Hardwood Floor Repair

Hardwood Floor Refinishing – Do It Yourself Tips

Author Jeanette Fisher, America’s “Dream Home” Maker, teaches interior design, redesign, and home staging. You can ask her questions on her Amazon blog or see http://www.designpsych.com for free home decorating teleseminars.

Granite floors and kitchens go together like hand and glove. The kitchen is the one room in the house where the floor gets maximum use and suffers the most in the way of spills of all kinds, dropped items likely to cause damage and constant cleaning. So granite, being the most capable flooring material to endure everything a kitchen can throw at it, really is a great choice for that room in the house. Granite comes in many different styles and patterns so it will always look good and aesthetically pleasing.

Hardwood Floor Repair

Granite, being one of the hardest, most durable materials for flooring there is, makes it a supreme choice for a kitchen floor. It is resilient to staining as well as acid and alkali chemical spills. It will resist grease, fat and oil spills as well as boiling water, tea and coffee, fizzy, sugary drinks; in fact just about anything a hyperactive chef can throw at it! It will survive being bombarded by falling cutlery, crockery and glassware as long as the resulting rubble is swiftly swept up and not left to be ground in by a myriad of shod feet. This leads us on to keeping your granite floor clean.

Cleaning and maintenance of a granite floor is a relatively simple procedure. Sweeping and mopping with warm water daily, as well as following any accidental crockery breakages will keep it clean and shiny. A once weekly clean with stone soap, followed by a rinsing mop with plain water helps to keep the floor sealed and shiny. Having said this, there is one disadvantage of granite flooring that needs to be highlighted.

Despite its hardness, granite can be scratched by quartz. Quartz is a sand-like material that can be brought into a home on the soles of shoes. The heavy human traffic that a kitchen gets could cause those small, sandy particles that are deposited over the surface of the granite to cause minute scratches. This will create a dulling effect on the surface, which, if left to worsen over time, will require specialist treatment to recover its original lustre. Restoring a badly scratched and dulled granite floor is expensive and there is a good chance that the process with alter the colour of the granite. For this reason, it is best to practice “prevention is better than cure” and get into the habit of sweeping and mopping daily to minimise this potential problem.

Despite its one easily avoidable disadvantage, a granite floor makes an extremely good looking, durable, hard wearing and easily cleaned and maintained surface custom made for most designs of kitchen. So for kitchen floors, granite really is hard to beat.

Why Granite Flooring is Hard to Beat!

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Flooring

Solid Wood Solid wood scores high if beauty and natural warmth are on the top of your list. Moreover, it can be sanded and refinished several times whenever your floors are in need a facelift! However, solid wood flooring is harder to install and tends to dent, discolor and wear more quickly as compared with other alternatives. Plus, solid wood flooring cannot be installed in the basement and other damp places.

Hardwood Floor Repair

Engineered Wood This flooring material is fast becoming a favorite substitute for solid wood flooring among many homeowners today. Engineered wood uses a wood veneer over plywood and can be floated, nailed, stapled or glued just like plastic laminate flooring. The downside of this flooring material is that it dents easily and wears quickly. Be wary of small spills if you insist on using engineered wood since it can damage the surface quite easily. Remember to take extra care of it since engineered wood can only be refinished once.

Ceramic Tiles – Ceramic tiles fit beautifully in any kitchen. It is also resistant to some of the most common factors that wreak havoc in any kitchen floors. What’s the downside of using this material? Installing ceramic tile flooring can be quite difficult. And one other thing – cups and dishes will surely break quite easily when dropped in this hard surface!

Plastic Laminate – If you are looking for a tough flooring material that can be easily installed, you should consider plastic laminates. Plastic laminates are also considered as the fastest growing alternatives to wood. The best plastic laminates in the market can match solid wood point for point. Some can even be better than wood in terms of resistance to scratches, dents and moisture. You will also be amazed with the great variety of colors and designs available! However, laminates can be damaged by large spills and it cannot be refinished when its surface begin to show signs of wear and tear.

