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06-Oct-2008

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How to sand wood floors without leaving machine marks:
This is a must read before you pick up that floor sander, it may save your floor from a fate worse than death. In this article I will discuss the different sanding methods I use depending on whether I will be staining the wood before applying the floor finish, or I am just applying the floor finish directly to the wood.


HOW TO REMOVE VARIOUS STAINS AND SMELLS FROM WOOD FLOORS
The most common question I am asked is how to I remove dark urine stains from hardwood floors. Read this and you’ll find out how do this and take care of other accidental spills on your floors. I think I’ve covered it all in this article.

How to install wood floors on concrete slabs properly:
A slab on grade subfloor presents a lot of concerns when trying to install some types of wood floors. And if it's a fairly new home it may have one of those hydronic-heating systems installed right in the slab. I've decided to write this article siting the best choices, down to the worst choices, in each category of floor types.

Custom staining wood floors without the blotchy effect:
This wood floor stain article will talk about what type of stains to use on particular woods, and the best methods to apply them. I will also talk about the dreaded white pigmented stain, dye stains, and ebonizing wood floors.

How to chemically strip wood floors:
You may find that your wood floor has been sanded to many times in the past, and now is too thin to be sanded again. OR there may be a case that absolutely forbids you to make even a spec of dust (for health reasons or protecting electronic equipment) during the refinishing job, but still, you have to remove all the old finish to do a good job. This article will show you how to use safe, but effective chemicals, to refinish your wood floors.

How to Repair a Water Damaged Wood Floor
Well, the first thing to do, is to dry out the floor surface and more importantly the subfloor, so that the boards don't continue to warp. In fact if you have a plywood subfloor, it going to be very difficult drying the underside of all the hardwood floor boards affected, because of the waterproof nature of plywood.



Stopping those annoying squeaks in your wood floors:
In most cases the three wood flooring members (the joist, subfloor and finished hardwood) have separated, and the nails binding them are moving in the nail holes. A little dust in these nail shafts makes the boards squeak. That’s why talc, wax and graphite offer a temporary solution. But why not try a permanent fix for your squeaky wood floors?

Avoiding squeaks and pops when nailing down a new strip floor:
In this article I will give you the inside story on how to nail down a new strip floor so that no future squeaks will occur. I will tell you the hidden truths about OSB (oriented strand board) subfloors. Believe me when I tell you that this article goes well beyond the "industry standard".

How To Apply polyurethane WITHOUT the bubbles:
I promised a novice floor guy in New Jersey to write this article. He’s been having quite a problem with his wood floors, (and I’m sure customer complaints) because he has been leaving bubbles in the last coat of polyurethane. He would like a quick fix, and I’m afraid both you and he may be miffed by the length and detail in this article. I cannot help this, but you will be satisfied by the depth this article will cover.

SHOULD I SAND THE WOOD FLOORS MYSELF OR HIRE A PRO?
While your gender shouldn't affect your ability to sand a floor, your lack of training will. You just cannot pick up the floor sanding trade on a weekend. It took me 6 months of full time work, before I was let loose on client’s fine wood floors. Suffice it to say I cannot teach you how to sand a floor by e-mail or in this web site. It is a strictly hands on training. And I doubt that the rental places will give you a course on sanding and finishing your floor. The "toy" floor sanders they rent at all the tool rental shops will not, in any case, do a decent job of sanding your floor.

Plank Floor: What special considerations this type of floor raises:
My definition of a plank floor is anything 4" and wider. One of the biggest mistakes I see in the wood floor industry is the failure to treat plank floor like the special item it is. And the very worst kind of plank floor is the prefinished wide boards. If you are thinking about installing a wide plank floor read this article carefully, and consider if this product is worth the trouble for you.
FOR CONTRACTORS ONLY: How to get those better jobs, at the prices you want:
Just how does a hardwood floor contractor go about getting more money for the jobs they are now doing? Well that’s the $64,000 question isn’t it? Read this and you will find out how best to market your skills in the wood flooring industry.

Learn about 21 Species of Wood Floors!
We have now completed our partial Species of Wood Floors list. The list is filled with colour pictures and Pros and Cons for each wood. Look for it in the Hardwood Authority.


How to take care of your Health and Safety
This is meant to be an article about avoiding health robing practices when installing a new or sanding an old hardwood floor. But it may turn out to be a treatise on how to learn from the mistakes of others. Namely, my own really deadly mistakes.
Floor Types and Finishes
The Pro's and Con's of:
Prefinished Floors / Unfinished (Sand-On-Site) / Laquer Finish (Nitrocellulose) / Natural or Clear Finish / Polyurethane / Stained Finish / Water borne finishes
How To Clean And Maintain Wood Floors PART ONE
First, I'm going to refer to water based cleaners. These are the safest and easiest cleaners to use on a well finished floor.  Well finished means the finish must be either 3 coats of oil modified polyurethane (no lacquer sealers please), or 4 coats of a water based finish (either a  one part oxygen crosslinking formula,  or a two component catalyzed type).
How To Clean And Maintain Wood Floors PART TWO
I get a lot of questions about how to clean and maintain a hardwood floor from two groups of people. The first group is lucky.  To begin, they have a new floor finish. This new floor finish will  be either on a new prefinished floor, or a sand-on-site floor, or on a recently resanded and refinished existing wood floor.
How to choose a flooring contractor
All the good, bad and the ugly flooring contractors are found in big city yellow pages. Sifting through a dozen pages is time consuming and the size of the ad doesn't indicate quality. Some phone companies issue a smaller local directory, for the neighborhoods of the city and here you might find a local contractor with local references. If you live in a small town this is all a moot point, so far.
Prefinished Hardwood Floors: How to choose!
I can't tell you how many times I've been asked what brand of prefinished floor I recommend. Or how many samples I've gotten through the mail. These days there are so many choices out there it really is hard to tell the good floor from the mediocre and poor. For this discussion I will try to stay away from brand names (for once) and try to talk out these floors in a more generic manor.
Wrong Way Floors PART ONE
Here we have a situation that could have been avoided with a little planing and knowledge. In our video section you can see me preparing a sub-floor on the main floor, of a Toronto home, before installing a new oak floor. Well believe it or not, (because of my busy schedule) the owner hired a major Toronto based firm to install a similar floor on the second floor.
Wrong Way Floor Concluded
Well I guess , all's  well that ends well. I spent quite a bit of time with my client, coaching him on his upcoming Small Calims Court lawsuit. He  has spent a fair bit of his time this summer gathering estimates from other companies and making a video of the  humpy floor using a spirit level to demonstrate just how bad this job was.
How to repair a hardwood floor for D.I.Y's and contractors.
This article will teach you how to repair a hardwood floor. Before you start, make sure you know a supplier of this same size and species of wood floor. Take a sample to your hardwood floor supplier that caters to tradesmen. The salesmen in some floor boutiques have limited knowledge, so you'll have to find a hardwood floor specialty shop.
Plank and Strip Flooring
I will divide strip floor from plank floor in this discussion because they have different fastening and sub-floor requirements. Tongue and groove strip floor in 2 1/4" or 3 1/4" wide and 3/4" in depth, is probably the most popular hardwood flooring available to North Americans today.
Parquet Flooring
This type of flooring first showed up in the Baroque Period (1625-1714) in France's most Royal of homes and palaces. This is where they first experimented with the most intricate of patterns and 3D effects. These days parquet flooring is found in the most humble of apartments, as the basic mosaic pattern is quite affordable to the rest of us plebeins.

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