1″ thick, urethane glued to the joists, so that the waterproof plywood won’t allow moisture from under the floor to warp the wood floor. Coat the underside of your milled planks with at least one coat of oil based polyurethane. Let it cure for a least a week. Without the T&G, when you do have some great variances in indoor RH, the floor boards will surely cup or crown. With a T&G, the edges are held down by each other preventing or minimizing the warping. It’s the modern thing to do. And while your friend might have gotten away with it on narrow 4″ boards, the wider the plank the more the warp. Be sure to have a look and my sanding article, and especially my poly w/o bubbles article. You must you oil based here, but this is a different subject. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: I have wood floors in my house we’ve removed the carpet, and the floors are really pretty. They need to be refinished and I’m not sure what type of supplies I will need. Or whom I should call. My son says they need to be sanded first, buffed, then lacquered or stained. I need some advice on what to do. Thanks Debbie Answer: Dear Debbie Oh boy, you sort of need a primer on hardwood floor refinishing. And I cannot give you in a simple answer on all the details you will need to know before you hire a contractor, or do it yourself. Suffice to say you will need to hire a professional if you want to SAND the floor, but you could certainly finish the floor yourself. Check out the various books and videos I’ve reviewed, which you can find in the search box at the top of this web page. You can find some of these at your library. You can also peruse my various articles in this site, and one in particular called ‘hiring a contractor’. In other articles I describe chemical stripping of hardwood floors, and a machine called an Orbital Floor Sander. You see there are lots of alternatives to simply sanding a floor to the bare wood. In the floor maintenance article I describe the 5 basic types of floor finishes, and do a review on the Dura Seal water based finish, all available in the search box at the top of this web page. A worthwhile read. You may find your floor need no refinishing just a little care described in the cleaning article.

Question: I want to have satin finish floors. Is this how it works: the contractors sand the floor first gloss finish. They can then apply another satin finish and the look will be satin? Thanks! Answer: Dear Pam The bottom line: They just need to screen the last coat (it’s just a light scuff sanding of the finish, not to the bare wood) and apply a good satin finish, following the method I prescribe. And the floor will be satin. If they have no experience in applying a satin finish (have them provide references) you may still be better off doing the job yourself.

Question: It is a prefinished solid oak strip. I believe it’s part of the Natural Reflections line and I think it’s 3/4 IN X 2 1/4 IN X Random Lengths. It has square edges and ends. The flooring guy says that Bruce should take care of the cost, but my point is that we are going to end up with a floor that is not of the quality that we paid $5,000 for. I was told that we shouldn’t have to worry about refinishing it for 25 years, if ever. I am going to approach them about getting a full refund. Does that sound reasonable? Marc Answer: Dear Marc You know, warranties are no substitute for good products. It sounded like you have bought one of the better of the Bruce products, and the only thing I object to is the so called square ends and edges. This is the type of floor that I had my problems with. Bruce doesn’t seem to have the good factory control to mill and finish this tricky floor on a consistent basis. I hardly ever install prefinished floor these days. I cannot honestly say I have ever really liked any of my prefinished jobs once completed. Frankly the whole prefinished floor business is a hit or a miss operation as far as I can see. The warranties are just the fire wall they have tried to put up, it serves no real purpose other than to keep you coming back. The floor finish will wear out well before 25 years, but odds are you will not be in this house. They are betting on this. If I were you I would go for a full refund. You could have them remove all the floor if they wish, but have them put you up in a hotel, if they really want to take full responsibility. If not get the refund, and consider having the floor removed and replaced with a better product. I would find a good wood floor contractor, have him install an unfinished floor, sand and finish it on site with 3-4 coats of oil mod. poly. If you treat this smoothly finished floor correctly (read my articles) I can assure you you will get 10 years out of the finish before it need re-coating. And 3 re-coatings later that brings you to a minimum of 40 years without having to re-sand. You would never hear that from one of those floor boutiques. This has been the normal maintenance schedule for sand on site floor, for most of this century. You don’t need miracle finishes, just good cheap maintenance. And it is a lot easier to clean a floor sanded smooth than those bumpy prefinished floors. I’m going to write an article soon about the sham of those warranties. Removing and replacing a wood floor is only done once every century or two. Just what kind of junk is this company using when it won’t last 6 months ? Please don’t show this to your contractor, they get very litigious these days, even when they are wrong. Remember Oprah and the beef guys. This is a private letter between ourselves, not meant to be publicly displayed.