Linoleum – Most consumers often confuse linoleum with vinyl. However, there is a great difference between the two. While vinyl is made up of plastic materials, linoleum is composed mainly of linseed oil and wood products. For homeowners who want a natural and resilient flooring material that holds up to dents, sunlight and moisture quite effectively, linoleum can clearly be the right choice. Moreover, linoleum comes in a wide variety of colors and styles so there will always be one that is perfect for your kitchen!

Vinyl – And finally, there is vinyl. Vinyl can be ideal for your kitchen floors if resistance and durability are on the top of your list. Vinyl has been proven to stand up to the abuse brought about by the sun’s UV rays, moisture and stains longer than any of the other flooring materials. You can also get to choose from the many designs and colors available. Some premium vinyl products can even look like stone and other natural materials. Plus, installing vinyl can be a breeze; you can get it done in no time at all!

These are just some of the most common flooring options that you can use in your kitchen. Each one of these options has unique features and qualities as well as downsides. Use this as a guideline in choosing the right flooring material for your kitchen and you can never go wrong!

Choosing the Best Flooring for Your Kitchen

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Flooring

In new construction most doors are hung after the floors are

installed. This allows flooring contractors (tile, hardwood,

vinyl, laminate) to lay their flooring products without

making tricky cuts around door jambs. It also makes for a

neat and clean door installation. Exceptions to this are

carpeted floors. Doors are hung before the carpeting is

laid. When doors are hung in carpeted areas, its a good idea

to shim them up 1/2″, putting a shim under each jamb leg.

This eliminates the need to cut the doors down after the

carpet is installed.

Hardwood Floor Repair

For a 6′ 8″ high door (80 inches) I like to frame my rough

opening height at 82 3/4″. This allows room for all the

situations mentioned above. If your header material is a

double 2×12, holding it to the top plate will give you that

height.

Rough openings for door widths are pretty much standard. The

rough opening width is 2 inches wider than the door itself.

this allows room for the door jambs which are usually 3/4″

thick. This gives you approximately 1/2″ of play and shim

room when installing a prehung door. For a 36″ door (3′ 0″)

the rough opening width would be 38″. Here are the most

common door sizes and their rough openings.

Door Size Rough Opening Size

2′ 0″ x 6’8″ -26″ x 82 3/4″

2′ 2″ x 6’8″ -28″ x 82 3/4″

2′ 4″ x 6’8″ -30″ x 82 3/4″

2′ 6″ x 6’8″ -32″ x 82 3/4″

2′ 8″ x 6’8″ -34″ x 82 3/4″

2′ 10″x 6’8″ -36″ x 82 3/4″

3′ 0″ x 6’8″ -38″ x 82 3/4″

To figure the rough opening for double doors or french

doors, take the door size times 2 and add 2″. The most

common sizes for exterior doors are the 2’8″ and the 3’0″

doors. The 2’8″ is usually used for the back door and the

access door from the garage. That size door for exterior use

is being used less these days because of the size of

appliances and furniture. Exterior doors with sidelights and

sliding patio doors rough openings vary from manufacturer to

manufacturer. These should be verified and gotten from the

supplier.

Getting the rough openings right the first time keeps the

sawzall in its carrying case and having to change the

opening after the walls are drywalled and painted.

Mike Merisko (c) 2006

http://www.sawkerfs.com

Rough Openings For Doors

Mike Merisko has been a carpenter for 26 years. Most of those years were spent in the homebuilding and remodeling industries. He was also in business as a carpentry and general contractor. While that is his forte, he also has experience in bridge building, commercial construction, and exhibit building which is how he earns his living these days. You can browse through articles by him and others at his website http://www.sawkerfs.com or visit his blog at http://www.sawkerfs.blogspot.com

For instance, you need to take into consideration labor expenses just in case you do not want to do your own vinyl floor or you need to hire someone to remove your old tiles, carpets or other flooring materials before you can start laying vinyl flooring. Read on to learn important tips on how you can estimate the costs when you change your flooring to vinyl.

Hardwood Floor Repair

The first thing that you need to consider, when thinking of the cost of your vinyl flooring is the price of tiles or sheets. The price of each tile will depend on its size as well as design and quality. Most common vinyl tiles are 18 by 18 and 12 by 12 inches. If you plan to change a huge area, you can also opt to use vinyl sheets, which can either be 12 or 6 feet wide. If you are really on a tight budget, there are vinyl tiles.

