Wood Flooring

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Wood flooring can be placed on concrete surfaces. The concrete slab must be above ground level and the concrete must be completely dry and cured before hardwood floor installation begins. The floor will be attached to plywood that is fastened to the concrete.

DEAR TIM: I really would like to have a solid hardwood floor but my existing house has a concrete slab. Is it possible to install a hardwood floor on top of concrete? How in the world do you attach the strips of hardwood to the concrete? What needs to be done to insure that the floor looks as good as one installed on a wood sub-floor? Stacey C., Boulder, CO

DEAR STACEY: If your slab surface is level with the outside earth or is an elevated concrete slab you can install traditional hardwood flooring over it. Concrete slabs that are below ground level are not candidates for solid hardwood flooring. If you have such a slab, I would consider installing an engineered hardwood flooring. This material is made by taking different plys or layers of wood and gluing them together to make a wood product that is more stable when subjected to elevated levels of humidity often found in basements or below grade slabs.

Wood is a hygroscopic material. In other words, wood changes its shape in response to changes in relative humidity or the presence of liquid water. As the humidity goes up or if wood gets wet, it swells. As the wood dries it shrinks or contracts. This type of movement can cause all sorts of problems with finished wood floors or even wood furniture. For this reason, it is important that the hardwood stays dry and at or near constant humidity levels before, during and after installation.

To successfully install your hardwood floor over the concrete, you need to make sure the concrete is dry. If the slab is new, it usually takes a minimum of 60 days for it to release sufficient moisture before you can proceed with the hardwood installation. If you are building a new home, be sure the contractor installs a high performance cross laminated vapor barrier under the concrete. These vapor barriers are often used in high end commercial jobs and are very nearly impervious to any vapor transmission. They are also very puncture resistant.

To test any slab for excess moisture, simply vacuum a small area first. Then tape a 15 inch square piece of clear polyethylene film to the slab using two strips of duct tape along each of the four edges. If no condensation or fog develops under the plastic after 48 hours, the slab is sufficiently dry. If the slab is wet, then heat the space and open windows or use a dehumidifier to draw moisture from the slab. Retest the floor for moisture content once you think it has dried.

The hardwood flooring is fastened to plywood or 2x4 strips that are securely attached to the concrete. Keep in mind that the height of your finished floor will end up at least one and one half to two and one quarter inches above the slab height depending upon which wood subfloor you decide to use. This raised floor can be a problem at doorways if you or the builder do not plan for this.

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Installing a new hardwood floor? Use my Hardwood Flooring Installation / Refinishing Checklist to avoid costly mistakes. I offer a 100% Money Back Guarantee.

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Before the plywood or 2x4 sleeper strips are attached to the floor, an additional vapor barrier must be installed on top of the dry concrete. Use the same high performance plastic that should have been used below the slab. The concrete floor needs to be level or in the same plane. Use a 6 foot long straightedge to check for high and low spots. Standard asphalt shingles make excellent shims to fill in low spots. The vapor barrier can be installed over the shingles and then the wood on top of that.

Fastening the plywood or 2x4 strips to the concrete can be done one of several ways. You can buy special hardened concrete screws that can bite into the sides of a pre-drilled hole in the concrete slab. Driving these screws requires a powerful screw gun to accomplish the task. A simple yet effective method is to drill a 1/4 inch hole through the wood and then directly into the concrete. The depth of the hole should be 3.5 inches. Take two 16 penny sinker nails and drive them side by side at the same time into the hole. Use a 20 ounce or larger hammer to drive the nails and strike them squarely. Believe it or not, the nails will bite into the concrete and hold the wood securely to the slab.

Before you actually install the hardwood flooring, make sure the room has been heated to room temperature for at least five days before the flooring is delivered. Once the wood is delivered, remove any packaging so it can acclimate. The wood needs to be exposed to the room temperature and humidity for at least an additional five days before you actually begin to install it.

Underlayment for Floors

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Underlayments are crucial to the success of the flooring on top of it. Many finished flooring materials require a super-smooth surface underneath them. Without smooth and solid subflooring, the finished flooring can fail or look very bad in a short amount of time. The new gypsum fiber panel is a good underlayment.

DEAR TIM: In the very near future, I will be installing lots of new and different flooring materials in my home. Can I just remove the carpeting and install my flooring material over the existing subfloor or do I need to install an underlayment? Since I want my new floors to look as good as possible, what is the best thing to do? I am very concerned about the kitchen and bathroom areas since water seems to find its way through and under any finished flooring material. Jennifer M., Atlanta, GA

DEAR JENNIFER: You are very wise to think before you act with respect to all of your new flooring. It is my guess that the total cost of the new flooring will be substantial and the last thing you want is for it to fail or fail prematurely because it was installed improperly. Finished flooring, even carpeting, needs a solid foundation for it to perform well over time. All too often some builders and remodelers as well as poorly trained installers overlook the importance of floor underlayments. Most flooring failures or problems are traced to inadequate or poorly installed flooring underlayments.

For many years, wood based products have dominated the flooring underlayment industry. Plywood, oriented strand board, sawdust composites, cement board, etc. are widely available and are commonly the material used in both new home construction and remodeling jobs. The wood based underlayments can warp and swell when exposed to moisture. This can cause the finished flooring to buckle and fail even if the underlayment relaxes after it dries out.

Many consumers and tradespeople, unfortunately, assume lots of things about finished flooring such as ceramic tile, hardwood, laminate flooring, cork, sheet vinyl, vinyl tile, etc. They feel that if the sub-floor or underlayment looks and feels substantial then it is fine to proceed with the finished flooring. The truth of the matter is that it is far more complicated. Many finished flooring products have specific recommendations with respect to the type of material the finished flooring is placed upon. Even adhesive manufacturers are sensitive to the type of underlayment being used. For example, an adhesive may work well with the vinyl or ceramic tile, but who cares about that if it bonds poorly to the underlayment?

A new underlayment product has recently hit the marketplace that is very attractive to a wide bandwidth of the flooring industry. This product is a gypsum fiber panel that has many positive qualities. It is smooth, has superior water resistance, has higher impact resistance than traditional wood based products, can be cut with a utility razor knife, is made with 95 percent recycled materials and is competitively priced.

Keep in mind that many traditional wood based underlayments contain resins, adhesives, solvents or dyes that can sometimes seep through and into the finished flooring material. If this happens, your finished flooring can be ruined. The new gypsum fiber underlayment does not contain any of these problematic ingredients.

The new gypsum fiber product is available in two thicknesses: 1/4 and 3/8 inch. This variety allows you to create flush finish floor transitions when you change from one material to another. There is no reason why an angled transition threshold has to be used if you are installing finished flooring materials that are different thicknesses.

Many flooring problems happen in houses that are built over crawl spaces. All too often an underlayment will buckle or warp because of water vapor that escapes from the soil beneath the crawl space and then permeates the subfloor and underlayment. If you have a crawl space, be sure you cover the soil with a high performance vapor barrier before you install any underlayment or finished flooring material.

It is also very important to make sure that existing wood subfloors are dry before you install an underlayment. The moisture content of a wood subfloor should not exceed 15 percent. Use a moisture meter to test for moisture content. Be sure that the fasteners used to install the underlayment are driven correctly. The top of the fastener should be flush with the top of the underlayment or slightly below the surface. Above all, make sure that you are using an approved underlayment. Get written specifications from the finished flooring manufacturer and choose a product that is on the list.

Gypsum Fiber Underlayment

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Using plywood as a floor underlayment can be a problem if you are applying thinset directly on it. Water and plywood do not mix. I had a floor pop over night. However, gypsum fiber underlayment can help prevent floor pops.

I can't begin to tell you how many pieces of wood underlayment I have installed over the years. It has to be in the thousands. I have it in my own home. You name it, I have used it: Masonite™, particle board, plywood, luan plywood, etc. Fortunately, I have only had problems on one occasion.

Bubbles

I'll never forget the first big house I built. It was an ultra custom contemporary home that had marble and tile floors. I used 3/8 inch plywood underlayment beneath the marble and tile. The tile was set in thinset - cement based product that bonds tile to wood or to concrete.

