Wood You Like F.A.Q. & News

Two questions: one problem, one answer - sort of

Recently we received two very similar questions through our Get Free Advice web form:
Question one (from the chair of a village hall)
I am looking for some advice. We have a village hall floor with parquet floor 17.1m x 8.6m which is in need of some attention. There is a residual lacquer finish on approx 60% of the floor with the high traffic areas with little or no protection.

We have a weekly clean which involves a good brush and then a hard floor cleaning product (Carefree Mop & Shine). The hall itself is well used and the hirers are not necessarily always diligent with sweeping the floor. We are likely to have water spillages on occasions that are cleaned up after an hour, sand spills which are cleaned up but residue could be an issue, finally a dance class who do or don’t dust the floor (depending on who you talk to) with French chalk. Your comments on the above would be useful please.

What would your recommendation be for the finish: lacquer or hard wax oil? Lacquer is what we have had before but hard wax oil might be better because of the ability to keep on top of the wearing areas.

Finally is there any advice you can provide on maintenance regime, cleaners, treatments and equipment. At present we have hand brooms and mops used by both hires and our cleaner. We also have tiled and linoleum floors in changing rooms, kitchen, corridors and reception areas. One thought was we should use some form of vacuuming to improve the cleanliness of the hall and better preserve the floor finishes.

Many Thanks
Mr J N (chair)

Question two (from The Guardian Saturday Magazine):
I write for the Space Solves section of The Guardian Saturday magazine, answering readers questions on their cleaning and stain removal problems. We have had a query in regarding a parquet floor. Could you advise?

"Our parquet flooring was installed about 28 years ago and has a light to mid yellowish tinge. Where it has been heavily trodden on, it is black while other parts are stained and faded. I usually clean it with a damp soapy (liquid Flash - not too much! or Ecover washing up liquid!) string  mop, no more than that.  Then go over with a clean damp mop. Do you have any suggestion for how I could lift the stains?"

Mrs S Z (The Guardian)

To both questions we replied (roughly) with the same answer:

Thank you for your question, we will try to advice you to the best of our knowledge.

A wooden floor with damaged lacquer finish has indeed lost its capacity to protect the wood from water spills and might display dark (blackened) areas where the lacquer layer has vanished almost completely. To keep mopping the floor with water will only make this worse and you might end up with very deep dark patched where the water has had chance to penetrate the wood constantly.

We strongly recommend the floor to be restored as soon as possible to reduce the chance of it being beyond simple repair. We suggest you search for a reputable company in your area that can sand the floor to remove the old lacquer layer completely and to apply a hard wearing, possibly HardWaxOil for easy maintenance and easy small repairs, new finish layer.

Instead of weekly mopping with clean and shine we recommend the use of WoCa cleaning soap (Woodcare Denmark, TripTrap) which contains both a non-abrasive detergent and a polish so the floor will be cleaned and protected against dirt and drips in one go. For such a large area we recommend the use of a professional buffing machine that can tackle both the weekly cleaning as well as the quarterly additional maintenance to feed both the wood as the wax wear layer.

Such a machine can also easily be used on the other floor covering types you mentioned.
As for daily care we would rather advice the use of a soft broom instead of a vacuum cleaner. Two reasons for this: sweeping a floor shows 'optical' proof the activity is a useful one  and secondly to prevent damages to the floor from damaged vacuum cleaner wheels or choosing the wrong 'brush-setting' (causing scratches when the brush has been retracted)

My only concern is the sand spillages, if that happens straight after a cleaning or maintenance round the sand might get stuck into the applied product and show up as dirty patch, resulting possibly in a kind of abrasive effect.

For The Guardian we also added:

Our TripTrap (WoCa) cleaning soap contains both a gentle detergent AND a polish which cleans and feeds the wooden floor in one go. Always use a slightly damp cloth - don't use buckets of water!
Every 5 to 6 months a wooden floor should receive a maintenance service: applying a suitable for the finish (lacquer or oil) used maintenance product to keep wood and finish layer healthy.
For more information on regular maintenance and stain-removals you could redirect your readers to our information pages.

Hope this helps.

We received two emails in reply:

"That's fantastic advice, many thanks."
"Many thanks for you advice – excellent information."

At your service, as always.

The ongoing battle of the floor installation methods: which is best?

Like "which is the best finish type for a wooden floor", this is a question that 'pops-up' frequently in our inbox:
Why does one professional (camp of professionals even) says:

"NEVER try to float a t/g glued solid plank floor. Whether you use slip membranes etc and gaps at edges there is a good chance it will eventually split in a zig-zag fashion following the line of least resistance of a board or a joint. Stresses within the floor do this and makes no difference that the whole thing can move. Apparently called "rafting"

and the other professional (again a whole camp of professionals) says: no problem.