However, if you want to make sure that the quality and design will last a long time, you might want to invest in vinyl sheets or tiles that cost around to per square foot. So, if you plan to renovate your 10-by-20-foot kitchen, for example, you will have to shell out 0 to ,000 for vinyl tiles or sheets.

Aside from the tiles or sheets, you also need to include the cost of labor when estimating your vinyl flooring prices. For simple projects, the cost of vinyl installation can be about per square foot. There are also vinyl flooring suppliers who offer free installation, so you might want to inquire about that.

However, if your sub-floor surface has problems and needs to be smoothed out before the installation of vinyl materials, you should expect higher fees. Be sure to ask several installers so you can compare their fees.

Another thing that you need to consider when computing for vinyl flooring expense is the price of vinyl adhesives.

Although there are vinyl tiles or sheets that are self-adhesive, you may still buy special vinyl adhesives to ensure that the vinyl tiles in areas that have high foot traffic will not easily peel off. The prices of vinyl adhesives can range from to .

Vinyl Flooring Prices – How to Estimate Cost

Click Here to learn more about Vinyl Flooring Prices [http://www.cheapvinylflooring.net/prices/vinyl-flooring-prices.php] and find Discount Flooring.

The Basics

Wood is hard or soft. When I say hard, I mean that the wood is dense, whereas, a soft wood is supple. A good trick to tell the difference between hard and soft wood is that if you press your fingernail into a soft wood such as pine, it leaves an indentation. But, this does not happen with a hard wood such as oak.

Hardwood Floor Repair

Wood is coarse-grain or close-grain. In coarse-grain wood, the age rings in the wood are far a part, giving it an uneven appearance. In close-grain woods, the age rings in the wood are very close together, giving it a smooth, delicate appearance.

Sometimes, wood is stained. Lighter woods such as oak, elm and maple can be stained to resemble a darker mahogany or rosewood.

Some woods (mahogany, rosewood, burl walnut) are perceived to be more valuable than other woods (elm, maple, spruce). The reason for this is availability. Woods that need to be imported are more expensive than home-grown woods. Woods that are abundant are not as expensive as woods that are scarce.

Oak

Oak is a coarse-grain hard wood found in Europe and North America. Starting in 17th century Europe, oak was used to make furniture found throughout the home. There are several varieties including red oak and white oak. Young oak is pale in color. But, over time and with polishing, oak darkens into a rich brown color.

Mahogany

Mahogany is a close-grain hard wood native to northern and central South America and the West Indies. Mahogany was a popular choice in England during the mid-18th century for fine furniture making. It is a dark red color sometimes, however, it is dark brown. Red mahogany is found in the West Indies and brown mahogany is native to South America. Mahogany furniture continues to be desirable today.

Rosewood

Rosewood is a close-grain hard wood indigenous to India, South America and the West Indies. Rosewood is named for the rose scent that releases when it is cut. Occasionally, I find that people confuse rosewood and mahogany. Both woods can be red in color. However, when you look closely at rosewood, you’ll see fine black (and sometimes white) rings that are not present in mahogany. Another trick to tell if an item is rosewood is to pick it up. Rosewood is a very heavy wood, heavier than mahogany. In the 17th century China, rosewood was a popular choice for fine furniture makers. As well, in 19th century Europe, it was used to construct better-quality furniture for fine homes.

Walnut

Walnut is close-grain hard wood found in Europe and North America. The color varies from light to a very rich golden brown color and it is not uncommon to find walnut stained to look like mahogany. Sometimes, disease leads to the unexpected. Burl walnut, the most prized form of walnut, results from a disease that attacks the tree causing a beautiful scrolled, close-grain. These days you see the look of burl walnut replicated in the plastic interiors of some higher end cars.

Pine

Pine is a pale, knotted soft wood with a wide, straight grain. It grows in Europe and North America. Pine was often used in furniture intended to be painted. Everyday furniture – kitchen tables and chairs -were often made from pine.

