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While the finished look and feel of marble installations is generally polished and smooth with a reflective surface, it takes numerous steps to get the natural stone to that point. When it is excavated from the Earth it is rough and jagged, and while it can be shaped into tiles and slabs, manual labor is the only way for the stone to achieve its reflective polished finish.
Couch feet usually go unnoticed without so much as a thought unless a problem arises. Upon moving the couch, you might notice scratches on that nice hardwood floor in the area where the couch feet were. The couch shifts over time, either from sitting on it or from pushing rather than lifting to adjust its position. Floor scratches result from couch legs with damaged or missing gliders or pads. Several protective measures help prevent similar floor damage in the future.
No one has figured out how to make a machine that applies floor finish faster and more effectively than you can do it by hand, but the process of floor refinishing does involve the use of some heavy-duty machinery. Most of it is used for sanding and polishing. Standard equipment for most flooring jobs includes a drum sander, edger, orbital sander, handheld sanders and a floor buffer with both screening and buffing attachments.
After sanding a floor, it's discouraging to find ripples -- also known as chatter or waves. They are a series of ridges that cross the grain, giving the floor a washboard appearance. While there are techniques you can use to fix rippling and to minimize it the next time you sand, you may need to upgrade your drum sander to one with more weight, or repair your existing sander, to completely avoid the issue.
A number of common problems can crop up when finishing a newly installed hardwood floor. Get tips on how to deal with problems finishing hardwood floors with help from a hardware flooring business owner in this free video clip.
Covering nail holes in wood floors when refinishing is a process that always requires you to keep a few key things in mind. Cover nail holes in wood floors when refinishing with help from a hardware flooring business owner in this free video clip.
When moving a refrigerator, one thing you have to do is protect the floor the best you can. Protect the floor when moving a refrigerator with help from a registered interior designer in this free video clip.
With normal daily traffic, your wood floor may begin to look foggy or show a white patina. It's time to refinish it. The first step of the refinishing project is to remove the thin, once-glossy finish on the floor. You could do this with sandpaper and lots of elbow grease, or you could use a liquid deglosser, also called "liquid sandpaper," specially made for wood floors. You'll get the job done more quickly with a liquid deglosser too, although how much time it actually takes you depends how how big your floor is.
Bowing walls are normally a basement foundation problem. They most commonly affect block walls, which are weaker than a solid, poured foundation wall. If the bow is moderate, around 2 inches or less, the best bet is the carbon fiber strap solution. They are fairly inexpensive, about $120 for the kit at the time of publication, and not very difficult to install. This will not repair the wall, but it will keep the wall from bowing any farther.
Mesh screens have an open weave and an abrasive surface that removes finishes, scratches and other imperfections on wood floors the way sandpaper does. You can attach the screens to a floor-buffing machine to abrade wood floors. The longevity of mesh screens partly depends on the size of the floor you’re refinishing. However, cleaning the screens between uses helps them last longer.
Concrete polishers create a sheen on concrete floors by using a high speed rotating buffer to polish the floor. They remove tiny particles of concrete to smooth out the topmost surface. However, this high speed removal of concrete can create a lot of dust. Connecting a vacuum to the polisher helps to reduce the dust in the air so that working conditions are safe and clean up is not as difficult.
Before the invention of power tools and manufacturing companies that produce machine-milled wood with a hand-scraped look, carpenters and woodworkers were creating rough sawn, hand-scraped wood in their shops. The tools used to manually scrape the wood produced an appearance and texture with unique character. Hand-scraping produces a rustic look, with each hand-scraped board having its own unique appearance. Carpenters and woodworkers choose among a the variety of tools to produce varying results.
Wood flooring and its adhesives are susceptible to damage from moisture that seeps up through a concrete floor. Often these moisture levels are too low to be detected by the untrained eye. To ensure that moisture levels are suitable for sound installation, a representative from your flooring's manufacturer should come to your home to test moisture levels. If they find moisture penetration, they might recommend a waterproof wood flooring adhesive to protect the wood and its adhesive from damage.
If you have installed a tile cove base in your bathroom, then you have tiles that have concave radiuses on the bottom edges of the tiles and convex radiuses on the top edges of the tiles. This allows for tiling the edges of the baseboard along the walls of your bathroom. If you have installed tile cove base tiles in your bathroom, then you may want to finish them by applying and wiping away a grout base.
Black leather fades over time because the black color comes from dye. Just like fabric dye, leather dye has a limited lifespan. Leather clothing and even car seats that are exposed to direct sunlight fade to a dark gray, and may even become brittle from the heat and light. The solution is to dye the leather black again. The new dye will restore the leather to its original color. Some dyes even contain moisturizing ingredients that can soften leather that has become dry and brittle.
Cloudy finishes appear for several reasons, including using an old product or one that's been stored in a very cold or hot environment. Proper application also requires stirring the polyurethane coating immediately before placing it on the surface, which should be clean and oil-free.