It took me two days to install the tile floor in the kitchen. The morning of the second day, I arrived to work and saw that an area of the tile had a hump in it that I didn't remember from the day before. Three or four tiles had popped up. I walked over and stepped on them and the area of the floor was spongy. The thinset bond between the tile and the plywood was broken and I lifted up the tiles to discover the plywood had bubbled up. The water from the thinset caused the plywood to swell creating this large bubble.

Using long drywall screws, I was able to get the plywood to flatten out. But I had learned my lesson. Water and wood underlayment products are a recipe for disaster.

Cement Board

Someone else had the same problem as I did. They decided to invent an underlayment that was bulletproof against water. All they did was modify time tested technology that tile setters had used for years. Any old tile setter will tell you that they installed their tile over wood floors but that they separated the tile from the wood with a layer of cement mortar. It was a very labor intensive job to pour and level the mortar.

The wise inventor simply decided to make cement underlayment in one half inch thick sheets! You simply nail these over newer wood flooring systems. The cement board is totally waterproof, but it is heavy, tough to cut and seams are hard to smooth. Also, pesky grit is produced as you install and work with it. This grit must be removed before you install flooring materials.

A Compromise

The cement board product was and is a fantastic product for certain applications. But there was still a need for an underlayment that was easy to work with and highly water resistant. This opportunity was filled with the new gypsum fiber underlayment.

Easy to Work

The gypsum fiber underlayment is so simple to work with. I have cut some of it with a standard razor knife. It snaps just as a regular piece of drywall snaps. There was virtually no dust when I scored and snapped it. Installing fasteners is a breeze. The product is virtually unaffected by water. If and when water does harm the underlayment, I am quite sure you might have more severe problems with the actual finished flooring, the wood sub-flooring system and/or adjacent walls. In other words, the fact that it is highly water resistant is probably all most of us need.

Availability

The gypsum fiber has great distribution. It also comes in different thicknesses and panel sizes. You should be able to find it at most home centers and large scale drywall distributors. Be sure that the panels come with literature that speaks to the water issue. You should be able to verify that the product is indeed water resistant.

I urge you to also obtain and READ a copy of the installation instructions. This is very important. Don't forget to do this.

Gypsum Underlayment Installation Tips

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: The following installation tips for underlayment will help you get your flooring project done properly. These will keep the gypsum fiber panels flat, so your floor stays that way also.

Installation Tips

Tools and Storage:

Use hand saws, razor knives, power saws and holes saws to cut and shape the gypsum fiber underlayment. It is a score and snap product just like drywall. If you desire to cut it with a saw you can, you will simply create extra dust.

Store the product flat and up off the ground. Lay down four or five 2x4 pieces if you want to stack them flat. If you stand them up on edge, it is wise to place them on short pieces of 2x4 as well. But be careful! It is dangerous to stack them upright. People (children) have been crushed when a stack falls over.

You need to bring the gypsum fiber panels indoors and let them acclimate to the jobsite conditions. Store them inside for at least 48 hours before you start to install the product.

Crawl Spaces:

If you install gypsum fiber panels over a crawl space, a vapor barrier must be in place over the soil in the crawl space area.

Floors Directly Over Furnaces:

Install 2 inches of fiberglass batts on the underside of subflooring that is directly over or near furnaces.

Existing Vinyl Floors:

Do NOT install gypsum fiber panels directly over heavily or thick cushioned sheet vinyl flooring. You must remove the sheet vinyl and its foam backing first.

Replace or fill in any missing solid vinyl tiles. You want the floor beneath the new underlayment to be solid and free of cracks and voids.

Wood Subfloors:

The wood subfloor needs to be secured to the joists. For best long term results, screw the wood subfloor to the joists before you install the underlayment. Sand any high spots where the subfloor seams are uneven. Fill in any depressions so that the subfloor is in the same plane. Vacuum all debris and be sure the subfloor has a moisture content of 15% or less. Use a moisture meter if you think the subflooring is damp.

Cutting Panels:

As said earlier, you can use a razor knife to score and snap panels. But if you have to cut off a corner or make a notch, you will need to saw at least one or two lines and then snap the final marked line.

It is always best to place cut edges against a wall. Always leave a minimum 1/4 inch space between panel and the wall. This is for expansion.

Lightly butt panel edges together. Do not force panels together. In a large room, offset the butt joints on panel edges. You are trying to avoid long seam lines. It can't be avoided every four feet as you proceed installing rows of the panels, but a long seam can be avoided as long as you start with different sized pieces as you come off one of the walls.

Fasteners:

Fasteners are very important. The heads of the fasteners must be flush with the top of the panels once driven. You can use ring shanked nails, staples or screws. Avoid rosin or cement coated fasteners as they can stain vinyl flooring.

Keep fasteners 1/2 inch away from the edge. Install nails every two inches along the outer edge. All nails within the field should be on 4 inch centers.

Final Touches:

Be sure seams of underlayment are smooth. You can sand FIBEROCK™ and even treat the seams as you would drywall. If you apply a compound to the FIBEROCK™ be sure it is approved by the finished flooring manufacturer.

Gypsum Fiber Underlayment Sources

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: At the time of this writing, only one manufacturer of Gypsum Fiber Underlayment was found. The gypsum fiber underlayment product seems to be one of those products that seem to have very many positive qualities and few negative ones.

Sources of Gypsum Fiber Underlayment

At the time this column was going to press, I could only uncover one manufacturer of the gypsum fiber underlayment. My instinct tells me that within a short period of time, they will have competition of some sort.

The marketplace has yearned for years for an underlayment other than wood. Sure, you could buy cement board but there are some installation and other issues with this product.

The gypsum fiber underlayment product seems to be one of those amazing products that seem to have very many positive qualities and scant few negative ones. The biggest negative point I can raise is simply that the underlayment is not 100 percent waterproof. If you need a 100% waterproof underlayment, then use cement board.

But the truth of the matter is that if you have a water problem, many of the flooring products that are installed over the underlayment will probably be ruined. If they have to be replaced, so to will the underlayment. It is a moot point to a large degree.

The manufacturer of the gypsum fiber underlayment is United States Gypsum Company (USG)- go figure! They have considerable experience working with gypsum as they are possibly the world's largest manufacturer of gypsum drywall. They call their new underlayment FIBEROCK®.

I have been to USG's testing and research labs and am extremely impressed with the amount of work and thought that goes into their products. USG is a company that wants to produce quality and do it all of the time. They have a long history of reliability. Anyone who has worked with USG products will tell you that they are great and that the company constantly strives to improve them. You will love FIBEROCK®, trust me.

I urge you to visit their website for tons of product information:

www.usg.com

You can find FIBEROCK® at any home center.

Painting Floors Really Works Well

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Painting plywood floors is easy and the results are great. First prime your floor with a special primer. After you are done painting, apply three coats of a clear urethane to give the floor its durability. Apply the urethane once every two years for maintenance.

Related Articles: Painting a Floor, Painted Floors, Floor Paint

DEAR TIM: We discovered a plumbing leak as we were getting ready to install a new laminate floor. The money for the flooring is now in the plumber's bank account. Since we have no money left for new flooring, is there a way to successfully paint the exposed plywood floor? How do you fill the depressions and cracks in the floor? Is it necessary to prime the wood before painting? Mark A., Hickory, NC

DEAR MARK: Are you sitting down? The answer is, "Yes!" It is not only possible to paint floors, the paint job just might end up better looking than the original laminate floor you intended to use. There is no real magic in painting a floor. You simply have to follow a few simple steps and use the right products to achieve durable and long-lasting results.

Just about any flooring surface that is in good shape can be painted. Concrete, wood, ceramic tile, sheet vinyl, vinyl tile, etc. can all be painted with ease. The only surface that may have problems would be an older basement concrete floor that is below grade or one that is in contact with a very wet soil. Water that seeps into concrete can sometimes cause a painted finish to peel. But many modern concrete floors installed since the 1970's have a vapor barrier under the slab. This moisture barrier often stops the water vapor allowing the paint to stick tenaciously to the concrete.

You are looking at a wood cabinet back in the upper left corner of this picture. The white and red parts of the photo are painted flooring! Look at the shine. Would you believe me if I told you this was in a retail center, not a home? Imagine how much foot traffic that foor gets in one month.

