Question: Hi I am in need of a temporary wood floor protection material for a customer of mine to be use during the final stages of his construction projects. He said he saw a material once that was like a woven or spun type of fabric material. Thanks. Answer: Dear Jim There is an interlocking mat available at Home Depot. It comes in various colors and is advertised as a kids? play mat. If you put a layer of gray construction paper down first, then some plastic, and then the mat you will have quite good protection. If this is too expensive try using 1/4″ plywood as the top sheet. But I have found it always takes 3 layers. The paper serves as a cushion, to avoid scratches, the plastic will repel the water and paint spills. And the cushion mats or plywood will prevent dents when someone drops a heavy skill saw on this floor. And they will. Oh, you can duct tape the plywood together at the seams for a long job, but check it every day. This system can only be applied to a floor finish that has cured for about a month. You don’t want to use a woven mat because dirt will sift through it and once a pebble is walked on it will dent the floor. Don’t ever put plastic directly on a floor finish, the plasticizers in the plastic sheet can migrate into the floor finish after weeks or months of contact, and stick in a gooey mess. That’s also what the paper is for.

Question: Hi, I have a house with slab floor (I just bought the slab floor install guide) and I’d like to put in a solid unfinished floor over plywood. I’d rather not have a glue down put in because almost every one I have seen has extensive gapping/quality problems and I’d also like to do a feature strip and border. Also, site finished floors are unbeatable in terms of quality, look, etc IMO. I have done 2 floating floors so I have some experience. The problem with this of course is the floor height. I will be bordering some tiled areas and I cannot raise the tile bed. So there will be approximately a 1″ rise of the hardwood floor over the tile. I don’t see this as a major problem since the current carpet is almost 1″ over the tile. I can spread out the rise over a 4 or 5″ wide piece. Here are my questions: There are no reducers which drop more than the thickness of the strip (3/4″). I would have to drop about 1″ assuming a butt joint with the tile (using colored caulk joint of course). I could probably make a custom reducer using a thicker (1.5″) piece of stock. I would like the reducer to be flush with the hardwood (so I would groove it) and either butt the tile or overlap it. I checked the tile edges and it’s not perfectly straight so I’m not sure how a butt joint would look. There is also the issue regarding color match of the floor (Maple) with the reducer. What would you do in a situation like this or am I crazy for attempting a nail down? Also, this should probably be a seperate question but I’m sure I’ll have others later on so here goes – I researched finishes and it appears that Glitsa has one of the best finshes available. I’m aware of the hazards of a conversion finish and assuming one took all necessary precautions and perhaps even made a practice run on some extra stock could a DIY’er handle this finish? PS. Thanks for being honest about DIY sanding. I won’t be sanding the floor myself! Alex Answer: Dear Alex I hope you’ve had a good read of the wood on concrete article, and now you are more aware of your choices. Oh, and there is another (but really pricey) glue down laminated wood floor that’s available though Kentucky Wood Floor. Great company, and they claim to have a wear layer of almost 1/4″ in this material. Installers say that it “fit’s like a glove”, no gaps. We hope to do a product review on it this winter. Check it out before you do that double layer plywood subfloor method for strip floor. You should be able to order this material unfinished. http://www.kentuckywood.com/plankx.htm But anyway here’s another solution to your 1″ reducer problem. First use a flooring board to reduce down the 3/4″ and stay about a 1/2″ away from the tile. Bevel only the top half of the floor board so that the edge is square. You can use a plane for this as you are installing it, but expect to smooth it off during the sanding. Then install another 3/8″ reducer strip that is about 1″ wide to bridge the gap between the tile and the hardwood. The irregular edge of the tile will be covered completely and you will also have a neat expansion gap between the two floors if the wood is edge wise to the tile. If the wood is running the other way simply install a header piece in the floor (which will have the bevel). I’m sending a picture to illustrate this where the wood was about an inch above the tile in the fireplace hearth. No problem. x Now as to the Glitsa finish, most amateurs have a tough time with this alcohol based finish. It dried so quickly that it’s easy to leave large and ugly lap marks in the middle of the floor. We used it on our white stained floors for that truly clear look. Not only was it highly flammable, the odors just about went through our gas masks. I didn’t find out until recently that this stuff emits urea formaldehyde gas for up to 90 days after application. So I don’t use if anymore, when the catalyzed water based finishes (they have their own skin toxicity problems) look fine on a white stained floor. Anyway since 1994 I have only used OMU (oil modified polyurethane) on all my stained and blonde finished floors. I’m sitting over a 22 year old OMU finish. It was applied to a fine grained quarter sawn oak strip, and now has a nice warm amber tone, that puts those pale blue-white water based finishes to shame. I’m not just trying to toot my own horn when I say my methods for applying OMU make this a great looking and durable finish. Cannot be beat, and I’ve tried them all, at any price.

