Removing Glue From Hardwood

Q: The previous owner of my house put some linoleum over a hardwood floor. I have ripped up a big part of it and now have some glue residue left in spots. Could someone tell me a good way to get the glue off or does it just need to be sanded. I cannot afford to have the floor refinished like it needs to be right now and thought maybe if there was a way to make it look a little better for a few months until I get it done I would.

A: Without knowing what type of adhesive was used, you will have to have some trial and error. Use a fiberglass pot scrubber, gently, in circular movements over the adhesive - first try acetone (nail polish remover), if that doesn't work, try alcohol (rubbing alcohol from the pharmacy will work fine), then comes varsol and if none of the above work, anything else will probably damage the wood. After using any of the above chemicals wash that area of the floor with some warm water and dishwasher detergent. Try not to breath in the fumes as you are leaning over the spot and scrubbing, they will give you a good headache. Best if you can pick a day when you can open the windows.

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Heating Floors

Q: My kitchen floor is always cold in the winter, and I have heard of heated flooring. I wondered what it cost, and if it could be done in a first floor condo where I wouldn't be able to get underneath the floor.

A: I believe you are talking about electric radiant heating - it would go under, ceramic or natural stone tile, hardwood or laminate. It is also available for under rugs and carpets.

Follow the link for additional information.

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Do We Have To Level Our House?‏

Q: We have a very old house that of course has settled unevenly over the years. Actually there is just one spot in the middle that seems to have sunk. My question is after we get it stabilized (by using a jack) do we need to jack it back up to level, or can we just leave it like it is? We will be replacing all the windows and siding, so I thought they could just cheat when they put them up and make them level within the framework that's there. There is only two interior doors that are affected and they just need a little taken off the bottom.

A: Never do half a job! Jack the floor up to level. You will have no end of problems in the future.

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Re-finishing An Old Hardwood Floor

Q: I am a little confused about some aspects of floor finishing. I have heard the expression 'raise the grain' and I assumed that meant water swelling the wood fibers. I haven't had a problem with that so far but I'm not really sure if the problem would be now or later, or what it would be, and hope you will explain. A couple years ago I did an upstairs bedroom floor in this same house....another ancient and funky old floor. I used a water-based paint remover first (Back To Nature Multi-Strip) and had to use a lot of water to scrub off the residue, I mean a bucket of water and a scrub brush and pile of rags, just like if I was washing a kitchen floor. After that, I sanded and would use a wet sponge mop to remove the sawdust in order to see what my results were and if I needed to sand some more. I always let the wood get really dry before re-sanding. When done with all the sanding and wiping and re-sanding and the floor was bone dry, I used tack cloth to remove every last bit of dust. Then used a walnut stain, then urethane. That was two years ago and I haven't had any problem with that floor yet. What is the story about water swelling the wood fibers? I used a lot of water in doing that floor and I'm sure some of the wood fibers must have swollen at some point. So will that come back to haunt me in the future? So far all is smooth and shiny.

A: Raising the grain with soft woods is very common in furniture making. The problem with water on wood is multifold:

1. It swells the wood, which can lead to buckling and twisting - especially if the wood has been laid very tight board against board.

2. In furniture, the wood is generally open to air on one side -if you look at a dresser, the outside surface is finished with a sealer but the inside surface is not sealed, this allows any moisture to find an easy exit for evaporation.

3. With flooring in newer homes, it is more than likely that the underside of the boards are laid on sheathing such as plywood or worse, particle board, which swells the instant it gets wet and does not shrink back when dry. In your case an older home, the boards are most likely the floors themselves and hence they are not "sealed" on the bottom allowing air to take care of any moisture problems that might develop. As well, when there is no airflow around the floorboards and they are damp, they will begin to rot. Water spilt on a carpet that has wood underneath, will feel dry to the touch after a period of time, but the water has penetrated the floor boards.

4. If you used water and the boards are 100% dry, then you shouldn't have a problem. Most people don't wait for the boards to dry out completely. The surface water may have evaporated, but that does not mean that all the moisture that penetrated the wood has dissipated. If you seal a board that is wet inside, and there is nowhere for the water to escape, the board will begin to rot.

5. Wood can only absorb so much water, if they are wet when you apply a water based stain it does not penetrate the boards to the depth it should.