The paint itself will not yield a surface hard enough to resist years of foot traffic. You achieve durability and long-term good looks by coating the painted surface with three coats of clear urethane. Most people take for granted the hardness and durability of clear urethanes. For example, hardwood floors that are not coated with urethane can begin to look dingy and miserable in a short amount of time.

The thin coats of smooth urethane protect hardwood floors from dirt and other contaminants. It serves the same purpose over any painted surface. Visit any indoor basketball floor and you will quickly become a believer. Lines, logos and all sorts of things are painted on these floors. The paint looks good because of the invisible layers of urethane that are on top of the paint.

Painting floors begins just as any other painting project. The surface to be painted should be clean, dry, dust-free and as smooth as possible. Large depressions and cracks in the wood flooring need to be filled with a product that dries hard. Do not use caulk or lightweight spackling compounds as floor repair materials. There are any number of excellent plastic-type wood fillers that dry exceptionally hard. Certain floor leveling compounds that are mixed with water often dry very hard. Test these materials by walking on them after they dry. If they survive the walk test now, they will look good once painted.

Bare wood floors should be primed with special primer/sealer paints. These products work well to hide the wood grain that otherwise might show through the finish paint. Hardwood floors that have a varnish or urethane finish must be sanded before a primer is applied. Concrete floors may need a special masonry primer. Check the label of the finish paint you choose. Typically a paint manufacturer provides a list of compatible primers that work well with specific finish coat paint products. Oil paints work best for floor painting. The oil resins have a tendency to adhere better than water-based paints. They also tend to cure and harden faster.

You can dazzle your friends and neighbors if you incorporate some faux finishes into the painted floor. There are an infinite amount of possibilities. Stenciling, borders, pinstriping, etc. can all add accent touches to the floor. If you intend to have an area rug on top of the floor, you might consider creating a border that frames the rug equally on all sides. It is best to practice your faux finish technique on a piece of plywood. Once you feel you have the look, then begin to work on your floor.

Once the finish paint has dried two or three days, apply three coats of water-based urethane. The water based urethanes typically do not yellow over time. Be sure to look for the words "non-yellowing" on the urethane label. The key to keeping the floor looking good for a long period of time is to apply a single maintenance coat of urethane every two years.

Wood Floors that Bounce and Squeak

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: If the hardwood floors in your home squeak, it could be a simple fix like driving coarse-threaded screws through the subfloor into the floor joists. However, it could also be a problem with the actual floor support system. While it may meet building code requirements, these are simply minimal standards for a builder.

DEAR TIM: The wood floors in my new home are driving me crazy. When I walk across them they feel soft and bounce up and down. Some places actually squeak. The building inspector has indicated the floors do indeed meet the building code. What in the world can be done now to stiffen the floors so they feel more solid? Do I have to start over? What should have been done to prevent both problems? Dewey B., Birmingham, AL

DEAR DEWEY: I can absolutely understand your frustration and disappointment. Anytime we buy something new, it is perfectly normal to have high expectations with respect to the final fit and finish of a product. When it comes to a new home, one would tend to assume the floors would be solid and squeak-free. Unfortunately, your expectations, and those of tens of thousands of other homeowners, are in conflict with the building code. I wish it were not so, but it is reality.

These are 2x12 floor joists under my own laundry room. They span approximately 16 feet and there is simply no bounce in that floor.

I happen to have a high regard for the building code. It is a fantastic document in many respects. I count among many of my friends several retired and active building inspectors. But one thing I have learned in all of my years in the industry is the building code is a set of minimum standards.

A builder who works within the code is simply passing a series of tests each time an inspection is scheduled. To pass the code inspections or tests, a builder simply has to obtain a grade of 70 percent as one would in a school exam or test. In fact, the system is actually more basic: You either pass the inspection or you fail it. The contract you signed with your builder may not require him to get a better score. You can make that happen by specifying better materials and installation methods that exceed code requirements.

The building code has a detailed section dealing with wood floor design. It calls out the maximum distance floor joists can span for different sized lumber set at different spacings. What's more, it indirectly talks about the grade and species of lumber. Keep in mind that different species and grades of lumber have a wide range of strength characteristics for identically sized pieces of lumber. A 2x8 made from dense select Douglas fir-larch will perform quite differently than say an identical sized piece of #2 Ponderosa pine. The floor joists permitted by code allow safe floors to be built that are soft and spongy. But most people want solid and safe floors.

Taking the bounce out of the floors will not be easy. It can be done, but it will require significant modifications since your home is now complete. The engineering solutions to make it happen are as abundant as applause at a grade school play. You or your builder will need to consult with a structural engineer that has extensive residential experience with wood floor systems. To insure that you will be satisfied, ask the engineer for a few references. Call the homeowners and ask them if the engineer's solution produced floors that were sound and stiff.

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Installing a new hardwood floor? Avoid squeaks and costly mistakes by using my Hardwood Flooring Installation / Refinishing Checklist. I offer a 100% Money Back Guarantee.

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The secondary squeaking problem is more of a nuisance than anything. The squeaks can almost always be traced to nails driven through the subflooring into the floors joists. For any number of reasons, the nails may have withdrawn slightly or the subfloor was never fastened tightly to the joists. As you walk across the floor, your weight causes the subfloor to slide up and down the nail shafts. This slight movement produces the agonizing squeak.

Click here to watch the video on eliminating that floor squeak.

If your finished flooring surface is carpeting, you can solve the problem by driving screws through the subfloor into the floor joists. To prevent the carpet fibers from pulling, you need to make a precise surgical slit in the carpet backing before you drive each screw. Squeaks in floors covered with tile, hardwood, sheet vinyl laminate, etc. are almost impossible to fix without removing the finished floor or parts of it.

These problems could have been avoided in the planning and construction phase. A seasoned architect and builder might have specified a floor joist package that would have produced the firmness you wanted. If you would have discovered the spongy feel during a walk-through just after the framing was complete, simple engineering solutions could have been enacted at a low cost. The squeaks could have been totally prevented if the builder had installed coarse-threaded screws through the subfloor into the floor joists just before the finish flooring was installed. Unfortunately, hindsight is always 20/20.

Hardwood Flooring Over Radiant Heated Concrete

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Before installing hardwood floors over radiant heated floors make sure the subfloor has released as much moisture as possible. Use a high quality vapor retarder sandwiched between the floor and subfloor to prevent moisture from leaking through and warping the hardwood floor. Wood that has greatest stability and small wood width is ideal for the job.

DEAR TIM: I am designing a home that will have a monolithic concrete slab foundation. My radiant heating system will be an integral part of this slab. Is it possible to install hardwood flooring over the concrete, or will I be forced to use ceramic tile? What needs to be done to make sure the wood floor will not develop cracks from the radiant heat? Am I pushing the envelope by installing wood in this situation? Brian D., Albuquerque, NM

DEAR BRIAN: You are not pushing the envelope hard at all. Hardwood flooring and concrete slabs can get along just fine if you make sure your builder follows some easy, but important, guidelines at various stages as your home is being built. Concrete slabs that contain radiant heating can limit the style of wood floors that you have to choose from, but all in all, I feel you can create a dazzling look in your new home by mixing a few wood species and being creative with the actual layout of the hardwood flooring.

Many people love the look of hardwood floors but have concrete slabs. You can install hardwood over concrete if you follow certain guidelines. Image by: Hardwood Council

Hardwood flooring and wood in general are hygroscopic materials. Liquid water and water vapor can enter wood which causes it to swell and change its shape and size. If and when the water leaves the wood, the wood can and does shrink, but not always to its original size and condition. It may warp, develop small check cracks in the surface, twist, bow or even develop cups or dips within each piece of lumber. Cracks in between pieces of wood may open up as the wood dries. In other words, if you want a wood floor to look very good for many years, you need to keep the wood in a state of dynamic equilibrium with respect to the indoor humidity and temperature.

Controlling indoor humidity and temperature is easier to do in some areas more than others. In my opinion, you happen to live in one of the most user-friendly parts of the nation for hardwood flooring. The overall year-round humidity of the air in the Southwest is often very dry. Once wood acclimates to the dry air, it retains it shape and size very well. If, on the other hand, your new home was in the humid Midwest, the hardwood flooring might shrink and swell two or more times a year as humid summer air is replaced by dry winter air. Air conditioning helps stabilize hardwood flooring by keeping the indoor humidity levels close to winter levels.

