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Hardwood Flooring Mistakes To Look Out For!

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You probably already know this but not every hardwood flooring company can deliver such exceptional work as we can. Things can happen on a job (though, they don’t on ours 😉 and sometimes there are blemishes to address. Installation and especially refinishing of hardwood floors requires an eye for detail and a steady hand. When mistakes are made, no one is happy. Here are some hardwood flooring errors and why they happen…(not to us, I’m saying…the other guys..), Installation – * Gaps in-between boards Caused by not checking moisture content of subfloor and floor. Could also be caused by using an insufficient amount of nails or not spacing the nails correctly. * Buckled boards Could also be cause by moisture but also by not leaving enough of a gap between floor and wall to allow for expansion and contraction. Also caused by installing over an unlevel subfloor. * Uneven pattern Caused by not setting a line square with the rest of the house. * Chips and cracks and on boards Caused by using wrong gauge for nail-gun, faulty compressor or using wrong nail size. Refinishing – * Chatter marks (looks like ripples in the wood) Almost always related to the sanding machine being in need of repair. * Sanding marks Caused by improper technique. Can show as cuts in the wood, swirl marks or scratches. * Blotchy/Uneven stain Caused by not water-popping the hardwood floor prior to staining. Also caused by poor technique used when applying stain. Another factor could be not following the correct grit schedule. * Rough finish Caused by not eliminating all residual dust/debris before applying urethane, which then gets trapped in the finish. A professional hardwood flooring company (like us) has a process to be followed that ensures these mistakes never happen. Getting it done right the 1st time is our priority because we know mistakes can be costly. If you’ve been on a hardwood flooring job and have seen any of the above, run away fast and be glad knowing your go-to hardwood flooring company (us) would never do such things.

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Nobody Likes Squeaky Hardwood Floors, But There Is A Fix!

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I’m sure most of us have experienced this – it’s late at night and you fell asleep watching a movie. Everyone has gone to bed so you creep down the hallway to avoid waking the others only to have you efforts thwarted by a squeaky hardwood floor. So annoying! There are several reasons as to why a hardwood floor would be so noisy and I am going to cover them as well as tell you how to deal with it. A hardwood floor that squeaks is usually a sign of an underlying condition. All hardwood floors will expand and contract throughout the seasons. This movement can sometimes result in boards rubbing up against one another which can cause the noisiness. These environmental changes can also cause the hardwood floor to make contact with the plywood subfloor which can also cause the squeaking. Now, this expansion and contraction is a normal process that happens every year but rarely results in a noisy floor. Usually you’ll see small gaps or slight cupping but you shouldn’t be hearing too much noise. This means there may be a lack of nails or glue in the problem area resulting in additional movement of the boards. One solution could be to shoot some finish nails in strategic locations to better secure the boards. The nail holes can be puttied. If adhesive was used (engineered floors), a glue injection kit can be used to diminish the noise. Another culprit can be the subfloor itself. Any unevenness in the subfloor will manifest in the hardwood floor itself and cause the boards in the problem areas to sit higher or lower than the other boards, however slightly. This will result in the unwanted squeaking when the floors are walked on. If the unevenness is caused by sagging, a carpenter could jack the subfloor up if there is access from below. Of course this fix can be very involved as it points to structural issues. Sometimes a squeaky floor is simply the result of loose boards. Again, if there are too few nails or too little glue, the boards in the problem area will react by squeaking. As mentioned above, there is a solution to this which is pretty straight-forward. Now, all of these issues can be avoided! A thorough inspection of the subfloor can reveal any inconsistencies so they can be addressed prior to the hardwood floor being installed. In regards to squeaking caused by seasonal expansion and contraction, a professional hardwood flooring contractor knows to leave a 1/4″ gap between the floor and the walls. This will allow room for the hardwood floor to go through this normal process without resulting in a noisy floor.

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That Annoying Bevel In Between Hardwood Floor Boards Explained..