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Jacking Up A Floor

Q: I have noticed the house settling really bad on one side. It is mainly the living room and back bedroom. It has gotten so bad that you can notice how it slopes down as you walk through the hall really bad. I have been going to work on the attic area and get it fixed up for livable space and just went up there to check things out and noticed even that space over the living room and back bedroom is also sloping really bad. So I went to the basement to see if I can find out what happened. And it really scared me.

The basement is kind of like a full basement where there is about the size of a room cemented in and can be walked around in. The heat and air unit and washer and dryer go down there. Well in 4 areas are these really heavy large poles that are screwed into the cement floor and go all the way up to the top to keep the floor level above. Well one of the post has gotten old and fallen out of the square thing it was in that is screwed to the floor. I don't think I can use any of the parts that have fallen since it is kind of damp down there at times when we get a lot of rain. So it is pretty much rusted out and ruined.

The other 3 still look like they are in good shape. But how do I get the floor leveled back out without that pole? I thought maybe I could get a really heavy board and beat it with a hammer until I get it in the area. But I don't know if that would work. And I know the jacks that are sold in the stores would never go that high. I could put some jacks back in the back where there is dirt that wasn't finished. It is just about 3 feet back there. Which is actually only about 4 feet from where the post was so it may work. If the dirt under the jack doesn't give, which it probably won't since it is like concrete back there it is so hard. But then I don't know if I have the strength to push on a jack and get it to go up and level the floor. Are they really hard to get up? I am really worried about the house staying this way too long. And I don't have a man around to help give me extra strength.

A: By "the jacks that are sold in stores" do you mean the ones for cars? Those are not tall enough, but there are special jacks used for houses that consist of a column with a built-in threaded extension that are used for jacking up basement beams. You install one next to the broken column and jack it up very slowly, over a period of several weeks, until the height is where it's supposed to be. Then you put in a new column to replace the jack. From the way you're talking, it doesn't sound as though this would be a do-it-yourself job for you, but a contractor could do it easily.

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Redoing Floor On Front Porch‏

Q. I want to start the project of redoing the front porch floor, it was built in 1900, that is old and some boards are broken. Any Advice?

A. You should remove all the end floorboards and check the floor joists for rot, before replacing the floor. You may have a problem patching as the slats currently in place are probably thicker than new lumber, you may have to use a shim board on the joists to raise the slats so that they are all at the same level. Use galvanized screws or nails if you are using regular lumber. If using pressure treated lumber you need to copper coated or stainless steel fasteners. Paint the underside and edges of the slats before installing to protect them from the elements.

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Hardwood Floor Project

Q. I'm researching phase of a hardwood floor project. Some background, this is my first time laying hardwood flooring and I have access to tons or scrap pieces of random lengths from 6 inches to 32 inches of solid kiln dried .75 inch hardwood (cherry, oak, and hickory) the width is between 2.25 and 4 inches.

My plan is to purchase a router, table and tongue and groove bits and manufacturer my own product.

Here are some questions:

What is the min length of material I should use for a floor?
Is there a min and max width I should use?
What are some of the pitfalls of going this route?

For the cost of surfacing one room with a cheap laminate I can do basically my whole house so I'm pretty set on doing this, unless there is some big red flag out there.

Thanks for your time and input.

A. I think it is a great concept. Considering the varieties of woods you have available you might want to consider some different patterns:

Tips:

Make sure the lumber is in the room that you plan on flooring, to allow it to acclimatize at least 72 hours.

Unless you are using a diagonal pattern, and some of the patterns above will utilize a lot of smaller pieces, in a straight layout, an 18" piece is really the smallest you want to work with. You don't want joints in parallel rows to be within 6" and joints should not line up for 4 rows minimum.

You will need to mill one side smooth (bottom) in order to use a router table.

If these are unfinished, and you are going to sand flat, make sure that the tongue and groove are cut from the same side and when laid, otherwise your floor will not sit tight to the sub-floor. Try to do all your routing of tongues, then do grooves. Duplicating the set-up exactly will be tricky.

You will also have to decide whether you will tongue and groove the ends.

There is no real difference in widths and you can mix and match in rows. I wouldn't use less than a 2 3/4" width.

