Pondering Wood Flooring Installation In Your Home? Here's What You Must Know

Species and Environmental Suitability of Hardwood floors

There are many kinds of Hardwood flooring options to choose from when considering installing wood flooring in your home. The main thing to know when choosing a solid strip or plank hardwood floor is to never forget job site suitability. The wood species of flooring to be installed should be chosen not only for its color, looks of the wood-grain, width, and length, but also for its suitability with the job site environment in which it will be installed. You may wish to learn more about all of the options available on contractors websites that specialize in Site Finished Hardwood floor Installation to guide you in making your decision before buying or installing your plank floor.

Wood floors are Recommended in:

Kitchens - Residential kitchens are fine as long as you keep your hardwood flooring swept and clean regularly and do not have a lot of salt & dirt on your feet coming in from the outside.

Bedrooms - Living Rooms, Sitting Rooms, Family Rooms, Sun Rooms, Dining Rooms, Mudrooms (with tile inlay), Enclosed or 3 Season Porches, attics, at or above grade basements, workshops, and tool sheds.

Wood floors Not Recommended in:

Full Bathrooms

Entryways

Many people have had hard wood floors installed in bathrooms but you must take extra care to clean up any standing water as this could potentially cause damage to the planks of wood in a floor in a very short period of time that could cause you to have to sand and refinish, or even worse replace the damaged boards and then refinish.

Basement floors

Engineered products would be the only suggested product for below ground level installation due to moisture concerns. Flooring in rooms with little or no ventilation that have a lot of moisture evaporating into the air could be result in a buckling issue.

Prior to Installation of wood flooring it is necessary to test the humidity levels of the subfloor plywood or concrete. If the subfloor has excessive moisture, then it is best to wait until they reach 6-9% humidity before starting the installation, because if the subfloor has too much moisture it will acclimatize once installed and make your new wood floors swell up and possibly buckle under pressure

Tea - An Easy Way To Clean Your Wood Flooring

Here's a great tip to get a rich shine from your wood flooring. Black tea – we're afraid milk and two sugars doesn't quite work – is a great cleaning agent, as well as being cheap and environmentally sound.

The trick is in the tannic acid, which helps to bring out rich wood colours. Simply steep 5-10 tea bags in a litre or two of boiling water for around ten minutes. This may seem like a lot, but its necessary to make a brew strong enough to clean properly. Afterwards, remove the bags and allow to cool.

You'll then need to wash the floor as usual, either with a mixture of warm water and vinegar or your normal cleaning product. It's important to never wash hardwood with hot water as this can damage the finish.

Straight afterwards, mop over the tea mixture and leave to dry. Almost immediately, you'll notice the difference with a deep, rich shine. If you like, you can buff the floor further with a dry, clean cloth.

Alternatively, the tea can be poured in a spray bottle and sprayed directly on the floor in sections. This makes an excellent furniture polish too, and is a great way to get the kids involved. As tea is non-toxic, there's no need to worry about inhaling fumes or getting damaging chemicals on sensitive skin.

Remember though, this will only work with unsweetened black tea. Flavoured and herbal teas don't have the necessary tannins, and could do more harm than good, while a brew with sugar will leave an unappealing sticky layer. It's also wise to dust mop your wood flooring at least weekly to stop large debris from building up, which can scratch the surface when trod in.

However, if you do find deep scratches, all is not lost. Here's another good trick – after you have cleaned the floor and applied the tea solution, let it dry as normal. Then take a crayon that's a similar colour to your finish – the closer the better – and rub it into the scratch until it is filled. Then heat the damaged area with a hair drier until its blended in and leave for a moment to set. A quick buff with another clean, dry cloth and your wood floor should be as good as new. Easy!