Question: I need the “definitive” answer about hardwood flooring. The prefinished manufacturers say that the prefinished is the only way to go, better finish, stronger finish, lasts longer. The unfinished manufacturers say finishing on site is the only way to and that water will get in the cracks of prefinished flooring and ruin it. Which is correct? Is the prefinished flooring with UV and 7 coats of urethane, complete with aluminum oxide a better finish than what can be put on site? Does water get into the cracks and ruin it? Answer: Dear Victoria You have heard the correct answer in both cases. Prefinished floors with a factory applied conversion finish should outlast most all site finishes. But they too will get scratched, and need a fresh coat of finish, every 5-10 years, depending on use. But, you may not ever be able to get any finish to permanently stick to these highly cross-linked finishes. They are so tough that they cannot be screened for recoating. Instead you will need to use a professional prep wash on these floors, and re-coat them with a catalyzed water base finish. All in all, a very expensive job, and I have yet to see the proof that these systems work in the long run. Ever see a floor’s finish peel, I have, not a pretty sight. And, that is correct that these floors tend to absorb water through the open seams, and age badly as more gunk get caught in these cracks. Even the best of them will seem bumpy underfoot, and the worst of them will develop chips on the edges. On the other hand, site finished floors are nucance to have sanded for the first time. You will have to vacate the house from several days to a week. With some of these finishes, polyurethane for one, it will take up to a month for curing. And most of the oil polys will smell for about a week after they are finished. Water based finishes dry more quickly, but are pale in color, or have a short track record like the Dura Seal 1000 (see Dura Seal article available in the search box at the top of this web page). There will be a dust cleanup after also. You may find it difficult to find a excellent floor sander, one who will do a stellar job on your floor. Don’t settle for second best, a poorly finished floor is a nightmare that will haunt you every time you see it. I know I’ve heard far too many horror stories, of sanding gouges, and bubbling finishes. But if done well, you will have a glowing, smooth finish, with all the seams level and tight. Very easy re-coat, and I typically get 10 years out of my finishes, and go about 30-40 years between re-sandings. Site finished floors are my mainstay in business, and all my own houses have been done this way. But you should read my floor maintenance article available in the search box at the top of this web page for the different ways we treat these two different floors. Make sure you also read my article about hiring contractors also available in the search box at the top of this web page. So, there is no final definitive answer, only YOUR choice based on the best information I and others can give you. I tend be more neutral because I will not sell you a floor from here. Good Luck

Question: I really enjoy your web site and am in the process of installing 1500 square feet of red oak flooring. I’m a DIY sort of guy, but I know my limits. Can you recommend someone to me in Raleigh, NC (USA) who YOU would trust to sand my floors? Would you be interested in coming to North Carolina to sand for me? Thanks, Bruce Answer: Dear Bruce I only work in the southern Ontario (Canada) region. I just love the Carolinas, and I am flattered by the offer. I’m sure you can find someone as good if not better than myself locally. Sorry I don’t recommend ANY specific contractors, people change. But you could read and follow the guidelines in my Choosing a Contractor article. https://www.woodfloordoctor.com/_how_tos/articles/choosingcontractor.shtml You will be well armed with the sanding article you purchased, you now know the trade secrets. And by the way thanks for the purchase. So the key is to interview these floor mechanics to see if they really know their stuff. It’s a real hands on task, choosing your own contractor, I could never really do that for you, so sorry. I stick to what I’m good at, telling you the best Process. And don’t be afraid of finshing the floor yourself, I have coached 65 year old men in this task. I always say “If you can paint a wall, you can coat a floor”. With the help of my “poly w/o bubbles” article of course.