When people consider various flooring styles for a home being built or a renovation job to an existing home, many people look for flooring that won't dent. Dent-proof flooring isn't always the most accurate term to use, as even hard surfaces will dent under enough pressure. Several types of flooring, however, are known for their ability to resist dents.
Some people prefer to hire an installer to lay a runner on a staircase. However, you can finish one with a professional look if you take your time and use the right tools. Although the runner wraps each stair tread up the staircase, it should stop short of hardwood floors at the top of the stairs. The flooring has a built-in nose or trim across the top of the staircase that will help you align the top of the runner for the tidiest result.
Reclaimed and antiqued flooring add charm and history to a room. French oak is a type of hardwood that is commonly used for hand scraped floors. This technique involves using a hand scraper to remove pieces of the wood to give it an aged and antiqued look. After this is done, you can stain and finish the wood to further give the appearance that it is aged. This project will take a weekend to complete.
When the floor beneath your door is uneven, which is generally a problem in older homes, it's difficult to seal the bottom against the threshold to keep drafts out. A door sweep is designed to push against the threshold while bracing against the bottom of the door, but an uneven threshold can create a gap. To fix this problem, affix the door sweep to the door at an angle so that the vinyl fins of the sweep are parallel with the floor, not the door.
Wood porch floors can complement your home's exterior and make a good first impression on visitors who enter your home. As with other types of painted exterior wood, porch floors require occasional maintenance. Whether you use a chemical stripping agent to soften old paint before peeling it away or a sander to grind off the top layer of paint and damaged wood, there are specific times when it's best to strip a porch floor.
Gorilla bottom floor padding provides a layer that effectively protects the bottom liner of an above ground swimming pool. This product prevents damage, tears and leaks that may form in the swimming pool's liner so the liner's lifetime can be extended. Some gorilla bottom floor padding customers install the padding on top of sand, while others install it directly onto the ground.
Wood floors, while beautiful, may not hold up well if they're subject to constant abuse, high foot traffic or water damage. If you have Swedish wood floors and a section has become damaged, you can replace just the damaged wood, without having to replace the entire floor. Swedish wood floors are typically made from hardwoods, such as ash, maple, oak and beech. A natural finish is commonly used although some varieties are stained to darker colors.
Johnson Premium Hardwood Flooring is the manufacturer of ForeverTuff hardwood floors. The 17-step finishing process iincludes an application of aluminum-oxide finish that provides a protective coating on the hardwood reaching a 1.6mm-thick wear layer. This translates into one of the most durable, scratch resistant floors manufactured. It does not, however, mean it is scratch proof.
The stovepipe that runs through the chimney and out the top of your roof is usually a triple-wall stovepipe. Although it doesn't happen often, a triple-wall pipe can develop holes that can cause smoke and soot to come into the living area of the home. When this happens, it is necessary to disassemble the triple-wall stovepipe from the stove and install new pipe. Disassembling a triple-wall stovepipe depends on how your particular stove exhaust is set up. In general, the triple-wall pipe disconnects from the main stovepipe inside the home and lifts out of the roof of your home.
Three main finishes are most often applied to preserve and protect wood floors. Of these, waxes, and specifically oil/wax combinations, are the only treatments capable of actually affecting the wood itself by permeating and hardening it. Other finishes act as coatings that sit on the surface of the wood and create a shield between the wood and any abuse, whether that is foot traffic or sunlight.
Since their introduction during the 1960s, pneumatic tools such as clipped-head nailers have drastically shortened the amount of time required to complete everyday construction projects. Working in coastal areas with significant wind force and seismic activity makes full round-head guns an ideal and sometimes required tool for builders. Nevertheless, clipped-head nailers are an alternative for homeowners working on home repair projects that require more speed and less time.
When you install hardwood floors, the boards appear seamless and smooth. Wood naturally shifts and expands over time, causing spaces to appear in the floor. Also, exposure to moisture can cause unwanted spaces between the boards in your hardwood floors. If you have large gaps you wish to seal, you may wonder what kind of wax adhesive to use to seal the spaces in your hardwood floors. Rather than using a wax adhesive to glue boards together, use a wax filler to fill in the gaps.
Carpet was quite expensive in the 1930s, so most homes built at that time had hardwood floors. High-end homes had tongue-and-groove flooring while more modest homes were laid by nailing the planks directly to the joists. Hardwood floors installed in the 1930s featured substantially narrower boards–2.25 feet in width as opposed to the common 3.5-foot width of today’s hardwood flooring boards. Polyurethane was the finish of choice. Depending on the size of the 1930 floor, waxing may be a big job, but it pays off with a good-looking hardwood floor.
Crackle flooring is a paint texture used on surfaces giving them a cracked, antique look. This is achieved by using a crackle medium that causes the next layer of paint to separate in natural cracks. This is often used on furniture or walls, but it can be used on flooring if properly treated. It needs sufficient protection ensuring the paint doesn't wear off from foot traffic. You can apply crackle paint to many surfaces, including wood and vinyl. Use primer and paint appropriate for the surface type.
