Learn How To Install Wood Flooring

If you want to increase the value of your house then try installing wood flooring. Wood floor is a more popular option than stone floors or slate floors. Wood has a depth and a warm feeling that will make your house feel cozy all year long.

You can find a large range of flooring in a variety of woods. You can choose the kind of wood you want to install in your home based on your taste and the look and feel of your home. Installing wood flooring can be a great asset to your home. Learning how to install wood flooring or hiring someone to do it for you is an investment you won't regret. Wood flooring may not be right for a bathroom or kitchen because of the moisture levels.

Hardwood floors are a very classic choice in flooring. You can choose from wide selection of hardwoods. Try oak, cherry, hickory, maple, walnut or bellawood. You can find these in a natural color or in a stained look. You should think about leaving the wood its own color because some woods have a lovely finish that does not need to be stained. Cherry and walnut are two such examples.

 

Looking into the options you have for a finish when you have finished choosing the material. You can also buy wood that has been finished already which will make your job a whole lot easier. Usually it is stained and comes with a clear coating on it. This can be more pricey, but often it is worth it for the time it will save you.

You can also put the flooring down and then finish it afterwards. You will have to do the sanding, staining, and put urethane on the floor. After each coat you will have to sand it. This can take a few days to complete this whole process. You more separate coats of urethane you use the better off your surface will be.

You might also want to try reclaimed flooring. This means that it does not have a smooth texture, but they are still very attractive and don't look like any other finish. You will also not have to see scratches on them like you will in urethane flooring.

You can also choose other things besides hardwood floors. Laminate flooring is also a good option for you. You can get these to look like real hardwood floors, but they are generally cheaper. You can hardly tell the difference between hard wood floors and laminate flooring. You can also look into a wide selection of bamboo or cork flooring that can give your home a great look.

Caring for your wood floors will ensure that they last longer and you can practice different things to protect your flooring no matter what kind you are using. Whether it is hardwood, laminate, or any other type of flooring then you'll use most of the same kind of techniques.

You'll want to sweep and vacuum your floor on a regular basis to keep the dirty and dust down. You'll also want to wipe off the floor too to get rid of marks.

Which Will Last Long Wood Or Laminate Floors

Installing wood floors can increase the value of a house and are therefore an investment. There are many different types of wood floors, engineered, solid, impregnated, pre finished and unfinished floors. Wood floors are also relatively easy to maintain. Engineered wood floors are made from layers of wood that are pressed and glued together. Everyone loves antique wood floors and the popularity has lead manufactures to recreated them, manufactures do such a great job recreating the floors they are able to retain their color and charm of the floors. New floors can also be made to look like antiques. Laminate floors are available in planks or tiles. Wood floors have a warm, inviting, exotic look. The new and upcoming wood floors are bamboo, they are tough and they look fantastic in your home. Not so long ago one would expect to pay a small fortune to have wood floors installed. Wood floors have steadily increased in popularity over the last five years.

One particular choice that is increasing in popularity in North America is laminate flooring. Floating laminate installation can be used on any hard, flat surface and is easy enough to be a do-it-yourself application. A water-resistant glue is recommended by most laminate flooring brands. Laminate floors are fantastic they have many qualities which make them better than real wood, one of the qualities is that they are scratch resistance they are more durable and much more water resistant, but the laminate floors today emulate wood floors and many people have a tough time distinguishing between them. Laminate wood flooring is very easy to install, you do not need to higher a contractor, most floors are floating floors and do not need glue. Laminate flooring is great because it is resistant to stains, sunlight and many time scratches and they are very easy to maintain. Laminate wood flooring is environment-friendly as it makes use of more fiber material than wood.

There are many different categories that hardwood flooring fits into, pre-finished, unfinished, engineered, solid and unfinished. Laminate wood floors originated in Europe and are becoming very popular for substitute for hardwood floors in the USA. Wooden floors date back hundreds of years, the hardwood floors first came into the publics eye around the seventeenth century and have been popular ever since.

