Wood Flooring Advice Column
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Maintaining Your Wood Floor
Wednesday, August 19, 2009Maintaining a wood floor can keep the newly-finished look and beauty for decades. There are many products out that claim to clean or shine up your floor. Most of these products will do what they say, but can also leave residual build up behind. That means trace amounts of cleaning agents, waxes, oils, chemicals and so on. If you're going to wait until your wood floor is so worn that it needs to be resanded and finished before you do anything with it, this probably isn't a big deal.
But if you want to keep your floor up with less expense, less mess and time there is a better way: setting up a maintenance schedule with a wood flooring professional. They can recommend products that will not leave residual buildup. Also they can set up times based on traffic and use to get another top coat of finish on your floor before it needs resanding.
Doing this takes less time, mess, and money than resanding. In fact in most cases you could have three recoats done for the same price as one resand and finish. The recoating process needs to bond to finish on site, residual buildup can hinder or react negatively with this process, sometimes making it so the finish cannot adhere or else can creating blotchy or milk spots in the wood floor finish.
Labels: maintaining wood floor finish, wood floor maintenance, wood floor products
Why Hire a Professional Wood Floor Installer
Thursday, July 30, 2009I thought i would write about some wood flooring issues that people in the profession know about but few home owners know about.
The number one issue is moisture. Most people know that water effects wood. For some reason people fail to relate this to their wood flooring. Moisture can greatly effect wood. Keeping tabs on the moisture content in your flooring before installing, and the environment where the flooring is going is key.
Flooring, sub-floor and relative humidity all have to be tested or gauged to see if they fall into the right parameters. This is one reason why hiring a professional installer is key.
Temperature can be a factor also. For general figures: 10% in the sub-floor, 8% in the wood, 40% relative humidity on site and a temperature of 68° F should keep you safe from major wood movement. These figures do change according to wood species and other factors.
Labels: installing wood floors, why a professional floor installer, wood moisture
Why?
Monday, July 27, 2009I created this blog to connect with others in the wood flooring industry and to help those who have questions about wood floors. I will try and keep innovative ideas and techniques as features of this blog. I hope to write new info once a week and answer any comments. I want to promote things that are special and interesting about the wood flooring industry. Will be adding pics, too.
Labels: wood flooring, wood floors