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In case you’re not familiar with the term, that line between the boards of a hardwood floor is called the bevel. There are a couple options available when it comes to the bevel. There are beveled-edge floors, micro-beveled edge and square-edged. It’s not always just a question of esthetics when considering a bevel…there are practical matters to consider as well… Beveled-edge floors are the ones that catch all the dirt and dust in the bevel and never look clean. It’s more of an old-fashioned construction and because of the fact mentioned above, they are not as popular as they once were and some manufacturers don’t even offer them anymore. Beveled-edge floors can also make the floor look choppy and don’t give a sense of flow like the other floors do. But again, the biggie here is all that gunk that gets caught in that bevel. I get calls all the time from home-owners looking for advice on how to get them clean. The only thing that can be done is a refinishing of the floor which would eliminate that eye-sore. The bevel would remain but the gunk would be gone. Micro-beveled floors are much more desirable, IMO. Some floors and certain species of wood look better with a little bit of definition between the boards. Some of the cleaner looking species of wood, like maple, can look almost too continuous without at least a micro-bevel. Being that the bevel itself is much tighter than a full bevel, there is no risk of accumulation of dirt/dust. Micro-bevels are the most common between all the options available. Then there are square-edged hardwood floors. These floors have no bevel and feature a tight fit between the boards. They are usually a bit more expensive than micro-bevel floors, but not by much. Almost all of the unfinished hardwood floors offered today come with a squared-edge. *** This is something to note should you or a client look to add hardwood to an adjoining room. If the existing floor has either a full or micro bevel, there may be a noticeable difference between the two floors. Unfortunately, sanding the floor does not completely eliminate the bevel.***

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Learn All About The Interesting History Of Hardwood Floors!

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Ever wonder about the hardwood flooring we walk on? I mean, ever wonder when and where it all began? Let me share some info I’ve found regarding the history of hardwood floors. Wood floors did not become popular until end of the 17th century and at that time only richies like French nobles and royalty could afford to have it in their homes. Back then the flooring was blocks of wood that were cut by hand and inlaid in intricate decorative patterns. Of course this required a lot of labor and hand crafting so naturally those floors weren’t cheap. These were the first well designed parquet floors. After the pilgrims came to America, plank floors became more common because they had an abundance of trees in the new world. They usually consisted of wide raw pine planks that were in the raw. In the 1800’s painted wooden plank flooring became popular among the common folk. If you were poor you might have boards of different sizes nailed down for your flooring. If you had more money you could afford tongue and grove type flooring, which were harder to install but resulted in a more level floor, which was then painted. Among the rich, parquet patterned floors were more common. During the Industrial Revolution of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, companies began mass production of hardwood flooring. This flooring was made by gluing strips of wood approximately 1 1/2 inches by 5/16 of an inch, to heavy cotton fabric and rolled onto a roll, which was then sold in catalogs as hardwood carpet. These floors still had to be hand sanded, hot waxed and buffed and were very time consuming to install, prepare and maintain. Up until 1914, the most popular flooring was tongue and groove. Folks would install parquet flooring around the outside edge of carpeting because carpet was more costly than wood flooring, go figure! Linoleum and cork flooring gained popularity in the United States in the 1920’s through the 1940’s because they were cheap and easily installed. With the introduction of polyurethane as a wax free finish for wood flooring, it remained popular until about 1950.   Hardwood flooring began to steadily decline in popularity after World War II. Wall to wall carpeting became popular and hardwood was installed only as a sub-floor, even though it was still sanded and finished. Eventually, builders began using plywood as a sub-floor and covering it with wall to wall carpeting, so the demand for hardwood flooring greatly declined for about 30 years. Hardwood flooring manufacturers were then forced to sell carpet to keep from going out of business. Pre-finished v groove hardwood flooring became popular in the 1980’s but it was not well made. Then during the 1990’s with the rise of the housing market and building industry, hardwood flooring became a desire choice for flooring once again. In the modern era, engineered flooring has given customers a less expensive, versatile alternative to hardwood flooring. Due to conservation, the forests are replenished by planting new trees to replace the ones that are harvested for flooring, so that there’s ample supply of hardwoods. With today’s quality control standards, manufacturer’s are making a much better product that is very durable, hypoallergenic, easy to clean and maintain and very versatile. There is a type of hardwood flooring now that can be installed in almost any room, whether above grade or below grade, over existing flooring, wood sub-floor or concrete. With the introduction of today’s exotic hardwoods, the colors, grain patterns and custom design options are virtually limitless. Yes, floors have come a long way since the rich Frenchies were 1st walking on them. Let us know next time you have a client who’s looking to install or refinish a little piece of history!