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Installing a new hardwood floor? Use my Hardwood Flooring Installation / Refinishing Checklist to avoid costly mistakes. I offer a 100% Money Back Guarantee.

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In your case, you need to make sure the concrete slab is fully cured and has released as much moisture to the atmosphere as possible before the flooring is installed. Ask the builder to keep as much air flowing through the house as possible during construction to aid in this drying process. You can check moisture content of slabs by taping a piece of 15-inch square clear plastic to the slab. Tape all four edges with packing tape that is moisture resistant. Wait 24 hours and inspect the plastic. If it is clear with no visible fog or water droplets, the slab is dry enough to proceed.

A high quality vapor retarder must be installed under the concrete slab and preferably over the concrete slab just before the flooring is installed. The vapor retarder should meet the fairly new ASTM standard E 1745. These vapor retarders are the best and offer the highest level of protection. They can be found at supply houses that sell concrete supplies to commercial contractors. The addition of the second layer over the top of the slab is an insurance policy against any rogue water vapor that tries to exit the slab at a later date.

The radiant heat that emits through the slab can wreak havoc on hardwood flooring pieces that are greater than 2.25 inches wide. Some installers will say it is safe to install widths up to 3 inches, but smaller widths will have less overall movement in response to the radiant heating. Try to stay with wood widths as close to 2.25 inches if at all possible. The heating system needs to be turned on for several weeks before the wood is installed. The actual hardwood must be stored in the house where it can acclimate for seven to 10 days for the best overall results.

Use wood species that offer the greatest stability. White and Red Oak, Teak, American Walnut, Mesquite and American Cherry are excellent choices. Adding an accent border of walnut or cherry in an oak floor is gorgeous. If you are lucky enough to find a creative hardwood installer, he will show you many options.

Be sure your builder coordinates a meeting between the radiant heating contractor and the hardwood flooring installer before the slab is poured. These two sub-contractors need to tell each other what they need to make each of their systems work flawlessly for years. All too often these meetings happen after a hardwood flooring nail is pulled from a leaking radiant heating tube.

Installing hardwood flooring over concrete is more difficult than installing it over a wood flooring system. Smart homeowners and builders only work with flooring installers who can demonstrate that they know how to do it.

Getting a New Hardwood Floor Level

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Hardwood floor installation can be slowed by an uneven subfloor. Before installing hardwood floors, use a straight edge to find the humps and dips in the subfloor. Then, using a floor leveling compound or asphalt shingles, shim the dips so the floor is level.

DEAR TIM: I am getting ready to install 3/4 inch thick tongue and groove golden oak hardwood flooring. I am ready to start the job but my wood subfloor seems to have all sorts of high and low spots. I don't know where to start the job. Should I use a leveling compound to smooth the floor? Are there other tricks I can employ to make sure the finished floor is smooth as glass once finished? Gary W., Calgary, Alberta, CAN

DEAR GARY: This task is not as challenging as it might seem. You are very lucky that you discovered the flaw in the subflooring before you started the installation of the finished wood. All too often, I have seen professionally installed hardwood floors that have dips, humps and other inconsistencies in them. When I see these imperfections on the finished high-gloss surface, I know a rookie must have installed the actual flooring.

There are wood subfloors that are very hardwood-friendly. Wood floor systems framed with engineered wood I joists, or those made from floor trusses, often are extremely flat or in the same plane. Those wood floors framed with traditional solid-wood joists are the ones that can cause problems. Each joist may be slightly different in height and, to compound problems, each joist can have a different degree of crown. The crown in a wood floor joist refers to the amount of upward curvature that exists in the framing member as you look down the length of the top edge. If the rough carpenters and lumber suppliers are very selective about the floor joists they use, a traditional wood joist system can be as perfect as a wood I-joist or floor truss system.

My family room hardwood floor is smooth as glass. Why? The installer and I used shingles and a straightedge to make it so.

To get your wood subfloor ready, the first thing to do is to make sure the wood sheathing that is on top of the joists is securely fastened. I highly recommend installing coarse-threaded screws in addition to the nails that might already be in place. Be sure to do this in high foot-traffic areas of the room. The use of screws will prevent floor squeaks that are caused by nails that are not driven completely or that work themselves loose because of lumber shrinkage. Use screws that penetrate at least one and one quarter inch into the wood joist.

After the subflooring is screwed tightly to the joists, vacuum the floor to remove all dust and debris. Use a six-foot long straight edge and a level to find the highest spot on the floor. Although you might want the floor to end up in the same plane, it may not be a realistic goal. Your existing floor may be severely crowned. If this is the case, the hardwood floor may need a giant wedge of shims or leveling compound that extends to one or more walls in the room. This degree of correction may not be needed to get the visual goal you desire.

I always use regular roofing shingles to fill in any dips or depressions in wood or concrete subfloors. The overall floor may not end up in the same plane, but if you have just one gentle hump that extends over 10 or 12 feet, the naked eye can rarely detect this imperfection. Dips or depressions in a subfloor are immediately identified using the six-foot long straightedge. Place it at the highest spot in the floor and slowly swing it around in a 360 degree circle. The low spots will be readily visible under the straightedge.

Use as many asphalt shingles as necessary to fill the low spots. They do not have to be nailed down as the many nails used to hold the flooring in place will pass through the shingles as they are driven into the wood subfloor. You can tack the shingles in place if you desire so they do not move around as you work on the floor.

The use of a floor leveling compound can achieve the same goal, however it requires a bit of skill to apply the compound evenly. Also, if you mix some leveling compounds wrong by adding too much water, there is a possibility they can break down over time and turn to powder. This will not happen with shingles, which is exactly why they are my weapon of choice when confronted with this task.

If you fail to fill the depressions under a hardwood floor, the hardwood can flex when you walk over it. Over time, this can cause squeaks as the hardwood slides up and down the nail shafts of the nails used to install the hardwood. The subfloor doesn't have to be absolutely in the same plane to prevent squeaks, but voids of 1/8 inch or more can cause problems.

Installing hardwood flooring perpendicular to the direction of the floor joists is also critical. Finished flooring that runs parallel to the joist direction will often telegraph the slightest defects in the subflooring.

Be sure to install tar paper over both wood and concrete subfloors to minimize moisture infiltration to the underside of hardwood flooring. Tar paper is an excellent vapor retarder.

Photo by: Tim Carter

Slate Flooring Installation

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Slate flooring has a lot of character and texture. But installing slate flooring requires some initial planning so that all pieces interlock and the spacing between pieces remains consistent. A cement-based thinset will adhere the slate floor to the wood subfloor.

DEAR TIM: I have decided to install a slate floor in my kitchen. What must I do to make sure the slate will stay adhered to the floor? What tools will I need? Can I apply the slate to a wood subfloor? Will grouting the floor be difficult? Harold W., McCall, ID

DEAR HAROLD: Congratulations! The slate floor you are about to install will garner you endless compliments. Slate has so much character and is nearly indestructible. Once sealed, its micro-crystalline composition makes it very stain resistant. If you want an eye-popping color, consider using burgundy red slate with a deep gray grout. This rich color goes well with many kitchen cabinets.

Let's talk about tools first. You will need a chalk line, a tape measure, a framing square, a special square-notched trowel, a large sponge, knee pads, buckets, a three-inch wide stiff blade scraper, a grout float and most importantly a diamond-blade wet saw. You can substitute an abrasive blade on an old circular saw or a hacksaw with a carbide rod blade in lieu of the diamond wet saw.

Slate is a great flooring material and is not too hard to install. You must first layout the pieces to see how the pattern repeats.

The slate is going to be permanently adhered to your subfloor with cement-based thinset. This powder contains Portland cement, ultra-fine grains of silica sand and frequently special powdered acrylic resins. Once thinset is mixed with water, it makes a sticky mortar that tenaciously grabs onto anything it touches. Perhaps the best attribute of thinset is that once dry, it does not flex. You can install heavy objects on a slate floor with no fear of cracking so long as you use thinset.