Maple & Elm

Maple and elm are coarse-grain hard woods found in North America and Europe. They were frequently used in utilitarian furniture. Often a veneer of a finer wood was applied to these woods.

Veneers

Veneering is a technique where a very thin sheet of a more expensive wood is glued to a less expensive wood. Using less expensive woods such as elm and maple and adding a more expensive mahogany or walnut veneer allowed furniture makers to provide furniture that was affordable for a larger clientele. You may hear an antique dealer say; “This table is walnut on maple.” The dealer means that the item has a walnut veneer and underneath the actual item is maple. A walnut on maple table is less valuable than a solid walnut table.

How do you tell if your furniture is veneered? Look at the edges of the piece. If you see what appears to be a seam, it is veneered. On the other hand, if the edges of the piece are seamless, it is solid.

Early veneers from the 17th century were hand-cut, so they could be uneven. But, in the 19th century veneers started to be cut by machine. This allowed the veneers to be cut very thin and even. Depending on the way the wood is cut, veneering produces different effects. Butterfly veneering occurs when two opposing end grain veneers are diagonally cut from a branch. They are applied to mirror each other.

Marquetry/Parquetry/Inlay

Marquetry is a technique where various kinds of wood are applied to a surface to produce a picture. Flowers and birds were often the subjects. Exotic woods such as ebony, satinwood and tulipwood were frequently employed.

The difference between marquetry and parquetry is the subject matter. Parquetry is a veneer that uses geometric patterns. Nowadays, you see it in parquet hardwood floors and ornate chess and backgammon boards.

Inlay is a decorative treatment where materials other than wood are cut into a design. Inlays were often made of bone, ivory, mother of pearl, brass, tortoise shell. Marquetry, parquetry and inlay first appeared during the Italian Renaissance.

Gilding

Gilding is a technique wherein gold leaf is applied with gesso (a plaster-like substance) to wood. It is highly decorative and was popular during the Italian Renaissance and the Louis period in France.

Antiques – Wood Basics

Martin Swinton does antique appraisals and estate sales in Toronto, Canada. He has worked at an auction house, furniture restoration company and for ten years owned an antique shop. He does caning, cording and rushing repairs, teaches courses on antiques and appears at community events. He can be reached by visiting http://www.takeaboo.wordpress.com

However, marble’s extreme porosity makes it susceptible to more serious damage, like easy chipping, cracking or breakage. Where actual pieces of marble have broken away, the separated pieces should be located and all edges wiped down with acetone. This will remove all foreign material and facilitate proper bonding with glue. You can choose regular epoxy glue or professional marble repair cement to stick the piece/s back into place. This is a fairly straightforward process which works much better with marble than with many other materials. Two precautions must be taken – first, ensuring that there is no excess glue which will mar the surface after the glue has hardened, and second, making sure to apply sufficient pressure for long enough to ensure a perfect join.

Hardwood Floor Repair

If the pieces from the chipped or broken corners in marble blocks or tiles can’t be found, the marble must be reformed with material closely resembling the surface. The exact contours of the broken pieces must be retraced by a makeshift mould lined with wax paper. When this is done, a mixture of marble dust and polyester resin cement can be used to fill in the missing piece. It will harden into the desired shape. If this is done properly, the regenerated piece will be indistinguishable from the original.

The same marble dust/resin cement mix can be used to fill in holes in marble. The ratio of marble dust and resin should be calibrated to best imitate the shade of marble in question.

Fixing marble surfaces can be a fiddly affair, but taking the time to do it right will pay off – your marble will look like new!

Marble Repair

Wood Flooring provides detailed information about wood flooring, laminate wood flooring, hard wood flooring, engineered wood flooring and more. Wood Flooring is the sister site of How To Clean Marble.

In order to choose the best possible flooring materials, you need to know what you are looking for. Today, a myriad of flooring choices abound depending on appearance, cost and technology. These choices include hardwoods, softwoods, stone, carpet, resilients, tiles and laminates. Each of these flooring choices has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Hardwood Floor Repair

Experts suggest that you use these three criteria in order to properly choose your new floor. First, consider how the material will fit in your design. Second – consider how much wear and tear this material can take and how much traffic the area will take. Third, decide whether or not it will fit the allotted budget.

