Ask The Crusader!

Michael King...THE HOME IMPROVEMENT CRUSADER!

Hardwood Floors

QUESTION
I had new hardwood flooring installed, and now I want to know how to seal it against whatever water might be spilled on it. I have a new tiled ceiling in a room below this hardwood floor, and I do not want any water to stain the tiles.

ANSWER
Three to four coats of oil-based polyurethane varnish will seal the floor as well as any treatment short of a rubber roof. I don’t know what kind of spills you anticipate, but even in a kitchen there should not be many spills that would create standing water.

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QUESTION
I inherited an interesting hardwood floor made of ash. It was treated with Watco Oil years age and nothing since, and now it is a mess. How can I clean it up, refurbish it, or do whatever is needed to make it look good?

ANSWER
You cannot clean it satisfactorily, because some parts have worn to the bare wood and have weathered a bit, too, so nothing can be done. Refurbishing also will not work. I think the only thing to do is to sand to the bare wood and apply three coats of an oil-based polyurethane varnish. You could do this yourself, renting a sander and sanding the floor with three different sandpaper grits: coarse, medium and fine. This is hard work, but it is made easier by using a flat plate sander instead of the old fashioned and highly effective drum sander.

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Question
I just had a pre-finished hardwood floor installed. It is beautiful. So how can I keep it clean and beautiful? Is there a taboo against using water on hardwood?

Answer
Vacuum once or twice a week. Use a dry Swiffer if you do not vacuum, and use a wet Swiffer once a week. The taboo against water is the amount of water used. We tend to drench our floors, which is pretty hard on any wood…especially when the water seeps into the seams and stays there long enough to swell the wood. The water in a wet Swiffer is negligible. For laminate (plastic) floors, such as Pergo, use Windex. Sweep and vacuum, of course.

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Question
What is a good way to refurbish my hardwood floor? I plan to sand lightly with a rotary sander, then apply butcher's wax of the proper color and buff with a power buffer. I want to do this way because I have dogs, and do not want rugs. I know I have to strip and re-wax and re-buff every six months or more often, but that is okay with me. I also have a wood stove, flat black, that was given good service but it look's a bit weary. How can I spruce it up?

Answer
Well. You answered your first question, so I will tackle the second one: Refurbish that cast- iron stove with stove black, sold in hardware stores. It will come out spiffy. And if you stick with the wax job on your floors, here is one idea that will make the work a little easier. Strip off every bit of wax, sand lightly, and apply a light colored oil stain to even out the color. Apply two coats of an oil based polyurethane varnish. Then apply and buff the wax. The wax will help protect the varnish.

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Question
My hardwood kitchen floor has quite a few scratches in it…so many that I have to refinish it.
The kitchen floor is a part of the floor on the entire first floor, so there is no way that I can put a threshold or anything to separate the kitchen floor from the rest of the floor, which is in good shape. How can I just refinish the kitchen floor without it looking patched?

Answer
If you redo just the kitchen floor, it will look patched, but not for long. Sand the kitchen floor in the normal manner, sanding three times with progressively finer sandpaper. Sand right up to the limit, and apply three coats of an oil-based polyurethane varnish. The new varnish will look quite different from the other floor, but this will fade and blend in within a few months. If you can't wait that long, put a rug over that annoying border. And since only the kitchen floor was scratched, put a rug under the table to protect against future scratches.

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Question
I have a new hardwood floor. I am thinking about getting a dog. Would the floor finish stand up to the dogs claws.

Answer
Make sure that the floor has at least three coats of oil-based polyurethane varnish, this should stand up to small dogs, A big dog might present a problem, to be on the safe side may a suggest a couple big rugs.

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