Wood flooring has also become very easy to obtain, install and maintain with advancements in technology. You could install one of the many different kinds of natural wood flooring, cork flooring, bamboo flooring, or Pergo or other laminates.

Bamboo forests are mostly found in the Hunan province of China. Bamboo is very similar to wood in color and form. Europeans have been using bamboo flooring for many years now, but it is just becoming more popular in the United States. If you are looking at getting wood floors for your home, you should take a look at bamboo flooring.

For hardwood flooring of course, high levels of humidity or moisture of any kind can really work against their natural beauty.

How to Install Wide Plank Wood Floors Over Concrete

Wood over concrete can be done. For the longest time, homeowners were warned that wide plank wood floors installed over concrete would result in moisture problems. But that’s not so anymore. A concrete sub-floor is no reason to deny your home beautiful wood floors.

It is true that wood is affected by climate change: wood fibers expand and contract with fluctuations in relative humidity. However, this movement and the resulting moisture problems can be controlled with proper installation techniques and the use of high quality wood products.

If you’re going to be installing over concrete, it becomes even more critical that you understand what part of the tree the boards are cut from and the manner in which the boards were processed; both of these factors are vital to your overall satisfaction with the floor. Wood cut from the center of a tree contains a higher percentage of vertical grain which makes it less susceptible to movement and thus a higher quality material.

Before you embark on this installation process, there are certain rules of thumb to manage moisture and ensure the stability of the wood:

1. Be sure the wood supplier has properly dried the wood.

2. Let the wood acclimate in the home or business for 7-10 days.

3. During acclimation in your home or business, keep relative humidity at 45 percent.

4. Make sure the wood flooring has proper stress reliefs (These ridges on the underside of the wood relieve tension in wood, reduces board movement, and provides a greater glue surface).

There are two options for installation of wide plank wood floors. Both options are driven by the height allowance between the slab and door. To determine height, measure the distance from the top of slab to the bottom of the exterior door or measure the transition to other flooring surfaces. Check accuracy by swinging door completely in both directions.

Here are some step-by-step installation guidelines once you know the height allowance:

Option One: Gluing directly to concrete -- 1/2 to 3/4 inch height allowance

Using an adhesive product, spread one layer of adhesive onto the concrete per manufacturer’s instructions and place your planks, milled to 1/2 to 3/4 inch thickness directly onto the adhesive. Allow 12 hours drying time before finishing your floors.

Option Two-A: Concrete slab with plywood sub-floor -- 1 inch height allowance

Place a layer of 6mm polyethylene onto the concrete as your moisture barrier. Using a fastening tool, shoot concrete nails into 1/2 inch plywood to apply directly onto concrete. Install Wide Plank Floors, milled to 1/2 inch thickness by blind nailing and gluing.

Option Two-B: Concrete slab with plywood sub-floor -- 1 1/2 inches or more height allowance

Lay down 3/4 inch plywood and then follow the directions above.

The cost associated with both options for installing wood over concrete is similar. However, due to the cost of the adhesives, it can be slightly cheaper to use the plywood method.

It’s also possible to install floors over concrete slabs with radiant heat. The installation process calls for using a floating plywood sub-floor.

Wood Floor Cleaning Product Tips

How many times have you entered a store searching for the perfect wood floor cleaning product and once you arrived at the proper aisle, you were floored to see the vast selection of products on the market for cleaning your wood floors? Which should you pick, the cheap one, the expensive one? Who knows?

The Evolving Wood Floor

Wood flooring was made popular a long, long time ago. Around the turn of the century wood flooring was just about the only type of flooring found in homes. There is nothing better than to purchase an older home, rip up the carpeting, and only hope that beautiful natural wood floors are beneath it. So many consumers are searching for that perfect wood flooring, whether it is a natural wood, or laminate wood flooring.