When choosing flooring you need to consider if this fits with the overall design of your kitchen and bath. The flooring can pretty much establish the mood or character you want to create for that certain area in your house. The flooring can either become the focal point of the area or it can serve as a background that will lead the eyes to other design elements of the room. Either way, you will need to have it in proper coordination with the rest of the design elements of the room. If you want to create a bold, contemporary look, you can mix and match colors, pattern, size and texture of ceramic tiles. There are also widely available laminates that can mimic the look and feel of natural materials. These can be inexpensive and support almost all possible design options ranging from a formal to a casual look.

You need to know the advantages and disadvantages of some flooring materials so that you will be able to come up with the best possible choice. A good kitchen and bath flooring need to withstand harsh conditions and daily abuse.

Hardwood flooring lasts indefinitely and is wear resistant. It provides a warm, natural look that is comfortable to the feet. This can be easily cleaned and refinished. However, this type of flooring is vulnerable to moisture and can easily dent. Some wood can darken as it ages.

Besides being durable, laminate flooring can be installed over old and existing floor. There are many colors to choose from. There are designs that imitate natural wood, stone and ceramic tile. Although this type of flooring is extremely durable, once damaged, refinishing it is next to impossible. This also needs foam underpadding, otherwise it can be very noisy without it.

Ceramic tile is durable and can resist both stain and water. There is a wide range of choices available. However, it can be noisy and cold. Glazed tiles can be hazardous and slippery especially when wet. Dirt can accumulate in grout joints. This type of flooring is difficult to repair.

Resilients are vinyl tiles and sheet flooring that are water and stain resistant. These are generally comfortable to the feet and easy to install. There are a lot of available designs to choose from. However, resilient flooring is prone to dent and tear. Moisture can seep into the seam between tiles.

Finally, stone is a type of flooring that is almost indestructible, elegant, can withstand high temperature and is easy to maintain. Stone flooring however is expensive, cold and slippery. A strong subfloor is needed if you decide on installing stone flooring. Some stones like limestone and granite absorb stain and dirt quickly. Stone flooring is usually difficult to repair. Gloss surfaces need regular polishing, which can be expensive and messy.

How To Choose Flooring Wisely

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Flooring

1. The smells coming from the broken macerator and/or minor flooding.
2. Finding a engineer that can complete the work quickly and will have parts with them.
3. The Cost, some times the repair bill can be more than the price of a new macerator.

Hardwood Floor Repair

So exactly what can you do, here are few tips:

1. For the smell all you can really do is open the loo room window and close the loo room door to keep the smell contained in one room and some fresh smelling spray could help, this is only for a broken macerator, if your unit is working OK and the smell is the main or only problem then there are other options available to you, like internal cleaning, new carbon filters and leading a breather pipe to the outside of your property.
2. There really is very little point in calling a engineer that does not have all the major parts for your macerator on board as stock. Many people who have problems with their macerator just call a local or friend or plumber, but they simply will not have the parts or fully understand how the macerator works and will often just condemn a perfectly fixable macerator, by far your best option is to call some one that really understands the macerator and will have spare parts with them and preferably some one that will offer a reasonable fixed price repair service.
3. The cost of repairing a macerator is normally around £100 – £150 + parts, and parts are not expensive if you do need them. But many people will end up paying a lot more than £150 and most of that charge will be for the extraction and re-installation of the macerator, the cost of the macerator repair can always and I really mean always be kept to a minimum with a bit of consideration at installation and planning as to how will the macerator be taken out for maintenance.
4. If you think your installation may pose a few problems with extraction and/or re-installation, and remember this is different from the actual repair even though in most cases you would be charged one continues charge, the repair of some macerators in some installations can not start until extraction is complete, then ask, “if there is a extraction charge, what is it? ” you can expect this to be hourly as the engineer in most cases could not know how long it will take, but usually even in the most extreme cases less than 1 day and in some cases you will not be charged for simple extractions where there as been good future planning for maintenance as extraction will be quick and easy or not needed

Often when a macerator is installed there is very little consideration as to how repairs will be carried out, this can be a very expensive mistake, there is one sure fact you can be assured of, and that is that all electrical or mechanical items will stop working one day and your macerator is no different.