Mr Ray Turner ends his questions with:

"I have 4 months to wait for concrete to dry so hopefully will they have this sorted out by then?"

Afraid not Ray - this is one of those 'battle of the methods' - which one is best? One camp will always follow one method - through own personal experiences with the method that gives them and their clients the least problems and/or the way they have been taught by their mentors during their apprenticeship - and the other camp will keep following their preferred other method of installing solid floorboards.

The best method? As long as the chosen method is done the correct way any method is fine, depending of course on the circumstances, the product and the preference of both fitter and client.

The example above on floorboards splitting when using the floating method is mostly down to incorrect glueing of the T&G's. Wood works and will indeed find the 'weakest' link in the whole construction. T&G's should be glued completely, not just with drips and drops. (See our own article on "The correct way of glueing T&G's").

We have seen fully bonded to the underfloor (concrete or sheet material) wooden floors come away because the adhesive was applied incorrectly - spread out flat instead of using a notched trowel - and we have seen whole floors 'rattle' on their battens when not thick enough battens (installed on concrete) were used with the secretly nail (50mm nails) method.

Will there ever be the one method that is followed by all camps - don't hold your breath I'm afraid. Manufacturers of solid floorboards have their own preferences too, but more and more they give various options in their instructions (fully bonded, floating, secret nailed) as suitable methods of installation, depending on the specific circumstances in your home.

Again, as long as your situation allows it any method is fine ONLY when done the correct way.

All modern installation methods are explained - including tricks of the trade - in the "Wooden Floor Installation Manual"

Q: Should I sand down a cupped floor?

Wood works, always. It adjusts itself to the moist-content in your home: expands when there is an increase and shrinks when there is an decrease. That's the reason why we recommend to leave a sufficiently wide expansion gap around the whole perimeter of your wooden floor - it gives your floor 'room' to move - and it will, no matter which installation method you use.

Cupping of a floor happens when the floor absorbs so much moist it fills its expansion gap completely - or is 'stuck' in one spot due to very heavy furniture, faulty installation method - and has to go somewhere - up.
Excessive circumstances can happen to everyone: a leak, a flood etc, but those are temporary circumstances. 9 times out of 10 it's a case of 'removing' the cause and the cupped floor will settle again to its normal state.

However, we frequently get the question: "Should I sand down a cupped floor?"

The picture underneath explains what will happen then (click on the picture to see its full size).

It will 'look' fine temporarily, but as soon as the normal house climate is restored the floor will 'crown' - forever!

Best solution to resolve cupped floors: find the cause first e.g. leak, heavy downpour causing more moist than normal in the void beneath the wood floor, new appliance in the room or connecting area that causes more moist than normal - think of a tumble dryer, dish-washer etc - sudden and hefty increase in air humidity outside due to the seasons.
Some of the causes you can resolve, some you can't - or not easy or quickly. But if you don't know what causes the cupping then you can keep having the same problem over and over again.

To reduce the strain in your wood floor that is causing the cupping-effect: remove beading or skirting along one side of the room that runs parallel with the direction the floorboards are installed - wood hardly expands lengthways - and saw or chisel off a small strip of the last row. You'll be amazed how little you need to cut off this way for the floor to 'settle into place again - so start 'tiny', you can always redo the procedure.
A circular plunge-saw comes in very handy in these cases - quick and simple.

Enter the "DIY-Triumphs" Contest

Did you install a wooden floor yourself and are you Darn Proud of it?

Then enter Wood You Like's DIY-Triumphs Contest
(update 01.07.2010, contest now closed, see note below)

Honest and high quality products together with honest and high quality information is always a winning combination. Our own growing band of proud DIY-clients - as far as Scotland - show that time after time.
Installing a natural wooden floor is a labour of love - you'll have to take the right preparations, make sure you have all the right materials and tools at hand and you'll have to take your time: this is not something you can rush. Not if you want a result to be proud of and one that will increase the comfort and the value of your home.

Our own webpages are filled with honest high quality products and high quality honest advice for everyone. We are always more than happy to answer any remaining questions and have installed a very simple online question form for this very reason.

Every time we finish the installation of a wood floor for one of our clients we leave the job with proud feelings and experience tells us that most of our clients who install their own floor feel the same. Job well done!

We are now giving every DIY-er the chance to show-off their DIY-Triumphs in our dedicated photo gallery. Wood You Like is inviting you to enter our "DIY-Triumph"
contest.

UPDATE 01.07.2010: contest is now closed for new entries. But...... the gallery is still there as a show-case of DIY-ers who used the Wooden Floor Installation Manual to assist in the installation of their floor. The gallery (and this category "Hall of Fame") shows the pictures of the end-result and where possible a story behind the installation.
(The pictures and stories from the DIY-contest are also still "live")

Did you install your own wooden floor with help of the Wooden Floor Installation Manual? Then feel free to email us your pictures and story.