Wood Flooring | Hardwood flooring

Water vs. Oil

On 11.09.09, In Usefull info, By Admin

As we all know, there are two types of polyurethane: water-based and oil-based.Both have their own pro’s and con’s.Let’s take a little closer look at both of them.

1.Oil-based polyurethane.The most popular so far( of course, with the new law that makes it more expensive and harder to get, things are going to change quickly).Durable, two coats of it on top of a coat of sealer, is normally more than enough.Gives an impression of thick buildup(it’s just an impression, though.In reality it’s much thinner than you think, which doesn’t make it bad in any way), and that deep amber look that everybody love.Most of the floor companies and the homeowners prefer to use this type of poly, because it is also very easy to apply.

Now here is something every homeowner should know.There are two types of oil-based poly: high VOC(Volatile Organic Compounds), which is affected by the new law and the low VOC, which is not affected.All the information above is about high VOC poly, which you, dear homeowner, cannot get anymore in 1 or 5 gallon containers.The only way to buy high VOC poly is to get it in quarts.So next time you’re going to the hardware store, make sure, you are buying your poly that way, unless you want all sorts of trouble, that low VOC poly gives you: heavy brush marks, very fast drying time on the surface, while you’re applying it, but very slow actual drying time(sometimes it’s still like a gum even after two days of wait)- all the good stuff.

Ok, where were we? Oh, yes, oil-based poly.Here are some minuses: dries much longer than water-based, smells a lot(and I mean it) and not safe for the environment, which, I know very important for more and more people day by day.

2.Now let’s talk water. This is very durable polyurethane.With 1 coat of sealer and three coats of water-based poly your floor is going to be much harder, than with oil-based.Dries very quickly: in half an hour after you applied the first coat, you can go ahead and put another one.You can literary finish the whole flooring project in one day, where if you would use the oil-based, it could take you 2-3 days.

By applying it without using a sealer, your floor is going to look milky, although, over the years it will yellow up a little.I would recommend to use a sealer first(Lenmar quick-dry sealer is perfect for that purpose): that will give your floors an amber look, not as rich as you would get with an oil-based finish, of course. This, the price of it(on average twice higher then the price for the oil-based poly) and a little bit complicated application process, are actually the main minuses.Otherwise it’s great.

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Refinish hardwood floors: hire a pro or do it yourself.

On 11.07.09, In Wood floor refinishing, By Admin

So, you just bought the house, or lived in the house for years and all this time you had a wall to wall carpeting, or in some cases linoleum..One of those days you decided to remove it, lifted it up and discovered a hardwood flooring, which is in really bad shape(sometimes covered in glue or other nasty stuff).Well, what’s next?

You have 2 choices here: do it yourself or hire a professional. Let’s do some thinking.

Of course a lot of homeowners will say that they can do their floors easily.That statement could not be further from the truth.Floor refinishing is not the type of work that anyone can do.There are so many ways to screw up your floors, while sanding them, that I could probably write another article just on this topic.Not to mention a mess you can make while coating your floors.

But let’s imagine, that every homeowner has a good idea of the refinishing process.Let’s just talk numbers here.We are going to take one room, for example(for bigger projects you’re definitely going to need a pro, unless you have a huge amount of pills for the back, knees and hands).

The floor guy will charge you something like $300-$500 for the room.That normally includes sanding your floor down to the wood, 1 coat of sealer and 2 coats of polyurethane.Of course, he has tools necessary for completion of the job.

If you will decide to refinish the floors yourself, you are going to need the following:

1.Big drum/belt sander(220v), which will be unavailable to rent, because it is made especially for professional use and it’s a little tricky.So you will end up renting a small(110v) belt sander at the Home Depot for around $50 a day+ the sandpaper(say another $40).Note: with the small sander you won’t come even close to the result you’re looking for.It simply lacks power necessary to take of all the old finish.

2.Edger(around $20)+ the sandpaper-another $40.

3.Radiator sander- good luck looking for that one.the only way to get it is to buy it.they retail new for around $500.