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Hardwood Floor Installation and Refinishing Blue Bell PA

Is A Hardwood Floor A Good Investment For Your Home?

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Of all the upgrades and remodel projects a home-owner can take on, Hardwood Flooring gives both the best return on the investment and delivers the most satisfaction above all the other work one can do! Home-owners remodel to upgrade worn-out surfaces and to bring new life to existing features in a home. No one wants to look at an old scratched-up hardwood floor and further use/traffic will only make it look older and more damaged. Sure, carpet is warm and fuzzy but you won’t get a warm and fuzzy while walking on nasty old carpet! Once the deal is closed, most home-owners can’t wait to get rid of it and put down a new hardwood floor. When they do so, they have an increased sense of enjoyment when home. So, not only do home-owners get their money back (and then some) when addressing the hardwood floors, they appreciate their homes more after they do it. * Cost Recovery – 147% on Hardwood Floor Refinishing, 118% on new Hardwood Flooring Installs! * 100% of home-owners have a greater desire to be at home after completing the project! * 64% have an increased sense of enjoyment at the home after hardwood floors are addressed! * 64% feel a major sense of accomplishment after doing their hardwood floors! Some examples on the ROI – if a home-owner were to spend $3400 to have the floors refinished, NAR estimates $5000 in recovered cost. At 118% ROI on hardwood flooring installs, if one should spend $5500 on a new floor, NAR estimates $6500 recovered cost! Of course a kitchen remodel is a big “to-do” but for ROI it pales in comparison to hardwood floors, only 67%! The most disappointing stat I found was that it’s only 22% of Realtors that recommend refinishing the hardwood floors prior to listing. For a new hardwood floor installation, it’s only 13%. Now I understand there can be a lot of factors involved with this but with these kinds of numbers on ROI, hardwood floors should be at the top of the list on the scope of work. Either way, it’s clear that hardwood floors give the best return on money as well as highest level of satisfaction.

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Do Hardwood Floors Improve Air Quality?

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Individually there is only so much we can do in regards to the air quality outside of our homes. But when it comes to the inside, picking the right materials can ensure the air inside the home is free from irritants and allergens. Hardwood Flooring can achieve this! Wood floors contribute to better air quality because they don’t collect the dust and dirt that are often embedded in carpet. Further, carpet can hide the harmful bacteria, mold spores and pet dander. We consistently track pollutants into our homes from outside, including pesticides and other harmful chemicals. Wood floors tend not to accumulate these pollutants, nor does walking on the floors release these toxins into the air. Ventilation is also improved with hardwood floors, as they do not obstruct air flow. This can be particularly beneficial for individuals with respiratory issues or allergies. The natural properties of wood also play a role in regulating humidity levels, which helps to deter the growth of mold and mildew. Wood floors also stay pretty dry. Rugs and some tile floors can get damp which leads to mold growing. Mold makes indoor air really unhealthy to breathe. But sealed wood floors don’t let moisture in much so mold can’t grow and ruin the air quality. Having smooth solid floors with no carpets means less stuff trapped underneath. A room with wood floors looks and feels airier. That fresh open feeling comes from the easier air flow too. No more lingering odors of whatever’s lurking deep in the pile of carpet hair.Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are chemicals that can vaporize into the air, potentially leading to adverse health effects. Many synthetic flooring materials release VOCs over time, contributing to indoor air pollution. Hardwood floors, being a natural product, have lower VOC emissions compared to some synthetic alternatives. When choosing hardwood flooring, especially those with low levels of finishing chemicals, homeowners can minimize their exposure to harmful VOCs, creating a cleaner and healthier living space. It feels good to be able to provide a product that not only will give the home a warm and natural beauty, but will also contribute to the well-being of all who live in the home. So now that we’ve cleared the air, give us a call next time you’re in the market for a hardwood floor.

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