Question: Hello Doc! I am pondering a career in the floor refinishing business. I am in the process of getting recommendations on the best equipment. Your recommendation for the Primatech nailer was quite helpful. Do you prefer one sander over another? What are you currently using? There are so many brands! Everyone seems to like “Clarke“. The salesman at the local store wanted to sell me the 220v Clarke American rather than the cheaper 110v EZ-8 Drum Sander. They said the 220v gets the job faster and better (less marks). But most ordinary houses in my area (New York City) don’t have 220v! Where do you plug these in? Also the weight can be over 200lbs. How does one person lift these? Any recommendations for the handheld models – the Clarke Super 7R seems popular. Many Thanks Andrew Answer: Dear Andrew By all means DO try a career in this business, it’s quite rewarding if you love wood like I do. And I sure do recommend a sander or two. The Clark is a great machine and has a long history in North America. They took over the American Lincoln floor machines company, and have made their machines based on this old venerable model. It’s similar to the machine I use, and mine is about 30-40 years old and still going strong. Alto now owns the Clarke machines at http://www.regalequip.com/Alto/clarke.htm. I would highly recommend their American 8 floor sander. But there is an alternative, and that is the Galaxy Floor machines, which are copies of the old Clark, and are made one at a time by a real machinist right here in Toronto. They finally have a web site at http://www.galaxyfloormachines.com. If you are at all serious about staying in the hardwood floor business, you must have a powerful and heavy machine, and only 220 Volt machines will do. They weigh over 200 pounds so that they don’t chatter across the floor when you fine sand. It’s no so much a matter of speed, (they ARE twice as fast) as the fact that you won’t get paid for jobs that have chatter marks all across the floor. You can always dismantle these machines into two 100 pound loads. I hope you are a big guy. All houses have 220 volts coming to the main fuse panel these days. I live in a 100 year old house and this has been upgraded in the 60’s, as most houses have. If you go into your main fuse panel you will see two big wires coming in from the street. Test them with a 110-220 voltage meter and I’m sure you will see what I mean. All electric stoves and electric dryers run on 220 volts, so in most house you can hook up your cord with an adapter to plug right into these receptacles. You are gong to have to have a few lessons from an electrician, about how to do this until you get the hand of the many variations of this. You need about 30 amps at 220 V to run these machines. It took me about a year of full time work, before I had the knowledge to do work on my own. You should really consider working for a well established firm, before you start experimenting on customers floors and electrical systems. But I will be here whenever you wish to ask anything about wood floor. Be sure to read some or all of the books available in the search box at the top of this web page.

Question: I am in the process of remodeling a kitchen. The kitchen is 120 square feet built in 1941 with a 3/4″ fir floor. I don’t believe the fir has ever been exposed as there is a layer of tar paper on top of the fir from which I took off many layers of linoleum etc. Can I have this fir floor refinished and will it come out ok? Or should I have a new floor installed and if so should I buy a 3/4″ or an engineered floor with a 1/8″ wood veneer? I am leaning towards maple as my wood of choice. Thanks, Steve Answer: Dear Steve I really don’t recommend any type of wood floor in a kitchen. The water spills, excess moisture, and hard wear and tear makes this a really bad place for a hardwood floor. Water molecules are like little octopi they will slither past the tightest seam, with the best finish, swell the wood, lift the finish, and turn the wood grey in time. Now that I have read you the riot act, I have installed dozens of kitchen floors, and all are in various states of deterioration depending on the care people take with them. Please read my article available in the search box at the top of this web page about wood floor maintenance. It should say it all, about new floor finishes. But in your case I wouldn’t bother with the tar covered fir floor. The tar could be asbestos cut back adhesive, and would be a great and deadly health hazard to remove, or sand off. And as to a new floor, stay away from prefinished floors. They are so full of exposed seams. They will age very badly in a kitchen. These floors will get gunk caught in the edges, and they will never clean as well as a site finished floor. But maple is a good choice, but please use one of the recommended finishing systems suggested in the floor maintenance article. The engineered floor is the very worst choice you can make for such an area. Don’t believe the manufacturer’s claims about being able to sand and finish these floors several times. In the real world when prefinished floors are sanded for the first time, they need the beveled edges removed and the floor needs flattening for the first time. A slight hump in the floor, and even the professional floor mechanic can sand through a 1/8″ veneer layer. I know I’ve done it. Use a solid wood, select or clear grade of maple in 3/4″ by 2 1/4″ size. The narrow boards NAILED tightly will make tighter seams than wider boards. Don’t use floor staples!!!!!