Slate can be installed on a wood subfloor if the wood flooring is a minimum of one and one quarter inches thick. You can do this by applying half-inch thick plywood over a traditional three-quarter inch thick subfloor material. Screw the half-inch thick plywood to the existing subfloor spacing the screws every eight inches on center. Apply a thin coat of water-based urethane to the final layer of plywood. This urethane prevents swelling by stopping water from soaking into unprotected plywood. Installing one-half inch thick cement board on top of the regular three quarter inch subfloor is a better choice if that option still remains.

You may also decide to use a crack isolation fabric between the slate and the wood flooring. These fabrics work well to offset any differential movement between the wood subfloor and the slate. Wood can expand and contract with seasonal changes in humidity. Slate will not react to these same seasonal changes. The fabric absorbs the differential movement between the materials.

The layout of slate is very important. Although most slate floors appear to be a hodgepodge of random pieces, they are actually different-sized pieces that carefully interlock in a very regular repeating pattern. The pattern is almost always printed on the carton or included in a piece of paper within the carton. You need to remove the slate from just one of the cartons and lay it on the floor carefully spacing to create the pattern the manufacturer has in mind.

The spacing between individual pieces of slate will often be 5/16ths or perhaps as large as 3/8 inch. As you dry lay the pieces of slate you will see that the spacing between pieces happens somewhat automatically. Do not begin to mix any thinset until you are sure you have the spacing correct and you know how the slate will interlock from carton to carton.

After the slate is installed, let the thinset cure for 48 hours before you gingerly walk on the slate. It is now time to apply a grout-release liquid or better yet, a special wet-look sealer to the slate. These products will make grouting much easier as grout can get trapped in the cleavage texture of the slate. It may take 24 hours for these liquids to fully cure before you can begin to grout.

The grouting process is important. The grout must be the consistency of cake batter. Wipe off all excess grout from the slate. Squeeze as much water from the sponges as possible when you use them to remove excess grout from the slate. Excess water that seeps into the damp grout will severely weaken it causing it to crack, powder and disintegrate over time. You must get all traces of grout from the slate before the grout dries. There will be a slight haze of grout powder on the slate, but that will come off the slate with a dry towel after the grout has completely dried.

Static pressure is very important. The layout of the slate is extremely critical. The pattern printed on the box produces a shape that is rectangular in nature. Once the spacing between the pieces of slate is uniform, there will be a consistent width and height to the rectangle when you measure to the outside edges of specific pieces of slate that create the shape.

Using these width and height measurements you can make sure the slate installation is square throughout the entire room. Use these measurements to create a grid layout on the floor. The edges of the slate pieces will touch up against the grid lines if you continue to install the pieces correctly.

Preventing Squeaky Floors

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Squeaky floors are caused by numerous things. The most common is unsecured wood sub-flooring. Or, metal ductwork beneath a floor can squeak or pop as you walk over it. Visit your new home as it is built to catch for these mistakes.

How many old homes have you walked through where you hear annoying squeaks with each footstep? If you live in such a home it is possible, in certain instances, to get used to the noise. Somehow your brain seems to block it out. It is even possible to sometimes cure squeaky floors. But most people I know who are buying or building a new home will not and should not tolerate squeaky floors. After all, preventing squeaks in wood floors is as simple as falling off a log. Anyone can do that.

Squeaks in wood floors can be traced to any number of causes. Perhaps the most common cause is wood sub-flooring that is not tightly secured to the floor joists. In many instances, the loose sub-flooring sits slightly above the floor joist. When a person walks across the sub-flooring, their weight causes the wood flooring to move down until it contacts the floor joist. As the person walks away from that spot, the wood flooring rises up to its original position.

As the wood sub-flooring is going up and down, it slides past the nail shafts of the nails that were used by the carpenter to fasten the sub-flooring to the joists. The movement of the wood along the nail shafts produces the annoying squeak.

Click here to watch the video on eliminating that floor squeak.

Squeaks can also originate from metal ductwork that delivers heated and air conditioned air into each room of your new home. The installer of the metal ductwork, if not careful, can install this sheet metal ducting such that it gets into a slight bind. As you walk across the floor, downward pressure on the ductwork can create the oilcan effect and cause the metal ducting to squeak or pop.

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Installing a new hardwood floor? Avoid the squeaks and use my Hardwood Flooring Installation / Refinishing Checklist. I offer a 100% Money Back Guarantee.

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Some carpenters and builders may also use diagonal bridging in between floor joists. The individual pieces of bridging that create the letter X in between the joists must not touch one another. There should be a spacing of approximately one-half inch so that they can move independently as loads are placed upon the floor joists. If the bracing touches and moves, it can also produce the elusive squeak that causes the grimace on your face.

As you might imagine, knowing the causes, allows you to be proactive in preventing floor squeaks in your new home. I encourage frank discussions with the builder or the sub-division sales agent during the planning stages. Ask pointed questions as to how squeaks will be prevented. Beware of answers that include glue and ring shanked nails. I have walked across hundreds of floors that have been glued and fastened with ring shanked nails that squeak horribly. Granted, if used properly, sub-floor adhesive and ring shanked nails can minimize or eliminate many squeaks. But all too often, the glue and the nails are not installed correctly. Catching work defects is another great way to stop squeaks before they get covered up.

Be sure to visit your new home as it is built. It is vitally important that you ask for permission and be aware of safety hazards when you do construction site visits. Inspect it as often as possible for defects that cause squeaks. Try to visit the jobsite early in the morning when it is quiet. Walk through the home and listen for squeaks. It may take repeated visits to discover squeaks because of wet or damp framing lumber. Wet lumber can swell and this often masks squeaks. As the lumber dries and shrinks, the conditions for squeak production increase. You absolutely must do an intense survey just before drywall is applied to walls and ceilings.

Wood sub-flooring can be screwed to floor joists before finished flooring is installed. Use coarse threaded drywall screws that penetrate at least three quarter inch into the floor joists. Be sure the flooring in all hallways and in the open areas of rooms is screwed to the joists. Once finished floors are installed, it can be an enormous challenge to fix squeaky floors. Prevention of squeaks is absolutely the best course of action.

Bamboo Flooring

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Bamboo flooring is a wonderful hard surface that resembles traditional oak hardwood flooring. People like bamboo hardwood flooring because bamboo floors have a light grain and are very durable. Bamboo flooring installation is not that easy. You need to be an experienced carpenter as much of it installs just like traditional tongue and groove hardwood flooring.

DEAR TIM: A wood floor is in our immediate future. My husband and I have been debating the different types and I am very interested in bamboo flooring. But my husband thinks it is junk. What is the scoop on bamboo? Is it a good flooring material? What are its good and bad points? Is it just a fad? Does it require special care after it is installed? Monica R., Allentown, PA

DEAR MONICA: Bamboo floors are not junk and I don't believe bamboo is a fad. They are a superb building material that is quite possibly one of the most ecologically-friendly products I can think of. When you hold a piece of bamboo flooring in your hand, you would swear it comes from a tree as its weight and density are just like wood. But in fact, bamboo is a grass that grows up to 40 feet tall in just 4 years. Harvested by hand in many managed bamboo forests, the extensive root system creates new bamboo shoots in very short order. No replanting is necessary.

The bamboo plant is much like a straw as it is hollow in the center. Mature plants have a wall thickness of up to one inch and the stalks taper as they get taller. The stalks are milled and flat strips are cut from the thick plant walls. These strips are boiled in a solution of lime and boric acid which drives out the starch in the plant that attracts wood-destroying insects. Once dry, these non-toxic chemicals are fantastic termite repellents and they also are toxic to a wide variety of wood fungi that cause wood rot.

You can see that the bamboo flooring is just like traditional wood flooring. But the grain is not as heavy. You can get medium brown colors as well as light bamboo.

As you look at different bamboo flooring, you will discover that you can buy it as a solid material or an engineered product. Engineered simply means the bamboo is combined with other wood or cellulose products to make a precision finished material.

Solid bamboo can come as either a flat product made of horizontal strips or a sleek vertical product that has many thin strips glued together that stand on edge. The vertical bamboo makes for an extremely distinctive floor once installed. The engineered bamboo flooring combines bamboo as the finished wear layer and either plywood or oriented strand board as the core.