Question: What’s the best way to do a “poor man’s” wood floor staining? Meaning I can’t hire sanders and painters and finishers oh my! Luckily, it’s not a large area to be done and the finish is mostly worn off so that may be a help. It’s a honey brown now and I’d like to go to a dark brown or even black/brown. This is an apartment so it’s doubtful anything has been done to the floor for many years. What can I get away with, not needing to go for an absolute perfect finish, in fact a little way off from perfect may be better. Margot Answer: Dear Margot I thought about this last night and have come up with a brilliant sloution. Why not strip the floor the old fashioned way with scrapers? The are two basic types of wood scrapers, the cabinet scrapers and paint scrapers (or hook scrapers as they used to be called) If you are familiar with cabinet scrapers and know how to burnish them this would make the ideal tool for refinishing a floor. But an easier tool to use, but less effective is the paint scraper. I use the long handled ones made by the Richland company,they have a replaceable blade and can be resharpened with a 10″ mill bastard file. The first thing to do is learn how to sharpen this tool to a razor edge. Go up to a light source at eye level and hold the scraper tight up to your chest with one hand and using the file in the other hand practice filing the blade to the origional factory bevel, some floor mechanics like to round the edges ever so slightly to avoid gouging the wood. When you file a new blade you will see the factory filing change to your own file marks across the width of the blade bevel, be sure to keep this same width of bevel, or relief as it is called, every time you sharpen. So far we’ve only cost you a $6 scraper, $1 extra blade and $8 file. You’ll also need a hammer and a nail set, these you can borrow. This whole job will be done on your hands and knees so you might invest in a comfortable set of knee pads also. Go around the whole floor and especially on the last 3 rows to the wall and set any nails that are at or above the surface. You will encounter more as you scrape so keep it handy. Use both hands and let the sharpness of the sraper remove the old finish, it should be coming off in long ribbons. Resharpen often and remember the blade relief.Do a small area at a time and you’ll know you’re down to the bare wood when the wood is plain white. Always scrape with the grain of the wood. After your done the scraping you can hand sand it with 80 grit sandpaper, see if your local floor sanding company has some left over used paper you can get for free. Don’t be afraid too tell them what your doing they might be wiiling to coach you on the scraper sharpening. Hand sand just once with a scrap block of wood backing a piece of sandpaper. Here’s a recipe for a dark stain: 2 qt. water, 2 qt. vineger, and all the rusty metal nails you can fit into the jar. Allow it to sit for a week or so in the sealed jar. Strain it into another container using old pantyhose. This stain works best on oak but not so well on other wood. You may have to buy a dye stain if it is something other than oak. Apply the stain across only the number of rows of boards that you can comfortably reach across, let the stain do it’s chemical magic and wipe off any excess. Depending on the tannin content of the wood the final color will go dark tan to black, it’s best to experiment in small areas first. Let the floor dry a day or so and gently sand out the rough grain rising (don’t sand out the color) and finish with at least 2 coats polyurethane floor varnish sanding and cleaning between coats. That will be the only major cost at about $30 per gallon, Which should do 2 coats on a 250 square foot room. Happy scrapping , you’ll have lots of new muscles after this job. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: The people who lived in the house before up carpeted over the existing hardwood floors. When the carpet was installed, they glued the carpet pad to the floor. We now want to refinish the wood floors. We have scraped as much glue off as possible. We have been told to sand the rest of the glue off. What grade of sandpaper should we use? What do we do after that? Please help. Answer: Dear Demona What your friends meant was that you will need to sand the whole floor down to the bare wood. You are best advised to hire a professional for this sanding part of the operation. He will have the 200 pound, 220 volt drum sander that will do a smooth pleasing job on your expensive wood floor. And hopefully he will also have the years of experience behind him, so as not to hack and gouge your nice hardwood floor. His machines cost about 10,000 bucks, so expect to pay about a dollar a square foot for a sand only job. The rental floor machines are TOYS, and leave nasty gouges and chatter marks across the floor. How does one expect to learn this rather delicate and skilled trade, on the job while you hack and hew at your own floors? This will diminish your enjoyment of you floor and lower your houses resale value. But it is always a good idea to finish the floor your self. This is often where the pro, in his hurry to complete his work and get paid, will slip up. I always recommend 3 coats of oil modified polyurethane, allowing a day between coats for drying, and always scuff sanding and cleaning between coat, for adhesion of the layers. Be sure to read my article available in the search box at the top of this web page on hiring contractor.