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Bouncy Floor Near Toilet‏

Q. As a Christmas present I plan on tiling my girlfriends' parents bathroom. While the job itself shouldn't be a problem, I've noticed the floor near the toilet is bouncy. I don't want to put 12x12 or 18x18 tile down, but I really do not want to rip everything apart.

Any suggestions?

A. As with most projects, it is the foundation that makes a bad job into a good job. It is not uncommon in older homes to have rotten floorboards and joists around the toilet. I suggest you take a look at the problem and then determine if the floorboards and or joists need repair or replacement.

There is little sense in putting good money over a bad sub-floor. A 1/4" of underlay may be all that is necessary to correct the problem

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Laminate Flooring - Buckling Problem

Yesterday I saw a laminate floor that had buckled. The laminate flooring had been installed for about 6 months and was a medium quality product. The homeowners did the installation themselves, after getting verbal instructions from a sales person at a big box retailer.

They admitted that they had felt comfortable in doing the project themselves and had only skimmed the manufacturers installation instruction sheet. The room size was approximately 11’ x 17’.

To my knowledge, there are only 2 reasons for a laminate floor to buckle:

• The laminate flooring was not allowed to acclimatize itself to the room before installation. (Warehouses and big box retail stores are exceptionally dry facilities).

• There was no expansion space allowed between the flooring and the wall.

On questioning the homeowners, they said that the material was in their home for more than a week before they installed it and that they had left a 3/8’ gap all around the room. Both of these should have been adequate to prevent buckling.

Quarter round had been placed around the room to hide the gap between flooring and the walls. I removed a piece of quarter round and immediately discovered the problem. The homeowners had nailed the quarter round to the floor, through the laminate, rather than to the wall, thus locking the floor into place and not allowing the flooring to expand and contract under the quarter round.

Simple mistake and one that was relatively easy to correct.

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Waxing Hardwood Floors

If you have a hardwood floor that has been finished with a polyurethane coating, or are installing a pre-finished hardwood floor, there is no need to apply wax to the surface.

Applying wax is probably one of the worst things you can do. First of all, wax holds onto dirt, which is an abrasive, by trapping it in its surface layer. When you walk over a wax floor, the trapped dirt particles rub against the surface of the wood, which in turn scratches the finish. Secondarily, wax yellows, especially when it is in direct sunlight.

Polyurethane’s provide the ultimate protection for hardwood flooring. The better pre-finished hardwoods may have as many as seven layers of polyurethane coating applied over the stain or natural wood as the case may be.

For additional information on cleaning and maintaining hardwood floors, follow the link.

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Why Are Area Rugs Popular Again?

Area rugs have been around for centuries. In modern decorating the usages seems to have peaks and valleys that cycle ever 10 to 15 years. Right now, area rugs are definitely the "in" floor covering. There, maybe a number of reasons for their current popularity.

Carpeting, in one manner or another, has always been a popular floor covering. The decorating cycle that seems to be prevalent is between area rugs and wall-to-wall carpeting. One of the inherent problems with wall-to-wall carpeting is the difficulty in cleaning. Carpeting is one of the worst enemies of individuals with respiratory or asthmatic health problems. It traps, dirt, dust, mold spores, animal dander, and a host of other allergens.

The better the carpet, by number of fibers per inch, the worse the problem. Vacuum cleaners, no matter how powerful, never remove a 100% of the dust or other contaminants. If you don't believe me, use your current vacuum over an area of wall-to-wall carpeting (after vacuuming, with the power still on, hold the hose in the air, stretch and shake the hose as best you can to remove any dust that may be trapped in the hose). Clean out the bag or canister, ensuring that there are no dust remnants. Vacuum the same area again check the bag or canister and you will see more dirt and dust!

Area rugs have the same inherent problem of trapping dirt, dust, and pollen, however they have the advantage that they can be conveniently removed from the home and taken to be dry-cleaned. The residential and commercial so called steam cleaners, I say so called because they do not use steam to clean the carpet or rug, do a better job than a vacuum, but they still do not remove all the dirt, dust and other contaminants that have made their way through to the under padding.

Now that other floor coverings, such as hardwood and laminates have come down in cost and are being manufactured for installation by the home handyman, wall-to-wall carpeting is decreasing in popularity and area rugs are being used to create warmth and decoration. Where wall-to-wall carpeting is generally a flat color, area rugs give a homeowner the ability to decorate with an assortment of colors and patterns.

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