You can purchase bamboo flooring as a raw or finished product from the factory. The prefinished bamboo flooring is ready to install. This prefinished flooring can have up to 10 layers of crystal-clear finish that has a scratch-resistant topcoat. Raw bamboo flooring can be sanded in the field, stained and finished like traditional hardwood flooring. It doesn't require any special care.

Bamboo is installed in the same fashion as traditional wood floors and modern laminate flooring. It can be nailed or glued to a subfloor or it can be installed as a floating floor system where each piece interlocks with another and the individual pieces create a giant slab of flooring that floats on top of the subfloor.

The subfloor beneath bamboo needs to be structurally sound, clean and free of all debris and it needs to be in the same plane. It would be ideal if the subfloor were level, but if not, there can't be more than a 3/16ths inch difference in elevation in a ten-foot radius.

Wood subfloor systems as well as concrete need to be very dry. Wood should have a moisture content no higher than 12 percent. Concrete needs to cure thoroughly and a vapor retarder needs to be in place under the concrete slab to stop moisture movement from the soil into the bamboo. Crawl spaces below wood floor systems must also have a high-quality vapor retarder in place over the soil.

Squeaks between the bamboo flooring and the subfloor can be minimized or eliminated if 15-pound asphalt felt paper is installed over the subfloor before the bamboo is installed. Use regular asphalt shingles to fill low spots in the subfloors in case they do not meet minimum flatness specifications. The asphalt shingles will not degrade over time as some floor leveling compounds tend to do.

These four samples show both color and grain patterns. The light piece on the right is vertical grain that wears like iron. PHOTO BY: Tim Carter

It is possible to make mistakes when installing bamboo flooring. Perhaps the biggest mistake is to ignore the mandatory acclimatization requirement. Since bamboo is a hygroscopic material that expands and contracts with changes in moisture content, it needs to become equalized with the moisture content of the room where it will be installed. This means the flooring must be brought into the space where it will be installed and allowed to sit for a minimum of three days. Often you must open the boxes and spread out the material so the bamboo flooring can get comfortable.

Be sure to check the moisture content of wood subfloors and slabs before you start the installation. Follow the manufacturers recommendations to the letter. Delay installation until you meet the minimum moisture requirements.

Old Hardwood Floor Finishes

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Old hardwood floor finishes were often varnish and possibly shellac. But in the mid-1960's, new urethane products were introduced. Lead was sometimes added to old varnishes, so sanding old hardwood floors can be dangerous.

DEAR TIM: What type of finish was used on hardwood floors circa 1964? Does it need to removed or screened to apply a new finish such as oil or water-based urethane? Jim Heavey

DEAR JIM: Although highly unlikely, it is possible your finish is urethane. Urethanes were developed in the early 1960's. The widespread adoption of urethanes for floor finishes didn't start to happen until the late 1960's and the early 1970's.

In all likelihood, the finish on your floor is traditional varnish. It is hard to discern the difference between the two with the naked eye, but you can test in a small out-of-the-way location. A large drop or spot of water will often turn varnish cloudy within 30 minutes or less. Urethane, on the other hand, is usually unaffected by water.

The bigger problem might be the presence of lead in the varnish. Yes, lead was sometimes added to clear finishes years ago. I would absolutely perform a lead test on the finish before I would create clouds of sanding or screening dust.

Furthermore, it is also possible a past owner of the home applied wax to the finish. If wax is present, you must remove it before you do any application of a new urethane. The screening process will not remove all of the wax, if it is present. Screening is the same as a light sanding and is meant to lightly scuff an existing surface to ensure a good bond between an older glossy surface and the fresh coat of floor finish.

Hardwood Floor Installation

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Hardwood flooring is a fantastic natural material that can add warmth and beauty to your home. Hardwood floors can last for generations with proper care. A hardwood floor looks great in any room, even kitchens, family rooms and hallways. Hardwood floor installation is not as easy as it might seem. To get professional results, you need the right tools and experience.

DEAR TIM: I am thinking about installing hardwood flooring. The hardwood flooring I want to use is the traditional tongue and groove 3/4-inch thick hardwood lumber. I own many different power saws and other carpentry tools. Do you think I can achieve nearly professional results as I try to install the hardwood flooring? What tips can you share to help me get professional results at do-it-yourself prices? Bob K., St. John's, Newfoundland CA

DEAR BOB: Since I don't know the level of your carpentry skills, I am going to say maybe. The traditional hardwood floor installation process is not that difficult, but the many different tricks and tips are what separate professional installers from those who aspire to have their years of accumulated knowledge.

A straight piece of hardwood flooring can be used as a straightedge to find low spots in the subflooring. PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Carter

Your collection of saws and other carpentry tools will come in handy, but realize that professional hardwood flooring installers come to the job with an arsenal of assorted hand and power tools. They have special nailing machines, some pneumatically powered, that drive special barbed nails at the precise angle and depth through the tongue of each strip of hardwood flooring. You can hand nail hardwood flooring, but I am sure you will make a mistake or two, and your results will be less than professional. The special nail guns can be rented.

You may also need a router equipped with a special bit. It is not uncommon for a professional to rip a piece of hardwood flooring to make it fit against an existing piece. To make the hardwood flooring pieces interlock, a new groove has to be created on the cut edge of hardwood.

The first thing you need to do before you start the job is get the hardwood flooring into your home and let it acclimate to the indoor humidity and temperature. Although this acclimation period can be achieved in three or four days, I recommend you bring the hardwood flooring into your home for a minimum of two weeks for the best results. Put the wood into the actual room where it will be installed if at all possible. Be sure that room is at the temperature it will be at once the room is finished. The longer you let the wood acclimate, the tighter the joints will be as it is installed, and, more importantly, after the hardwood is finished. Hardwood flooring is a hygroscopic material, and it can change shape and size with changes in temperature and humidity.

The subfloor to which the hardwood flooring is attached should be clean, dust-free and securely attached to the floor joists. Now is the time to attack any pesky floor squeaks. Most floor squeaks can be traced to loose subflooring that moves up and down as it is walked upon. The movement of the wood along the nail shafts creates the squeak. Screw down the existing subfloor to the floor joists, especially in areas of the floor where you will walk. Those areas covered with furniture may not be as important, but I would suggest you screw down the entire subfloor to the joists.

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Click here to watch the video on eliminating that floor squeak.

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Use a long metal straightedge to locate humps and low spots in the floor. The low spots should be filled in with floor leveling compound or better yet, asphalt shingles. If the low spots are very subtle, multiple layers of asphalt-saturated felt paper will work well. The entire subfloor should have a minimum of one layer of asphalt-saturated felt paper over it to protect the underside of the new hardwood flooring from water vapor that may try to work its way through the subfloor. The felt paper also helps keep the new hardwood floor quiet.

This air-powered nailer drives special nails through the tongue of the hardwood flooring. PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Carter

Whenever possible, the new hardwood flooring strips should be installed perpendicular to the run of the floor joists. For a creative look, you can run the new hardwood flooring diagonally across the floor joists. Running the flooring diagonally is more work, and will require slightly more material.

Be sure to install the strips of hardwood flooring in a random manner. Don't try to get fancy with respect to how the different pieces look. The bundles of hardwood flooring come mixed with all sorts of long, short and medium lengths. The more random the pieces are installed, the better the finished hardwood floor will look.

A rubber mallet is used by professionals to pound the new strips of flooring into place against the flooring already nailed to the floor. Each strip of new flooring needs to be tight along the long edge and the short edge where it butts against the piece next to it. You will notice that the tongue and groove feature of each piece of hardwood flooring not only is along the long edges, but also on the short stubby ends of each strip.

One of the most secret tips is reversing the direction of the tongues and grooves. Professional installers don't always start laying a floor on one wall and work to the far wall. They may start in the middle of the room for any number of reasons. When this happens, a special strip of wood that is the thickness of the tongue but twice as wide, is installed into the groove of the flooring.

This strip of wood allows the installer to start laying hardwood flooring going the opposite direction so the tongues of the strips are always exposed. The tongues of each strip of hardwood flooring must be exposed so you can nail the hardwood flooring to the subfloor.