What to Avoid When Cleaning a Wood Floore

The secret to a beautiful, wood floor is never, ever use water on the floor. If water is spilled it should be wiped up immediately to prevent damage to your wood floor. There are hundreds of wood floor cleaning products. Your job is to read the label. Find out what's in that product. Most wood floors have a finish on them, usually a urethane coating. Never use a wax or waxed based product on your wood floor. You can use a cleaner/polisher to enhance the finish of your wood flooring. Using a polishing mop with a soft material such as terry cloth is recommended to ensure a polished look to your wood floors.

Taking Preventative Measures

Of course the first step in floor care is preventative maintenance. To maintain your wood floor's natural beauty and finish you should use carpet rugs in high traffic areas and around sinks. These rugs will need to be vacuumed often, so that dirt does not collect beneath them onto your wood floors. High heals should not be worn on wood floors as they could potentially dent them. Keeping your pets nails trimmed will also result in less scratching. Along with this, never slide furniture across your wood floors when moving your furniture around. Place a carpet rug underneath the legs of the furniture before moving. It is also recommended to place protector pads underneath legs of all furniture.

The best preventative maintenance is to keep your floors clean of debris. Whether you sweep, dust or vacuum your wood floors, keeping them dirt free is the key. Using a soft duster is one of the best options for keeping a wood floor clean. Dust mops are perfect for pet hair, lint and dust and should be used daily on your wood floors, along with a gentle cleaning product that will clean your floor as you dust. A clean floor leads to a happy home owner. Keep the overall beauty of your wood floors by taking the time to find out exactly what it is you are putting on those beautiful wood floors.

Author Vincent Platania represents the Fuller Brush Company.
Fuller Brush has been in business since 1906, and offers safe, environmentally friendly products for keeping your home and your body clean.
Visit http://www.fuller-brush-products.com

Commercial Wood Flooring

In the 1970s, everyone had a carpet on the floor of their homes. It kept the heat in, provided a pleasant sensation when you walked on it barefooted and was easy enough to lay. However, it was also a nightmare to clean, picked up direct and bacteria easily and had to be replaced every five or so years because wear and tear took its toll. The bad arguably outweighed the good, but there s a kind of flooring around that is slowly but surely replacing the carpet as the flooring of choice – wood flooring.

Wood flooring is an ideal replacement for carpet for aesthetic and practical purposes. For example, the look that wood flooring can help you to achieve in your home can be anything you like. It can give your rooms a classic air or highlight bold colours. It can make the room appear more spacious by using the light well or imposing by bringing around a darkness.

This all depends on the shade and nature of the wood because there are so many types you can use. You could have oak, mahogany, maple, cedar or pine wood flooring, or indeed any other hardwood you can imagine. It would be varnished or lacquered to give you the effect you want. Wood flooring is extremely practical as well. The majority of the flooring types available are treated to be resistant to water so they will not swell if a little liquid is spilled on them. It does make the clean up a lot easier! Maintenance of wood flooring is a lot easier to carry out because all you have to do is run a vacuum or a brush over it once or twice a week to pick up any dirt.

The wood cannot retain it like carpet can so this makes it much more hygienic. Finally, wood flooring does not wear as easily as carpet and thus will stand the test of time well. It takes years and a lot of activity to wear wooden floors down and even then it is possible to perform maintenance on it so you do not have to go to the expense of buying completely new flooring. When you work out the actual cost over the years, it turns out to be very cheap! As a result of all of the above and no matter what room you need new flooring in, wood is the obvious choice!

Wood Floors Add A Touch Of Class

When you determine the style and material for your flooring, it is important to consider the areas to be floored, type of subfloor, your preference for pre-finished or unfinished flooring and stain color. The state-of-the-art technology coupled with an almost limitless choice of stains, finishes, styles and designs makes hardwood flooring one of the most practical and versatile floor coverings available. So if you want a home that is beautiful, if you want a home that stops people in their tracks when they walk in, then you need to put down exotic hardwood flooring.

The exotic hardwood flooring will give you that stopping power that you desire and crave. Hardwood flooring has an inverse relation with the moisture inherent in the wood and is independent of the engineering. Low hardness is chestnut, douglas fir, and north american cherry while hardwood from brazilian walnut, caribbean cherry and bloodwood is extremely hard.