Question: We are laying down flooring in our kitchen, living room, and dining room. I’m wondering what direction to lay the planks, because the rooms are connected without any separators one room looks good vertically and the other looks good horizontally. Should we do it all the same direction or try to switch in the middle somehow? Is that possible? Answer: Dear Deana The first thing to consider is the kitchen. Please read the floor maintenance article in the “How To’s” section of my web site, to get an idea of what it takes to maintain a wood floor in a kitchen area. I never suggest anyone lay a wood floor in a kitchen. But I have done dozens, for folks who have been warned. So after reading the article and knowing now that this floor will need re-coating often, you should always make sure that the floor boards are ended and headed off at the kitchen entries. This allows you to re-coat ending at the seam of the floorboard at this entry. Don’t go for the flow through effect from the kitchen to other rooms as you will have no place to end this frequent recoating, and will end up recoating the entire room next to the kitchen instead. If you have at least 3/4″ plywood sublfoor you can install up to a 3″ board in any direction you wish. Each room any have a special focal point (window, fireplace etc.) and you will want the floor to point in that direction. But that said in an open concept room like yours it may be best to keep the floor running in the direction of the longest dominant wall. If the subfloor is thinner or made from OSB let me know as you may have problems.

Question: I just read your article on chemical refinishing, and now feel absolutely overwhelmed and hopeless about redoing my floors. My floors are heart pine, very old, and in bad condition scrapes, scratches, stains, worn thin. I want to make my house livable and the floors better, but I can t afford sanding (even if the floors are thick enough to take sanding). More important, I can t move out of my house for several days for the process. Is there a way I can paint my floors that will be less involved than the chemical stripping and refinishing ? Anything you can tell me would be greatly appreciated. Susan Richmond, VA Answer: Dear Susan Don’t give up on chemical stripping the floor yet. You really should buy a small bottle of the Citristrip and do a test patch. Every floor is different, and some really old finishes come right off without so much of a whimper. Even if you wanted to paint the floor (not a bad idea) it’s always best to get down to the bare wood, so that the paint primer can really stick to the wood. It’s really disappointing to see a painted floor that has chips of paint coming off on all the high use areas, exposing the darker old varnished wood underneath. Ask any paint contractor, it’s hard to get new paint to stick to old varnish. But if you really want to paint the floor without stripping I would suggest you clean the floor of any old wax with naphtha (or simply paint thinner). Then scrub it well with a solution of TSP and warm water. Let the floor dry for a few days, and then use an appropriate paint primer. A good paint store can better guide you through the prep than I, and suggest a durable paint to use. Good Luck in whatever method you use.

Question: We have fir floors and they have been sanded as many times as they can be. The floors are now worn and need something done to them soon, (it is in the middle of winter and we live in the Northeast.) Have you any recommendations for putting a strong finish, (we have animals) and we have to be able to walk on it in two or three hours. Have you any recommendations? And is this a possibility? Thank You!! Les. Answer: Dear Les You may not be able to sand the floor, but you can remove all the old finish with a chemical stripper, for more about this please read my article on this available in the search box at the top of this web page. You may be able instead, to save the old finish, do various tests on the old finish as suggested in the second part of the floor maintenance article found in the search box at the top of this web page. And lastly be sure to read about my thoughts on the Orbital Floor sander also in the search box at the top of this web page. You see there are many alternatives to just sanding a floor. And by the way if you do intend to strip the floor to the bare wood, and want a fast dry finish read my article on the Dura Seal 1000 water based finish.