Floor Tiles

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Floor tile is a popular flooring material. Ceramic floor tile is durable and easy to maintain. Since flooring tiles are waterproof, they are suited for bathroom floor tile installation.

Floor tile is a popular material to use to walk on for a number of reasons. Many people don’t realize that flooring tile is really artificial stone. Rock is naturally hard, so it makes sense that it would make a durable and long-lasting floor. Look at the marble and granite floors in thousands of government buildings around the USA.

Floor tiles are typically made from clay that’s heated in a kiln. The heating process alters the mineralogy of the clay transforming it into a harder material, that has crystal structure similar to some rocks. This is especially true of the clear glazing that’s applied to floor tile. The glazing is an ultra-thin layer of quartz. Quartz is an incredibly durable mineral that is a primary component of granite.

Tile floors can be found in many homes. The tile itself is waterproof, so it’s an ideal material that’s used in showers, bathrooms and kitchens. Visit a commercial kitchen, and you’ll typically see red quarry tile with black grout lines. That black isn’t dirt, the grout is tinted black so it doesn’t show dirt.

I’ve installed countless boxes of ceramic floor tile in my lifetime. As crazy as this sounds, I enjoy doing it. As I’ve gotten older, it’s much harder on my back and knees, but the pleasure derived from seeing the tile go in evenly, squarely and uniformly is often worth the muscle aches the next day. I really like the flooring tiles that have a texture to them that resembles the cleavage you see on pieces of natural slate. When sunlight streams across tile like this, you see all the texture. It adds character to the tile.

Ceramic flooring tile is also very easy to care for. The glazed surface of the tile resembles glass, so most things don’t stick well to the highly polished surface. A quick mopping usually works well when cleaning a tile floor. But the grout between the tile is another story. It can be very difficult to clean. The best product I’ve used to clean ceramic tile grout is Oxygen Bleach. The oxygen ions in the solution blast apart stain molecules that attach themselves to the porous grout.

Vinyl floor tiles are another popular flooring material. Thousands of commercial stores around the USA are covered with this material. Vinyl floor tile is really just a form of plastic, and we all know how durable certain plastics can be. In the past few years, vinyl-tile flooring has made huge strides in becoming an attractive floor that appeals to consumers. For years, the simplistic patterns that you’d see at the grocery store or in the merchandise stores were pretty boring. But now you can get vinyl tiles that really look like wood, marble and other materials. The best part is it’s easy to install and care for.

Bathroom floor tile is where most homeowners see tile. It’s the flooring material of choice in most houses as it’s so waterproof. Because tile comes in so many patterns, colors, shapes, sizes, etc., it’s easy to create a gorgeous floor that most homeowners get great pleasure looking at each day. All too often people forget that’s one of the reasons they should pick things in their homes - select products because they make you feel good!

Porcelain tile flooring has become very popular in the past few years. It has two qualities that make it appealing. First, the color of the tile is almost always consistent through the body of the material. This means that if the tile gets chipped or deeply scratched, it’s hard to see the defect. With traditional tile, this was not the case as the red, orange or white core of the tile would show if there was a chip. Second, the porcelain tile has a high amount of silica in it, so when it’s fired in the kiln, it gets extremely hard. This means it wears like granite or iron. It’s nearly impossible to wear it out.

Ceramic-tile floors can add a great warmth to a room if you select the right tile. Add a distinctive area rug on top of a tile floor for a layered look. The rug will also help absorb sound as flooring tile will bounce sound waves around a room faster than a ricocheting bullet!

Hardwood Floor

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: A hardwood floor is great looking and very durable. Hardwood floor installation is possible for the home do-it-yourselfer if your room is not too complicated. Hardwood floor refinishing methods have reduced the dust sanding process. With proper hardwood floor care, your hardwood flooring will look great for years.

DEAR TIM: I know I want a hardwood floor, but I need answers. Is hardwood flooring as durable as the salespeople say? Do you think it’s possible to do the hardwood floor installation myself? I have a friend who’s a finish carpenter who said he’d help. How often do you have to do the dusty hardwood floor refinishing? Should I go with oak hardwood flooring, or are there other choices? Michelle D., Londonderry, NH

DEAR MICHELLE: A hardwood floor is nearly as durable as the granite that’s responsible for your state’s nickname. I can take you to commercial buildings in New Hampshire where hardwood floors have been in continuous use for well over 150 years. I would say that absolutely passes the durability test, unless you’ve somehow figured out how to stop your body from aging. With proper care, hardwood flooring can last in a home for generations looking as good as the day it was installed.

This red birch hardwood floor has a gorgeous golden-red coloration that gets compliments from all who see it. PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Carter

Hardwood floors can be found in every home I’ve ever owned. In my opinion, they add an ambiance that no other flooring material can really match. I believe the connection is hard wired into our DNA as wood was an early building material for man and used heavily for heating and cooking. Wood is engrained in our culture and civilizations. Cleaning hardwood floors is easy, and they are a sustainable resource that grows like any crop.

You and your carpenter friend may be able to survive the hardwood floor installation if the room is small and a simple square or rectangle. While you might think that it’s not hard to install a hardwood floor, it can be very challenging. There are many tricks and skills you have to acquire to have a hardwood floor that doesn’t squeak, stays in alignment and doesn’t buckle or develop shrinkage cracks.

The biggest mistake you can make is not allowing the flooring material to acclimate to the temperature and humidity of the room before it’s installed. Hardwood flooring is a hygroscopic material meaning that it will change it’s shape and size with changes in temperature and especially humidity. Make sure the house and room where the flooring material will be installed is at the temperature and humidity it will be at when you live there. Purchase the hardwood flooring and bring it into the room. Unbundle it and allow it to acclimate for seven to ten days before you install it to be safe.

Hardwood floor refinishing is the bane of many a homeowner. Years ago, it was common for clouds of very fine dust to billow throughout the house as a pro would refinish the hardwood floors. Modern refinishing equipment has eliminated virtually all of the dust. But the great news is that if you do regular hardwood floor care, it should never have to be sanded again.

Most hardwood floors are coated with multiple layers of clear urethane. Some of these urethanes are extremely durable. Many people forget that you don’t walk on the wood floors. You walk on the thin layers of urethane. If you make sure the urethane doesn’t wear off in the high-traffic areas of the hardwood floor, there’s no need to ever sand the wood. If you simply add a new coat of urethane every three to five years, you should never have to bring in the heavy sanding equipment. You only need to lightly screen or sand the urethane prior to applying the new coat.

Oak hardwood flooring is perhaps the most common material used as flooring because it’s plentiful, affordable and extremely durable. The two species that I used in my homes and jobs are white oak and red oak. I’m very partial to red oak as when finished with a clear urethane, it looks like the most gorgeous strawberry blonde lass you’ve ever seen. White oak hardwood flooring finishes with a more stark light coloration.

There are many other hardwoods that are turned into flooring. Maple hardwood flooring is a popular choice because of its durability and its fine-grained appearance. Oak has a heavier grain. You can also get, with minimal effort, a cherry hardwood floor or even a drop-dead gorgeous red birch hardwood floor like I have in my New Hampshire house. Walnut, ash and poplar are other hardwoods you may want to consider.

You can clearly see the species and grading stamp on the underside of this piece of hardwood floor.

When you narrow your hardwood floor selection, be sure to look at samples of the wood. Sometimes the showrooms will put on display the finest material that has no knots in the sample. This grade is called Select. Be aware that when you see a larger sampling of the hardwood, there may be some tiny knots in Select grade.

But the salesman may talk you down to a different grade called Number 1 Common. Before you approve of this grade, look at many pieces to ensure you’re okay with the size and number of knots that will be visible in the flooring.

Some people like knots as they produce a floor with a certain degree of character. I prefer to have as few as possible. The species and grade of the hardwood flooring are almost always stamped on the underside of many of the pieces of lumber. When the material is delivered to your home, unbundle it and look to see if it’s the species and grade you

Hardwood Repair

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Repairing hardwood floors can be very frustrating. Each hardwood floor piece has a shape that interlocks with the others in the hardwood flooring. Restoring hardwood floors ranks as one of the hardest repair jobs. Once the hardwood pieces have been repaired, there is still the hardwood floor refinishing.

