Home Repair & Maintenance

Hardwood floors are a major investment for many homeowners. Because of this, it's important to clean and maintain your floors properly to keep them in the best possible condition. When it comes to...

If a simple repair of sanding and refinishing is not possible, pull out and replace laminate floor strips. Switching out a section of laminate tongue-and-groove flooring can be difficult but not...

Radiant floor heating is a system of applying heat underneath or within a floor. A hydronic radiant floor uses plastic or metal tubing to carry hot water to the areas (or rooms) to be heated. The...

Bruce hardwood floors make any home more beautiful and can last a lifetime if properly maintained. Unfortunately, hardwood is subject to scratching when it comes into contact with hard, sharp...

Wood floors can sometimes vary in color due to poor staining techniques or even from direct sunlight. There are several solutions to your color variation problem; however, you will need to remove...

Laminate hardwood is a good choice for flooring because it is more durable than real wood and it's also a lot easier to install. This type of flooring is also called a floating floor because it is...

Laminate floor boards are plastic or wood veneer over a particle-board body. They're durable, but not indestructible --- and if a board gets gouged or water-damaged, there is often no way to...

If you are repairing or removing your hardwood floor, there are a variety of techniques. The best technique requires a methodical approach, as well as specialized tools.

There are many ways to seal a hardwood floor, including oil stain, varnish and shellac. But for that glass-like topcoat that you see on bowling alley floors, only a good, high-gloss polyurethane...

Finishing a garage is quite a complex project requiring you to obtain knowledge of installing insulation, electrical and drywall among other skills. You might wish to do the entire project...

Before the development of modern polyurethane and epoxy finishes, floors were protected with more natural products, including linseed oil. Linseed oil, a product of flax, was an effective...

Splits throughout a wood floor surface can indicate a number of floor problems, from old homes setting to bad floorboard installation. Before repairing the splits it's important for you to...

Wood floors can be reconditioned in a variety of ways. If the wood floor has stains, they can be removed by using various types of cleaning products or even sanding as a last resort. If stains...

Want to dampen your spirits quickly after a shower? Finish your song, grab your softest towel and then step into a puddle on your bathroom floor. Your heart will sink deeper than that rubber duck...

Any floor covering containing more than 1 percent asbestos is considered asbestos flooring. You can call a licensed asbestos contractor to remove asbestos floor tiles, or you can do it yourself....

Refinishing a hardwood floor generally entails sanding down the existing finish to bare wood, applying wood stain, then topping it with floor gloss. For full-size floors there is special...

Mastic is a strong construction adhesive most commonly used for flooring materials like tile or vinyl. With a makeup and characteristics similar to plastic, this can be a very difficult substance...

Travertine is a natural, porous limestone tile available in two varieties: natural and honed. Natural travertine is travertine left in its natural state. Ridges and indentations give it a casual...

Wood flooring is most commonly installed by bonding the floorboards to a foundation. This requires a highly effective adhesive that can be water, solvent or urethane based. When the wooden floors...

Unfinished hardwood floors, though lest popular than floors finished with stain and a clear coat of varnish or polyurethane, have a beautiful rustic look that can be preferable in certain settings...

Hardwood floors have many distinct advantages over other types of flooring, including their stunning natural beauty. One other advantage of hardwood floors is that this beauty can often be...

Durability and low maintenance, along with a wide variety of design choices, make laminate flooring a favorite flooring choice. As with almost all construction materials, however, water is the...

The only way to completely finish a tile floor and make it look presentable is to caulk it. Caulking provides completion of a floor, and if done right it can make your floor look terrific. The...

For most new homes built in the U.S. today the fixtures such as floor furnace grates are a secondary thought. Contractors are under pressure to make their buildings affordable. When consumers...

For many homeowners, the garage is simply an extension of the home's living space. For those who want to improve the look and function of the garage, floor epoxy provides a finished look with...