Question: I have brand new wenge 4″ plank floors. They are stained very dark (coffee color) with 4 coats of water base poly, matte finish. They cover a continuous loft like area that goes from one end of apartment to the other, from powder room, to hallway, to large living/dining area to full open kitchen. Very continuous looking…after only 3 months they are very scratched and the slightest scuff shows. After mopping with polycare, they look decent for maybe a day. They also don’t look lustrous,but kind of dull. This wood is special, small grain, cross cut, solid wenge. It should look better. The installer suggested rescreening (to remove some heavy duty scratches from renovation), re poly, then wax them. I would maintain with future waxing and electric buffing, which is fine, except I see that there are all kinds of wax, based on your article and now I’m totally confused as to what will work best and look great. The nice thing about waxing is that I can easily remove that constant scratching, by just spot buffing, but is there any way to buff poly? To give it that lustrous look that waxed floors have? My fear of wax is using it in the kitchen, where water spotting will occur around the sink and cooking area. I have no idea if installer is thinking of paste wax (my guess is yes) or the water based wax you talk about in part I of your article. Help me Obi Wan Kanobi, you’re my only hope… Thank you, Ann Answer: Dear Ann Ah yes, may the force be with you. But as to your floor, well, that would not have been my choice to darkly stain an already dark wood. And then apply a light colored finish on it. But what’s done is done. It’s the light colored scratches on the dark background that you find disturbing. To some degree it’s just the nature of the wood and the finish you chose. Wenge has a very fine grain also tends to show scratches more, and long expanses of wood with large windows won’t help either. But let’s see what your choices are and the consequences of using wax. First, I would follow the contractors suggestion and recoat. Five coats are just about right in a high use area like that anyway. You should have all the deep scratches touched up with two coats first and then the whole floor should be re-coated with a catalyzed water base finish like Street Shoe (Basic Coatings) or Traffic (Bona Kemi), although there are a few more good products out there. After the recoat, why don’t you try to always wear socks or slippers on the floor never outside shoes. Be thorough about putting felt pads on all the furniture, and see if this all prevents future scratches from occurring. This is what I do on my floors, and I plan a recoating every 10 years in low use areas, but kitchens need a recoat every 2-4 years depending on how they are used. The seams of the boards in the kitchen especially need this re-sealing to keep the floor water repellant. Try the Wood Wash cleaner I suggest in the article, it’s great stuff, and no they don’t pay me to say that. Now lets talk about waxes. Never, never, never use a solvent based paste wax on this floor. If you paste wax this floor you will not be able to recoat it, and the wax does not provide a durable surface. In the kitchen, the paste wax, (sold in those little tins or in a liquid form described in the second part of that article) will turn white with each water spill. As you can imagine this stuff will cause you no end of grief. And, I wouldn’t in your case use the acrylic polish like Top Gloss that I also mentioned in the article. You have a matte finish on the floor (good choice), and the glossy finish of the acrylic polish will certainly confuse things on your floor. Don’t worry now, there is something that I can recommend for your situation. That would be the Bona Kemi Refresh polish. It doesn’t have much of a gloss, and it applies easily in either spots or entire areas. But the real advantage of this finish, is that it allows you to recoat the floor later with a water based finish without any adhesion problems. Both the acrylic polish (Top Gloss) and the paste wax will prevent you from ever recoating the floor in the future. You might be able to remove the acrylic polish, but this will require an ammoniated stripper, it’s a lot of trouble. And it’s not possible to remove all of a paste wax, to prevent peeling of the next coat of water based finish. The Bona Kemi refresh kit is what the prefinished floor guys use to disguise scratches when installing these floors. And the company claims it will not interfere with future recoatings. The claim is somewhat believable because Bona has been making water based finishes for about 2 decades. I don’t think they would stick their neck out just to sell a few bottles of this stuff. Here is the URL http://www.bonakemi.com/productspecs/refresher.html You should be able to order this stuff directly from Bona, if you cannot find it locally. Use it sparingly and it will wear off on it’s own in about a month. Keeps you coming back for more, eh ? So, do the re-coat with a water based finish for sure. Keep high heels and shoes off the floor, and felt under the chairs. Lift furniture, don’t drag it across the floor. You may find that the finish will look better longer with this more gentle treatment. Use Bona’s refresher sparingly, and worry less, my princess, about the deep scratches. Just expect to recoat at least the kitchen and high use areas in about 4 years time. Otherwise, live long and prosper, and may the force of wood floor wisdom be with you forever.

Question: We are having our hardwood floors professionally sanded, stained and sealed with 2 coats of polyurethane sealer. Two questions: 1. How long should I wait after the polyurethane sealer has been applied to lay down carpets, i.e., how long will it take for the sealer to completely cure? 2. I have heard that some types of carpet pads can damage the polyurethane finish on the hardwood floor. Do you have any recommendations as to what types of carpet pads I should, or should NOT, use on my newly refinished floor? Many thanks. Answer: Dear Susan I am surprised that your floor company didn’t give you all this info. But if you are referring to an oil modified polyurethane, it will take up to a month to cure. You must keep it uncovered for as long into that month as you can. The only carpet pad I recommend these days is the Might Gripper available at your local Home Depot store. You only need small boarders pieces of this pad to keep even large area carpets from slipping, truly amazing stuff. My son has it on his hardwood floor (that I refinished) for 2 years now with no signs of deterioration. But again wait a month before using even this pad. I don’t use carpet pads under my wool area rugs, there seems to be no need in my case, the furniture keeps them in place. During the first year or two be sure to shift the carpet a few inches in each direction every month or so, to prevent a “aging border” from showing up in the finish. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: Thank you very much for replying the email. I am going to provide a little more detail here then you can help me further. :-)Actually 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 2001. Because the housing market was very hot and the builder had a big backlog of orders, they rushed to finish building houses. There are 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 2001. 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 birth 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. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.