Where's the sweet spot with hardwood floors?

[brice618]

In my opinion you have it backwards. You should rent the floor sander and let the pro's do the finishing. Sanding is 90% boredom and 10% skill. Finishing is 90% skill 10% substance abuse.

[~mikey b]

[fatnslow]

If you have corners popping up right after install you most likely have some real high spots or the pieces are not locked in well. You need to hit every single piece at install and make sure you don't have gaps. If there is high spot that causes any of the boards to high center it will pop any time you step on the board with void underneath. If you use roll padding under the flooring it might help. It might just not be locked together enough, look at where they join and if you see a gap you will need to reinstall. It's not too bad, once you have laid the pattern disassembly and reassembly goes fast. Make sire you hit x axis and y axis to look long and short sides to the next board. Leave a gap where the floor meets the base and install base shoe over the expansion gaps on the outer edges.

[~mikey b]

I did all that.

It's got pad attached but maybe some roll pad would help. Only a few boards.


Fack

[Foggy_Goggles]

If you don't want to use floor patch, just put drywall shims under the low spots. It's semi-hack but you gots to do what you gots to do. Base shoe/ quarter round only if the new floor is thinner than the old such that remove and replace the base won't work. Or if you live in the South, seriously, I hear.

[fatnslow]

Take close look at all the corners to make sure that there is space from the wall. It it creates pressure on the floor it will create weird buckling. Even if you use roll padding it will only compensate for so much unevenness of the subfloor. If you have a low spot some self leveling compoundable will solve it very well.

[~mikey b]

Looks like I gotta do over. Leveling compound.

[the Cock]

Before do over.
Have you laid the whole floor? That shit expands like a motherfucker. Put one down 12 years a go and didn't leave room for expansion. Got called back and Rog would have been claiming chest high swells @ 7.3 (or something, Charlie don't surf) Anyway I fixed it by chiseling the tight spots so it had factory room for expansion. Not fun but she laid down flat.

If you're subfloor is the issue then I guess there's not a simple fix I can recommend.

[old goat]

Talk to me about finishes. I have about 400sqft of original 1948 oak that I need to refinish (was hidden under carpet since probably the 80s). Planning to hire someone to do the sanding so that it gets done well, but ideally would like to do the finishing myself.

Anyone have any experience with this stuff? http://www.monocoat.us/

Was the oak face nailed or toe nailed. My 1930's house has thin strip face nailed oak. The nail holes are filled so well it's hard to see them. I don't know what they were doing in 1948, but if it was face nailed depending on how deep the nails were set and how much you sand you might have to refill the holes before you finish.

[Foggy_Goggles]

Heads up, IMO most floor patch sucks. Avoid anything gypsum based at all costs. I use a Chapco product but I'm pretty sure you would need to get that from a flooring supply place. In a pinch, use thin set.

[muted]

Talk to me about finishes. I have about 400sqft of original 1948 oak that I need to refinish (was hidden under carpet since probably the 80s). Planning to hire someone to do the sanding so that it gets done well, but ideally would like to do the finishing myself.

Anyone have any experience with this stuff? http://www.monocoat.us/

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and re-doing finishing is no fun.

I pulled out carpet in two rooms to expose some nice hickory floors. The bitch for me was the wooden floor didn't go all the way to the trim, and all around the walls the wood was in bad shape due to the carpet installation. The industrial rental was to big to reach all the edges. It started out as a fun project and turned to tedious hell. Wife flat out quit after a certain point, and I don't blame her. I had to re-do her bubbly finish in one room. But, sanding is easy so definitely do that yourself. Or consider installing new carpet, it's cold as hell now in the rooms I re-did, so we have rugs covering most of the floor anyways. Finish will last forever under the rugs, I guess is the bright side?

[~mikey b]

Went with a self-leveling product for the whole floor. I was scrambling to get it mixed poured and troweled. 250# for a 21'x14' room. I was dubious at first but it seems to be drying nicely. It's my first rodeo with this shit so I'm a bit unsure about the whole process. Gonna let it sit 2-3 days before I reinstall floor. Maybe just better to wait until Monday.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and re-doing finishing is no fun.

I pulled out carpet in two rooms to expose some nice hickory floors. The bitch for me was the wooden floor didn't go all the way to the trim, and all around the walls the wood was in bad shape due to the carpet installation. The industrial rental was to big to reach all the edges. It started out as a fun project and turned to tedious hell. Wife flat out quit after a certain point, and I don't blame her. I had to re-do her bubbly finish in one room. But, sanding is easy so definitely do that yourself. Or consider installing new carpet, it's cold as hell now in the rooms I re-did, so we have rugs covering most of the floor anyways. Finish will last forever under the rugs, I guess is the bright side?

The drum floor sanders don't reach the edges, you need to smooth with a sharp scraper in the corners and other areas that a sander doesn't get to.

[BigKuba]

Bump for floor advice in this most informative thread

I have one ~220-250 sq ft room in my house that has carpet - rest are tile or hardwood. It's time for the carpet to go. Preferred outcome would be hardwood, but new, nicer carpet would also be OK (less preferred due to dog)

It's entirely possible that the carpet has hardwood underneath -- I see some peeking out in a corner where my radiator heat comes in and the carpet isn't trimmed exactly to shape... but haven't pulled back a ton of carpet yet. Also it could be in dismal condition

With that in mind:
- Will anyone want to bother with that small a refinishing/installation job? Alternative option would be to get all the hardwood refinished - it doesn't desperately need it just yet, but could use some love... Downside is a furniture cluster*@#%
- Should I DIY, and if so, which options are reasonable vs over my head (install, refinish, carpet)? I'd like to think I'm pretty handy but I've never done floor stuff, and based on comments up in this thread, new install sounds over my head

I'm in Denver-ish, and would welcome any specific recommendations

Edit: this is my bedroom, so chime in if you think I should just stick to a more dog-resistant carpet for warmth

[iscariot]

You first measure the room for square then start at the longest wall in the direction of the run.

Most mags can't even find the centerline of a 100mm ski based on the number of bad mounts they do in Tech Talk and you want them to find the centerline of the floor?

We need to rename this thread: Mount your own fucking floors!

[iceman]

BK, you're gonna ditch the old carpet either way, you might as well pull that shit up and see what you have, that may answer your question for you. As far as refinishing the floor, if what's there isn't in too terrible shape, you can do it man. Didn't you go to MIT?

[Cruiser]

I probably mentioned it earlier in the thread but if not then call Rich at Rooney Hardwood Floors. Rich is the man in Denver for wood floors. A job that small might be a nice way for a company to fill a day long gap in between bigger jobs. So it's possible that you could get a contractor on board if you told him that your start date was flexible.

[old goat]

Here's how it's done.

(A little culture for y'all. The Floor Scrapers, by Gustave Caillebotte, one of my favorite Impressionists.)