Ask The Crusader!

Michael King...THE HOME IMPROVEMENT CRUSADER!

Flooring

QUESTION
My 1970s kitchen floor has a layer of plywood and then resilient tiles. Can I remove them and reveal a hardwood floor?

ANSWER
There probably is no hardwood or fir floor under the plywood because kitchen and bathroom floors in the 1970s were tiled over plywood that was laid directly on a sub floor of plywood.

If that is so, your best bet is to take off the tile and put down ceramic tile or more resilient tile, or sheet vinyl. If by any chance there is hardwood or fir under the plywood, and you expose it, you can fill the many nail holes with wood filler, then sand and finish.

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QUESTION
I am tearing up wall-to-wall carpeting and plan to put down some other kind of flooring. I don’t want hardwood because I have two cats that might ruin the hardwood. How about laminate?

ANSWER
The cats will not hurt a finished hardwood floor, even a softwood floor. They would have to be tigers to do that. Laminate is good, and the cats will not hurt that, either. But I think hardwood is better.

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QUESTION
I have a crack in my concrete floor. There is no water coming up but some kind of white mold is spreading along the crack. What is it, and how can I get rid of it?

ANSWER
The white stuff is not mold but efflorescence, a Greek word meaning “blossoming,” the leaching of lime out of the concrete by water. There is no cure, but it is harmless, so sweep it up and throw it away. You might be able to keep it away if you ventilate the room, reducing moisture in the area.

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QUESTION
We recently tiled a concrete slab floor and white spots appeared in some areas of the grout. Lowe’s says it is salt deposits. I just want to get rid of the unsightly mess. The cleaners and sealant they recommended do not seem to work for the long term. Any suggestions?

ANSWER
Same as above; sweep it up and throw it away; you can also wash the stuff off with water. The deposits are not salt, but lime, leached out of the grout by water. It is harmless, but still a pain. Sealers will be of little or no help.

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QUESTION
The hardwood floors in my 135-year old house are about 60 years old. I have contacted two local flooring contractors and got two very different approaches to new flooring. One wants to take up the old floors, install new ones, and then give three coats of finish. He would also remove the three-quarter-inch molding so I would need to get some finish painting done. The other contractor suggested putting pre-finished hardwood over the existing floor. He would also remove the molding but the elevation would mean that I would not need to repaint the baseboard. What’s the better way to go?

ANSWER
Before we get into what is best, I assume you have assessed the existing floor; a floor 60 years old may have been sanded three or four times, and if it has, it is pretty thin now.

But if it has not been sanded as many times, there still might be some life in it. You could contact a floor sander and finisher to determine that.

A pre-finished floor is the best, whether it goes on top of the existing floor or goes on the sub-floor after the old hardwood has been removed. It may cost more, but it is the best in my opinion.

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Question
How can I get rid of the black tar-like adhesive uncovered when resilient tiles were pulled up from a floor?

Answer
The black stuff is a tar emulsion, which was used with resilient tiles years ago. Treat emulsions with paint thinner and scrape up with softened material. Wipe up any residue with large rags, which should be disposed of carefully; they can spontaneously combust. The tiles might have been vinyl-asbestos tiles, and it would have been a good idea to dispose of them professionally. But vinyl asbestos tiles contained relatively small amounts of asbestos, so removal probably wasn't highly hazardous.

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Question
I had Pergo plastic flooring put in my manufactured house in Florida, The Floors are beautiful, after a neighbor and friend installed them. But my handyman said the floor is starting to buckle. What went wrong?

Answer
The Pergo was installed tightly against the walls of each room, or tightly against the baseboard. Because of the tight fit, the boards buckled when they expanded, through intake of moisture, against the wall because they had no space to expand into. The cure is cut a half-inch gap, or expansion joint, at the edge of the floor where it butts against the wall. Because the floor is a floating floor, the buckles will flatten out when the gaps are cut.

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Question
I don't know why, but the bright white linoleum floor in my house was stained yellow last year. Is there a solvent for it? What can do?

Answer
That stain is probably an antioxidant stain, and it's permanent. It only seems to happen with white sheet vinyl. The manufacturers have formulated the vinyl to be stain resistant. Certain antioxidant additives are formulated in rubber, which will extend the life of the rubber and prevent brittleness, and which can discolor a vinyl floor when it comes in contact with the vinyl. Rubber items include mats, rubber-backed rugs and rubber wheels on carts. There is a chance for redemption. If by chance tracking asphalt from the driveway caused the stain, you can dissolve it with paint thinner and clean it up that way.

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Question
After the sanding crew finished my hardwood floor, little bubbles came up in the seams. The crew offered to do it over again for free. Would that be acceptable? What went wrong?

Answer
Absolutely let them re-do it. One of two things could have happened. Either they applied the varnish too heavily and it bubbled when it spanned the seams in the boards or it could be because the seams weren't vacuumed good enough…it could be sand or dust left in the seams.

When they re-do it, make sure there is no sand or dust remaining and that the varnish is not put on too thick.

Also, if they were brushing too aggressively, this could have caused the bubbles and also the varnish must be shaken, not stirred when applied.

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