Question: Will pee damage maple hardwoods that have NOT yet been finished? Dirk Answer: Dear Dirk If you have dark stains in the wood, and an odor that goes with it, you can certainly try bleaching with the strongest wood bleach available. Do this after all the floor sanding is done, but before any finish goes on. Try a wood bleach called Klean Strip at http://www.kleansrtip.com. It will turn the dark areas an off white color. The off white colored spots will need a light colored wood stain to blend them in to the rest of the floor. It’s quite an art. You will want the color to blend in with the final finished color of the floor, not the bare wood. Test for the finished color of the wood by splashing some naphtha on the clean wood. You will have to fine sand the spot before staining, but be careful not so sand out the bleached effect. Then complete the finishing of your floors. And lastly, try major repairs, or replacements. Or a combination of all of these methods. Find an old (or young) floor master in your area, that does these things, and will give you advise in person. But you certainly can do the bleaching yourself. Oh, and if you just have an odor and no urine stain, try the Cleaning Center at http://www.cleanreport.com for their DXO odor remover.

Question: Six weeks ago we screened and recoated our prefinished hardwood floor with an oil based polyurethane. We did consult with the manufacturer of the floor first, and they said the foor was meant to be recoated if it was properly screened first. Over the last week we have noticed that the urethane appears to be seperating from the surface between the cracks of some planks. It looks almost like an air bubble in the bottom layer of urethane at first and then in a couple of days it comes to the top layer of urethane and peels slightly. Why is this happening? The humidity has increased recently and the boards are swelling. Is the urethane that got between the planks being pushed up between the cracks? We don’t want the urethane to start peeling off the whole plank. Bekky Answer: Dear Bekky Well I was waiting for questions like this now that the new urethane prefinished floors have been out there for a about a decade. The factory applied finishes vary from brand to brand and they keep their finish ingredients a closely guarded secret. They are generaly coated with what is called in the trade; conversion finishes. Some are cured only by exposure to ultraviolet light others are two component finishes with special hardening components. They all are coated in a well timed factory setting and are exellent coating in themselves. Now in the real world these finishes may have a hard time accepting another coating of a conventional finish. Before coating over an existing finish I always do an adhesion test by cross hatching a small sample area with a razor blade. Apply a piece of duct tape to it and rip it off. A well adhered finish will show now signs of peeling on the hatch marks. Try this test in a corner of your floor on this finish that you applied so that you can find out if it is actually sticking to the original finish. It may be that it is just not sticking to the edges of the V grooves because these didn’t get screened before coating. Another possible problem is that the coating is too thick and didn’t cure properly especially in the V grooves. But I expect the culprit is the lack of adhesion between the factory coating and yours. Do the test. I’m sorry to say if it fails the test you wiil need to sand the whole floor down to the bare wood (sand out the V groves) and finish with a conventonal finish that you will certainly be able to recoatin the future. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.