4.Buffer- another $20+ the sreen for it($5)

5.Vacuum cleaner(let’s hope that you have a good one)

6.Polyurethane - I’d say since we’re talking about one room only you’re going to need 1 gal. of sealer($20) and 1 gal. of poly($20)

I’m not going to mention here all the small tools that you’re going to need to do the job right.Let’s do the math: to refinish the floor yourself, you’re going to spend $215(if everything goes nice and smooth and if you know what are you doing) , not to mention your time(how much would you pay yourself to do this job?) and effort.

Well, here is the info you going to need to make a decision.The rest is up to you.Good luck!

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Tagged with: estimate • floor refinishing • polyurethane • sand down • wood flooring

Matching new and old flooring.

On 11.01.09, In Usefull info, By Admin

Ok. So you added a new flooring, or replaced some of the old flooring and now thinking: how could I match the old and the new floors?

Of course every floor is different and there is no way for me to tell you what to use exactly to match the colors of your floor, but still, there are most common colors, which you can use and play with, while trying to match it.These are the types of stain that you can easily find in your local hardware store.

First of all try Golden Oak by Minwax. This stain is good to match white and red oak, fir (in some cases), southern yellow pine. Apply it heavily, if it didn’t work the first time, try again. Make sure you sand the floor before the application( at least lightly with 120 grit sandpaper) and clean it up.

If you need to add some reddish color to your stain, try colonial maple by Minwax. By mixing it up 50%/50% with Golden oak, we actually matched quite a few floors.Of course, you can add less than that, but I would not recommend the mix less than 30%/70% both ways, since it’s going to be the color of the dominating stain.

Those are the most commonly used colors for the natural floors.Of course the result will be much better, if you will sand down all the floors in the room and stain them all, but if you don’t want to do it, this is the way to go.

If you have any ideas, leave a comment, let the world know!

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Tagged with: match • patch • repair • stain • wood flooring

Red Oak.

On 11.01.09, In Types of wood, By Admin

red_oak_nat3[1] Red oak.

One of my favourite types of wood: hard and durable.It’s fairly inexpensive.You can find select unfinished red oak in the most stores, such as The Home Depot and Lowe’s.The price in these stores varies between $1.99 and $2.99 per ft.(depending on the time you’re buying it, I guess: if you will look for it during the summer months, when everybody seem to do some sort of construction in their houses, the price is higher).Most popular brand are: Bruce (you can find it at the Home Depot and Lowe’s) and Mullican(to get this flooring, you will have to do some shopping around).

You can find prefinished select oak, as well as unfinished.A lot of people prefer prefinished flooring lately, as this is the easy way out.Maybe it costs more (the lowest price that I’ve seen is $2.85 per sq.ft), but you save on the labor( it doesn’t have to be sanded and polyed), plus you’re not going to have that much dust, since there is no sanding involved.

If you’re not that picky and want to save yourself some money, get unselect oak.The difference is that there are more knots in the wood, the pieces are shorter and there is obviously more waste.In most cases ,if you are buying unselect oak, you will not be able to return it, even if you never opened the bundle (which, in most cases 19,5 sq.ft.).You can buy this type of oak in Lumber Liquidators for $0.99 per sq.ft. Also, you will not be able to find prefinished unselect oak, it only comes unfinished.I personally don’t like to deal with unselect oak, but if you have a rental, or rehab project, probably this could be the way to go.

Questions or comments? Drop us a line.We’ll be more than happy to get back to you.

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Tagged with: floor species • prefinished red oak • red oak • types of wood floor • unfinished red oak • wood flooring

Welcome!

On 10.31.09, In Uncategorized, By Admin

At earet.com we are going to post everything we know about hardwood flooring: types of wood floor, how to install and refinish them, types of polyurethane and so on.Stay tuned for the first post!

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Tagged with: floor refinishing • installation • wood flooring

Hardwood flooring

everything you were wondering about it…

Water vs. Oil

Refinish hardwood floors: hire a pro or do it yourself.

Matching new and old flooring.

Red Oak.

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