Hopefully you can buy one of the popular types of flooring. As the cost of vinyl flooring and carpeting become lower the wooden floors were reserved for high-end applications. The ratio has changed slightly and now with a good quality engineered flooring it can be refinished two or three times depending on the subfloor's smoothness and the experience of refinisher.

Laminate floors are ideal for those who want the style and look of hard wood floors but cannot afford the price. These floors are built with a core, sandwiched between a hardwood finish layer on the top and soft wood ply below.

Wood floors on the other hand is not so much more expensive but need to be installed in the rooms. Actually the entire house can now have wood floors but it is always a good idea to leave the bathroom aside. Except for the cost, another drawback of wood floors is that they can be easily gouged and scratched. But, there are century old homes that still have the original wood floors.

Wood floors have great value in several ways as they need no replacement over even a long time and their installment in a house can bring about an enhancement in the value of the house. This in turn will seriously affect the resell value of your home and make your home a health hazard to its occupants. Of course the appeal lies not only in its aesthetic value of its representation of real hardwood, but also due to its incredible durability and ease of maintenance. A good looking floor will add a lot of value to a home.

If you are interested in design a personally customized floor is easy to create by combining a choice of colors, colored chips, and even glitter options. You have dozens of colors to choose from. The darker colors are often found in formal or traditional interiors while lighter shades go well with a casual and contemporary set-up. Draw attention to your floors with dramatic coverings or soften the feel of the room with soft colors on the floor.

New Marketing Approach for Industrial Flooring Products

A kit-based approach to selling epoxy floor coatings is now being used to target both industrial and home users. These all-in-one kits have been developed with the recognition that people want to buy solutions not products. This outcome-based concept ensures that all of the goals for the floor are met and that all of the required tools are available during the installation. To compensate for lack of training and for the inevitable unexpected questions and problems, a complimentary 24/7 help line is provided along with the kit so applicators can be assured of staying on track.

The process of obtaining a custom-built kit starts with filling out a web-based, free cost analysis form. The floor's condition, the owner's preferences, and the desired outcome are factored in by an automated computer system. From that point, field technicians prepare a recommended kit of materials and step-by-step instructions tailored to take the project from beginning to end.

This "kit" approach stands in contrast to the alternative of shopping at local retail stores for supplies which, if they can be found, often don't match the needs of the project. When a handle for a roller frame is needed, should it be 4 ft., 5 ft., or 6 ft. in length? Should it have a metal or wood thread? Should it have a 1-inch diameter or 1-¼ inch diameter? If a 60-grit sanding screen for a 17-inch rotary scrubber is required, where can it be purchased? The custom kit concept allows the decades of professional experience of the supplier to be applied to the project so that every tool is precisely matched to getting each specific task completed efficiently and painlessly. Experts replace the untrained and inexperienced store clerks.

By marketing "kits," floor coating suppliers are helping fuel the trend of moving away from bare concrete and wood surfaces toward lower cost, lower maintenance, and healthier floor finishes. Biohazards, mildew, dust mites, spoors, and other contaminants are a serious concern to industry and homeowners alike. In this new millennium, warehouses, food processors, manufacturing facilities, even garages, and basements are being sealed with hard surfaces using industry-proven materials and techniques adopted in the past decade.

Chemically resistant, these seamless floors are made of epoxy and urethane, finishes that flow on and then, by changing their chemistry, become resistant to dirt and stains. Flow-coated surfaces are impervious to water and are often used inside liquid storage tanks, swimming pools, and feed troughs. Unlike tile, these surfaces have no grout to clean and are not glued down with latex- or petroleum-based adhesives. Flow-coated surfaces are great adhesives in themselves. With good preparation, flow-coated surfaces are applied permanently, refinished easily, and require little or no maintenance.

For photo examples and more detail, visit www.concrete-floor-coatings.comFor more information, contact Harvey Chichester at harvey@concrete-floor-coatings.com Phone: 800-466-8910 or 952-888-1488 (24/7)