Question: Dear Doc, Three years ago we added a large roofed and screened porch to our house in hot, humid, buggy Birmingham Alabama. The carpenter was sure we needed pressure treated pine, so I said ok. I think it got one coat of something like thompson’s water seal the first year and nothing since. I hate the look of it and the arsenic content without a strong sealer makes me apprehensiv e about grandchildren and dachshunds………….The wood deck had a yellowy amber, pine like color and had a finish which did not make it water impermeable, but did protect the pretty pine finish from daily rain, glaringingly hot sun, etc. and keep in mind that this was also used around the pool!! Can you give me some ideas on how to get a floor like this on our porch? Also, we will need to stain or whatever the ugly green tinted lumber that is the exposed pressure treated framing. Any thoughts on that Answer: Dear Jane Most likely while on holiday you were seeing a Florida Longleaf or Yellow Pine, which is just one of the many species of American Pitch Pine. And while this wood has some resins which make it somewhat resistant to some insects, I’m sure that the wood you were seeing was treated like you say. They may only however have to treat the underside of the wood. Termites will only attack in the dark underside of the wood surface. And this pine deck would have to be either varnished or oiled every year to keep it looking yellow and nice all the time. It’s a lot of trouble, but worth it to preserve this expensive wood. The Deft company make a polyurethane that is made for outdoor use. Try them at http://www.deftfinishes.com/wood/defthane.htm Now back at your place and the real world. Pressure treated wood needs to leach out the more soluble salts in it for a year or more anyway before considering sealing the wood with any wood finish. While I don’t think it would be possible to change the pressure treated (green) wood to a nice yellow pine color, you could apply a suitable wood finish to the deck, to make it darken nicely instead. You could wash the deck first with one of those deck brighteners: Bio-Wash WoodWash at http://www.biowash.com/products/biowash.htm Also try : Behr Wood Cleaner Brightener, Cabot Stains Problem Solver Wood Brightener, Flood Dekswood/Natural Wood Brightener, Wolman Fence & Deck Brighteners. I’m sure a quick “google” search will get you to these other web sites. Once the deck is brightened up a bit you can try these finishes: Natural Deck Oil by Bio-Wash at http://www.biowash.com/products/biowash.htm And also try these: Olympic Maximum Waterproofing Sealant by PPG Industries, Wolman Non-Graying, Long-Lasting Acrylic Wood Finish by Wolman Products. Don’t expect any of these deck finishes to last more than 2 years. You’ve got to keep it coated, although your covered porch may last longer.

Question: We are building a new house and have chosen pre-finished hardwood for our bedrooms. The problem is that the plywood on the second floor does not seem to be leveled perfectly. Pre-finished planks will obviously not be smooth. Is there a way to level the floor before installing the hardwood planks? Are these leveling compounds safe for our health? Answer: Dear Muneeb It may be that prefinished is not the route to go. You can sand about 1/8″ off the high seams of the plywood, providing that it is at least 3/4″ thick. If you have a thinner 5/8″ plywood subfloor don’t do this. Don’t bother will all the claims of those leveling compounds, they will crack when nailed. And these are all really meant for concrete subfloors in any case. And the gypsum based ones are the worst of all. So don’t be afraid to sand off a bit of the subfloor, and install some shims. I like to use glued and stapled down 1/4″ plywood and sand off the edges to fill in dips of that depth. Then staple the plywood edges after. You do all this sanding of the subfloor with a floor edge sander loaded with 16 grit sandpaper. Then I would strongly suggest installing an unfinished hardwood, and have it sanded professionally on site. The first passes of the floor drum sander should be done at a diagonal to the run of the boards. This will level the floor perfectly. Consider doing the finish yourself that’s the fun part anyway. And in your case it may be the only way to get a really smooth floor.

Question: I have an unfinished wood floor approx. 14 months old that has faded in areas of exposure and is lighter in areas covered by an area rug and couch. What can I do to get the floor to be uniform? kurt Answer: Dear Kurt Why is your floor unfinished ? No floor should be left unfinished, you must mean something else. And as to your fading problem, sunlight will always break down wood finishes, and even oxidize the surface of bare wood. So the best solution is to expose the entire floor to the same amount of sunlight, to even out the fading.This may take some months. Then consider getting a UV blocking film on these windows, this will slow down the fade. 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

Ask The Doc A Question! Question: 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? 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 it’s 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. As always your Most humble servant, Joseph, the Wood Floor Doctor.