We all want our bath room/loo looking as nice as possible, but just like you would not permanently tile in and fix in your washing machine so that it could not be taken out for repairs with out taking out the kitchen tiles and kitchen cupboards, it is nearly always a very expensive mistake to install your macerator in this way, this can be easily avoided with simple planning and by remembering the rule below when planning.

The rule is “last in will be first out and the first in will be last out”, this simple rule along with saniflo’s published 10 golden rules can save you hundreds if not thousands of pounds in repair bills, what it means is that when installing your macerator and bath room/loo the last thing to be installed will nearly always be the first and easiest thing to take out and the first thing to be installed will nearly always be the last and hardest thing to take out, for this article were talking mainly about tiled rooms.

Example 1: if you do your planning, put your macerator in place first, connect the pipes up, push up the loo against the macerator, complete the tiling up to and around the loo and macerator, when you need repairs, and one day you will, you may need to lift some tiles to be able to remove the loo so that the macerator can be taken out and repaired.

Example 2: if you plan for maintenance, then you would complete the floor tiling first and put both the loo and macerator on top of tiles making sure there is adequate room to easily remove the macerator with out the need to remove the loo or any tiles, any boxing in would be held in place with short screws and sealant making it easy to remove for future repair work

As you can see in example 2 the first thing to be fitted would be the tiles and the last thing to be installed by the plumber would be the macerator and loo, so when maintenance is needed, it is quick and easy to get access to the macerator with out the need to remove the loo or tiles, every installation is unique and different, so its up to you to ensure the planning for future maintenance for your specific installation, but remember the rule

Simple as this may sound, many people do not realise that their macerator as been installed as in example 1 until it develops a fault and and the repairs start, but also many people do not have tiles down and have easy access to the macerator, in both cases finding a macerator engineer with fixed prices that carry adequate stock parts is a good idea, as a engineer without parts is more likely to just condemn the unit for their own benefit, I have also include a link below to a contact that will offer you the fixed price macerator repairs service

Saniflo Macerator Repairs and Problems

You can find many more question and answers and an affordable repair source on the link below.

This link will take you directly to the repairs site saniflo problems

And you can follow this link to our home page for more of our services oven repairs

In fact, if you compare, hardwood and bamboo flooring are actually pretty similar. And that makes them susceptible to similar kind of damages. And they are pretty much repaired in he same way. These damages can be anything. It might be some major structural damage or it can be something very minor as liquid spills.

Hardwood Floor Repair

Since bamboo is on of the most structurally strong floors, possibilities are you will not encounter any major damages in quite a few years. They are made to last decades. It is the minor damages that often play spoilsport. In this article we plan to discuss how to deal with the minor problems. However, before we start we must remind you that for any specific problem it is best to get in touch with the manufacturer for the right answer.

Kids and Pets

Spills, droppings and puddles are part of any family home with kids and pets. You always have to b extra careful with the little ones around as they are not expected to be appreciative of the worth of a bamboo floor. That comes with age.

Children are known to spill and drop and your pets can cause a lot of scratches to the floor. They don’t mean to, but they do. And sometimes adults are also guilty of dropping things. The easiest solution is to wipe it off. Only make a note to use cleaners that are formulated specifically for urethane-finished floors. For tougher stains, clean twice.

Also remember to close trim the nails of your pet. That would prevent them from leaving scratch marks on your bamboo flooring.

Burns

Minor burns from cigarettes and matches can be wiped off using a similar cleaner. For major burns though, you might need to replace the entire plank.

Gum and Wax

If somehow gum or wax has dripped on to the floor, don’t try to remove it immediately. Instead, put an ice bag over the affected place and in a few hours the gum or the wax will come off on its own and no marks will be left on the floor.

Bamboo Flooring – Tips for Minor Repairs

***You may use this article on your website as long as the two URLs are hyperlinked.

Tania Penwell provides information on bamboo flooring and other flooring topics for A1 Wood Flooring – your guide to finding, caring for, and maintaining beautiful wood flooring.