Consumers have several options when it comes to choosing what material to use in the installation of a hardwood floor. Regardless what material is chosen, the cost to have a hardwood floor...

For a garage floor to be painted with an epoxy covering, the floor needs to be level, clean and as smooth as possible. If these things are not done, the epoxy will likely not properly adhere to...

Earthen floors are not just about "building green" and using natural materials in your home, they are a means of bringing a natural beauty into your home that also has some amazing heating and...

A random orbital sander operates with a circular sandpaper disc that spins while at the same time moving in an elliptical pattern. The elliptical movement ensures that the sandpaper isn't just...

Floor furnaces are located beneath the floor, usually in a crawlspace or basement. The vent is located on the floor above the furnace, and is usually covered with a metal frame. The pilot is...

Whether you have furry critters that have made a mess on your floor, or you have moved into a house that smells like the old homeowner's pets have left a few surprises, you'll want to get rid of...

Urethane is the most common surface finish for hardwood floors. Urethane comes in an oil-based, moisture-based and water-based finish, each composed of a different mixture of synthetic resins and...

Concrete provides an ideal subfloor over which to install tile. One of the first steps to installing tile is to thoroughly clean the concrete slab to remove any dust, dirt, oil or wax from the...

When installing a toilet flange on a tiled floor, the main concern should be that the flange sits at the proper height above the floor. Depending on the thickness of the tile, the flange may not...

Drastic slopes in hardwood floors can result in bending, heaving and wood plank ends that do not remain nailed down. Besides being visually unappealing and uncomfortable to stand on, sloping...

Terrazzo floors are not only beautiful, but also very durable. Terrazzo is made by embedding pieces of marble in concrete and then polishing the surface to be very smooth. As a result of...

A hardwood floor can be a beautiful addition to any room, offering a strong durable surface that lasts for decades. Sometimes your hardwood floor can become damaged, and a gouge can seriously mar...

Laminate flooring is a popular choice for many home owners. Some of the reasons to choose laminate flooring include the fact that it can be made to resemble everything from wood to marble. It also...

Buckled boards on your hardwood floor mean moisture has gotten in there and expanded the wood, forcing those boards up and out of their fittings with the surrounding boards. You should first try...

Wood laminate flooring systems today are designed to fit together like jigsaw puzzles. They're held together by tongue-and-groove milling on the sides of the boards but otherwise unattached to...

Grout is the special cement that fillls the spaces between tiles on your floor. It seems rock-solid, but it's actually the weakest part of the dirt-and-moisture shield that your tile floor...

Laminate flooring is a composite material designed as a low-cost alternative to traditional hardwood. It's coated with a paper top layer that's printed to resemble wood grain, then topped with a...

Garage floors, or slabs, are one of the easiest projects to form. You can make cement forms out of wood planks and have the whole thing ready in half a day for your concrete. As long as you have...

Hardwood floors are a beautiful addition to any home, however, if an older wood floor has uneven spots, it can deter from the wood's natural beauty. You can sand down the uneven portions to level...

Vinyl tile can greatly enhance the appearance of your room. While installing vinyl tile can be extremely easy since some brands just have a peel sticker backing, you still need to be sure your...

Tile board, also known as backer board, PermaBase and Durock, is a necessary component to the application of tile. Tile board is not actually a board, nor is it made out of wood. Tile board can be...

Ceramic and porcelain tile are traditionally used in bathrooms, kitchens and other moisture-prone areas in the home. While these tiles are relatively durable, they may break or chip over time due...

Slate floors add natural elegance to a home that no other floor covering can offer. While bringing beauty and sophistication to your home, they will also require some regular maintenance. The...

There are a number of different ways to care for hardwood flooring. One all-natural way is to use pure lemon oil or lemon oil extract. Use lemon oil to clean, moisturize and restore luster to your...

A newly refinished hardwood floor is quite beautiful, even if the floor is old. A refinished floor takes on a new life and the uniformity of the finish usually allows the natural appearance of the...