DEAR TIM: I'm faced with a hardwood floor repair. Water seeped under my front door and caused the floor to warp. What's involved in a hardwood-floor-repair job like this? I'm usually not too timid when it comes to home repair issues, but I'm feeling out of my comfort zone. I realize the hardwood floor is made up of interlocking pieces, and for the life of me I can't figure out how to remove single pieces much less install new ones. Dan B., San Jose, CA

DEAR DAN: I'll tell you what's involved in a hardwood repair like this, lot's of frustration and pain. This is a task that's often best left to a hardwood-flooring professional. You can probably work your way through the job, but a professional will probably be able to complete the task and be on the road to the next job while you are still futzing around with the wood chisel.

Hardwood-floor repair is difficult because of the shape of each piece of hardwood flooring. Full-size pieces of hardwood flooring are typically three-quarter-inch thick and they have either a tongue or groove profile on each of the four side edges. The tongue interlocks into the corresponding groove on an adjacent piece of hardwood flooring. This means you can't just pry up a piece of flooring as you might pull up a board on your outdoor deck.

This hardwood repair is going to take some effort. The interlocking pieces of flooring need to be carefully removed. PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Carter

Different hardwood-flooring professionals may have different techniques for removing a single flooring board, but just about every one of the pros will start by carefully removing the center one-third or so of the damaged floor board. By doing this, you can pull the remaining two pieces sideways away from the adjacent flooring towards the center of the space. If you try to pry up the pieces of flooring, you can crack off the tongue and or groove of the good pieces of flooring you're trying to salvage.

You will become extremely frustrated early in the hardwood-repair process. You'll probably use a circular saw to start the process of removing the center of the damaged piece of hardwood flooring. Carefully set the depth of the blade so it cuts the hardwood flooring only and not into the subfloor beneath the hardwood.

Because the saw blade is circular, it will not be able to cut full depth to the outer edges of the hardwood strip flooring. You'll have to finish that task carefully with a router or a wood chisel. This operation will require extreme patience, skill and precision as you can't touch the adjacent pieces of finished hardwood flooring with the tools. If you do, then you'll be replacing multiple pieces of hardwood flooring.

Once you've got the old piece of ruined flooring out, it's time to conjure up every ounce of master-finish-carpentry skill you have. You have to produce a piece of new hardwood flooring that is the exact size of the one you removed. Your tolerance for error is perhaps the thickness of a piece of paper.

But note that you have to get the new piece of flooring into a rectangle that has two tongues and two grooves. The only way you can do this is to cut off the tongue on the short edge and cut off the bottoms of the two grooves on your replacement piece of hardwood flooring.

Even with these advantages, it can be a tremendous challenge to insert the new piece of hardwood flooring without damaging the tender edges of the new piece as well as the adjacent pieces you are working against. This stage of the project will require every bit of patience and skill you possess.

Once you have the new piece of hardwood flooring nested into position, it needs to be face nailed. Because you've worked so hard to get to this point, don't ruin the wood by splitting it. I recommend drilling pilot holes that are slightly smaller than the diameter of the special blunt point finish nails you need to use.

Don't use regular finish nails. There are special finish nails that have a tip that is fairly blunt. You can get these from a real hardware store or from a professional that regularly installs hardwood flooring. While you are picking them up from the pro, be sure to ask him if he has an opening in his schedule to bail you out. My money says you will be calling him to finish what you start.

Hardwood floor repair ranks as one of the hardest repair jobs I know of in the typical house. It's so technically challenging, you simply can't believe it until you try it. The margin for error is razor thin.

Even if you succeed at getting the new piece of hardwood flooring in, you now have to get the stain and finish to match the adjacent pieces. This is sometimes even harder to do than getting the wood strip into place! It's a true gift the talents a pro finisher has in matching the stain color and level of sheen on the floor finish. If you succeed at doing this yourself, you either have great skills or you should immediately go purchase a lottery ticket.

Granite Tile

By Tim Carter
©1993-2012 Tim Carter

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Summary: Granite tile makes a stunning floor, wall covering or granite tile countertop. Installing granite tile on vertical surfaces takes some consideration - it is heavy. When using granite as a tile flooring, be sure to have proper subflooring to support the weight.

DEAR TIM: Granite tile looks like it would be excellent flooring or a wall treatment. Is granite flooring a good choice or will it scratch easily? I am thinking of installing granite tile in several places, but wonder if I can do it successfully. Can you make different designs with granite tile, and if so, how? How hard is it to install granite tile on floors or walls? Karen S., Mount Laurel, NJ

DEAR KAREN: I'll go on the record right now. You are going to love the granite tile you will be installing. Granted (no pun intended), I am not as objective as I should be since I am a college-trained geologist and granite happens to be my favorite rock. You should be forewarned now. When you visit a real stone supplier that has a full assortment of granite tiles, you will be mesmerized by the colors, patterns, different-sized mineral grains and beauty of the granite.

The stone suppliers I visit stock granite flooring in 12-inch by 12-inch tiles. The tiles are about 3/8 inch in thickness and precision cut so the sizing among different tiles is very uniform. This is an important thing to consider as the finished grout lines will readily call out granite tiles that are too large or too small.

One thing you will notice quickly is that granite tile is very heavy. After all, it is solid rock. You need to take this into consideration if you are installing the granite on walls or some other vertical surface. Gravity will be constantly tugging at the granite tile and if it is not attached securely, it will fall off the wall. In fact, the substrate like cement board or waterproof gypsum board must be expertly attached to the wall studs or the granite can pull it from the wall as well. You can't use too many screws to attach these products to the wall studs.

This stunning geometric design was made by cutting up a few pieces of standard granite tile. PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Carter

Granite is a very hard rock. A geologist will tell you that it is an igneous or metamorphic rock that is highly saturated with silica. Silica when combined with oxygen makes the mineral quartz, and it has a hardness of 7 on the Mohs scale. Suffice it to say there are not too many things that will easily scratch granite tile.

I can't think of one place where I wouldn't install granite tile. It can withstand just about all the abuse you can throw at it. It is ideal for exterior applications as many of the early roads in the USA were made from granite cobblestones. I have granite stones in my own driveway and they are unaffected by heavy trucks or freezing weather.

You can successfully install granite. When granite tile is installed on floors, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that the subflooring beneath the granite must be solid with no flex in it. Granite tiles are strong, but as with any stone product, it can crack if it is put under tension. A hollow spot beneath a granite tile or a flexing subfloor can cause the granite flooring to bend and crack. Be sure the floor beneath the granite tile has all low spots filled and any high spots ground down. You want the subfloor to be in the same plane.

I prefer to install granite tile using cement-based thinset mortar. This product is very sticky and will bond very well to the granite and the wall or floor surface. Consider using a crack-isolation fabric between the granite tiles and any flooring to prevent cracks in the finished granite. The lines between each granite tile can be grouted with unsanded wall grout if the joints are 1/8 inch or less in width. Joints wider than that should be grouted with sanded grout.

Use a diamond wet saw to cut the granite tile. In fact, that is just about the only tool you can use unless you want to spend days sawing the granite tile by hand. If you get a powerful diamond wet saw, you can cut the granite tile into any shape you desire. I made an interesting geometric design for my daughter's shower wall using standard granite tile. It takes a while to layout and make the precision cuts, but it is absolutely worth it. These designs look stunning when you use different colored granites to complete the design.

Granite tile does not come with self-spacing lugs on the edges of the tile. This means you have to space the tile by using your eye or incorporating plastic spacers as part of the installation. The spacers are easily removed once the thinset mortar has cured.

Thinset mortar comes in two common colors: gray and white. I urge you to use white thinset for lighter-colored granites. Be sure to ask the stone supplier for the exact product to use to secure the granite tile to the floors or wall. Avoid the organic mastic products that look like cake icing. Often these do not have the strength needed to hold granite in place permanently.

When installing granite tile on walls, it must be supported well until the thinset cures. The granite is so heavy, it will slide down the wall. This is especially true as you start to stack pieces on top of one another and the combined weight is hundreds of pounds. If the granite moves as the thinset is curing, it weakens the bond between the wall and the granite significantly.