Pressure-treated wood floors stand up better than traditional wood floors because they are designed to be resistant to rot and infestation of insects. However, in order to continue to look their best and do their job properly, pressure-treated wood floors must be refinished regularly. The best pressure-treated wood floor finishes require little maintenance to apply and provide a long-lasting finish.
At the most basic level, subgrades are like the foundation layer of the house. They provide the stability and support system for the cement slab that is poured on top. The subgrades allow for drainage and provide a settling base for the concrete to adjust to over the years as it cures. A combination of sand, gravel, and soil is often the best foundation for a cement slab.
Rockville flooring is a type of engineered hardwood produced by the Armstrong flooring company. If your floors are made of this material and you want to change their appearance, it is possible to refinish them, but you'll need to take certain precautions. First and foremost, if your Rockville flooring has already been refinished once, it cannot be done again. Second, if the flooring is deeply scratched, well past the veneer layer, you will have to replace the boards instead of refinish them. However, if the flooring is in good shape, you can refinish this particular type of engineered hardwood.
If you're not careful your chairs could scratch your hardwood floors each and every time you use them. Stop chairs from scratching hardwood floors with help from the president of a home design company in this free video clip.
A light scratch on a hardwood floor can be repaired quickly and easily so long as you follow the right procedure. Repair light scratches on hardwood floor with help from the president of a home design company in this free video clip.
You can remove scratches off polyurethane-finished hardwood floors by using a few different tools and methods. Get scratches off polyurethane-finished hardwood floors with help from the president of a home design company in this free video clip.
If you're not careful your furniture could badly scratch your hardwood floors each time you use it. Keep furniture from scratching hardwood floors with help from the president of a home design company in this free video clip.
Sanded and lightly stained wood floors need to be cleaned in a very specific, gentle way. Clean sanded and lightly stained wood floors with help from the president of a home design company in this free video clip.
Speakers tend to vibrate while in use, which can spell disaster for a wood floor. Learn what to put under speakers to protect wood floors with help from the president of a home design company in this free video clip.
You can remove wax from wood floors using a few different things you probably already have access to. Learn a homemade recipe for removing wax from wood floors with help from the president of a home design company in this free video clip.
Hardwood floors will eventually pick up dents and scratches - its only natural. Fix hardwood floor dents and scratches with help from the president of a home design company in this free video clip.
Though oak hardwood floors can be prone to scratches, it is important to understand that they can be fixed. Fix a fresh scratch on oak hardwood floors with help from the president of a home design company in this free video clip.
Laminate is a common choice for flooring, because it is generally considered easy to install, comes in many colors and is inexpensive to purchase. When transitioning laminate flooring to another room or to another type of flooring, you can use a transition strip to bridge the gap. You can purchase several types of transition strips to match your laminate flooring. The transition strips come in many profiles to fit your flooring situation. Some of these profiles include reducer and t-molding transitions.
After installing new flooring in one room of your home, you may notice unevenness between where the new flooring and the flooring from an adjoining room meet. An uneven surface can cause you to trip and fall. One solution is to install a transition strip, or trim molding, to help bridge the gap between the two surfaces and smooth out the transition from one room to the next. Important factors to consider when selecting the transition strip are the flooring types and any height difference between them.
In the course of planning a flooring project, you may hear the salesmen or the flooring specialists talk about the finished floor level and the structural floor level. The impact of the finished floor level is that the difference between the structural floor level and the finished floor level may require the removal of a portion of the bottom of doors. If you know how to calculate the finished floor level, you may find problems with the quote for flooring your home or office.
Prefinished laminate flooring is a common choice for new floors when building or remodeling a home. You can also install real wood, but this requires refinishing to give the floor that shiny, smooth surface. After going through the tedium of laying down every piece, going over the entire area with sanders, buffers and stain seems like extra drudgery, and you might be wondering why you just can’t lay down already-finished flooring. The installation process can add minor damage to flooring pieces, and waiting to refinish them after everything in place leads to a more uniform look.
The term cove molding or cove trim usually refers to decorative wood that is placed along the seam of a ceiling and a wall. However, there is a type of base trim that is also called cove molding. This type of molding is more decorative than basic floor baseboards and can add visual interest to the room.
Superficially, finish nailers can appear almost interchangeable with brad nailers; however, this is not the case. Brad nailers are less costly, but they are less powerful, as well, and therefore entirely unsuitable for working with hardwoods. The choice for most buyers is between gauges: the thickness of the nail the gun is designed to fire.
With a creative, thinking-outside-the-box approach to home decor and design, you can come up with an innovative way to decorate a wall. One such way uses click-in flooring -- also known as click-lock flooring -- that quickly covers a surface without the need for glue or nails during the installation. Create a focal-point wall, or provide a feeling of continuity by continuing the wood floor onto the wall. Installing the click-in flooring on the wall adds warmth, texture and interest to the walls.
Based in Anderson, South Carolina, the Palmetto Hardwood Flooring Company offers quality hardwood flooring options that include bamboo, maple, red oak, white oak, engineered hardwood and laminate hardwood. Though the materials vary based on selection, the care of all Palmetto flooring is similar and required to maintain a lasting finish.
