Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Kapriz Hardwood Floors | Hardwood Floor Refinishing | Wood Floor Installation: Information about Wood floor restoration San Franc...

Kapriz Hardwood Floors | Hardwood Floor Refinishing | Wood Floor Installation: Information about Wood floor restoration San Franc...: "Flooring where we run, stand & play plays a vital role in decorating the house. Beautiful flooring adds to the aesthetic look of home. V..."

Information about Wood floor restoration San Francisco

Flooring where we run, stand & play plays a vital role in decorating the house. Beautiful flooring adds to the aesthetic look of home. Variety of flooring options is available in market. Some options are Hardwood flooring, Softwood flooring, Engineered, Laminate flooring and Custom flooring. Some of the flooring need high initial investment but low running cost & some need low initial investment with high maintenance. This article deals with wood floor restoration San Francisco . Though restoration comes after 5 years to 15 years, depending upon the use, endurance, make & type of wooden floor, you should choose the best one. Restoration of wooden floor can be done by the experts available in the market. But choosing an expert is to be done suitably for beautification, quality & long durability of stain on the floor.

Wood floor restoration San Francisco not adds aesthetic look to the floor but at also adds to the cost of the home. It adds to healthy living with peace in mind. Proper wood floor restoration San Francisco will add to the pocket of the owner by few hundred dollars to one thousand depending upon the size of the floor. Before restoring the floor it is to be confirmed weather the floor is restorable & had not damaged to the extent beyond restoration. The restoration of a damaged floor beyond restoration adds to the pocket substantially without any result.

Restoration of floor is done following few steps. Sanding the floor is the first job that is carried out. Sanding is done using sand papers. Before sanding, make sure that all the protruding nails that are on the floor are hammered below to the ground level. If this is not done than it will create problem during sanding. Another thing is to be kept in mind that all the furniture is removed from the room. Before sanding the floor, paste the small holes on ground with saw dust. During sanding huge quantity is dust generated. This spoils the furniture. It is difficult afterward cleaning. If it is not possible to remove any furniture then pack it properly to avoid penetration of dust into it. Sanding is done first using rough sand paper. Vacuuming the floor removes the dust from floor. Sanding is done again with medium sand papers. Then vacuuming is done again. The final step of sanding is the use of finished sand paper. Final vacuuming is done to prepare the floor for cleaning. Sand papers can be known for rough, medium or soft by its number. Higher the number, smoother is the surface. Edge places are sanded using the edge machine. Edges are not to be cleared with extra effort & time to finish it properly.

Now the floor is ready for staining. Stain of good quality should be used. Apply the stain using a 100 mm brush. Apply the stains in the direction of grain. Applying the stain should be only in one direction only. Appling uniformly with same thickness adds to the look. So, an expert painter of stain will help you in this regard. Leave the floor for drying. Now the restoration process is over.

A guide to Maintenance of Hardwood floor

Installation of wood floorings is a life time investment; decisions regarding them should not be taken lightly. Regular cleaning should include protection from moisture. Avoid dragging the furniture on the flooring. This maintenance needs more work than just sweeping and vacuuming. Once a week or twice a month, clean the flooring with a professional wood floor cleaning product. You can also consult your floor manufacturer to suggest the appropriate product. The wood floorings are not immune to grit and food and water spills. For the preventive maintenance hardwood floor, area rugs, floor protectors, and routine cleaning should be done with the Hardwood floor cleaning product.

For protection of the hardwood flooring, place the protector pads on all furniture legs to avoid scratches. Place the walk off mats and rugs in most used areas, to ensure they stay moisture free. You should clean the hardwood floor regularly i.e. sweeping, cleaning and vacuuming. You should strictly make it a daily habit; this increases the life of your flooring. You should clean the floorings after major events. Proper cleaning pads and cleaning solutions should be used together for maintenance hardwood floor. Damp the pad slightly before cleaning. After you are done clean the pad again. The nails of your pets should be properly trimmed to avoid scratches and the hardwood flooring wearing out. Sometimes water spills leave white stains; these can be removed by thin fine steel with small amount of mineral spirit. Do rebuffing until needed. Cleaners and manufacturing conditioners can be used on waxed floors under manufacturer’s directions and procedures. After the Do’s, comes the Don’ts. Never use wets mops, ammonia and dust cleaners as they destroy the floorings. Do not let the dirt stay on the floor, clean it immediately. Never wax a urethane finish ever on the hardwood flooring.

Apart from vacuuming, cleaning and mopping there are specific types of finishes e.g. Acrylic impregnated, surface finishes and wax finishes. Always use the non-urethane acrylic impregnated finish with proper cleaning product and the pad recommended by the manufacturer. Apply proper mop treatments and do not use water or petrol for cleaning. Always follow manufacturer’s advices to keep your flooring new as ever. Surface finishes include conversion varnishes, moisture cured urethane and similar products. There are proper guides for maintenance of hardwood floor, always follow them. The warranties are cancelled if oil soap and wax cleaning products are used. Wax cleaning products prove very dangerous to hardwood floors. The stubborn stains should be cleaned immediately. In case your flooring has lost the shine or screening, the refinishing becomes necessary and it should be conducted by the professionals.

Wood floors that are waxed over and over through the years are serious concerns when refinishing. There is a limit to finishing which ends after refinishing is done a lot of time and the luster is lost permanently. These floorings are prone to wear and tear and hence, Maintenance hardwood floor should be done regularly and keenly to avoid excessive wear and tear.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Important Wood Floor installation Tips

Wood floor installation was previously done with nails. This method is replaced by pneumatic fasteners. There is another choice of stapling available as well. Some professionals consider stapling better than nailing, while some give preference to nails which permit expansion and contractions which wood floors need during different seasons. This is given more preference in Gulf areas due to high moisture content in the surrounding.

When wood floor installation is conducted, installers have their own preferences. In sixties, all floors were nailed manually. When the workers used to get done with nailing the floors, their thumbs were all bloody. This was a painstaking task, and the workers used to charge a lot. With time, newer tools were introduced making this task easier and quicker. All the wood floor installation required nailing tools. The manual ones are important to use. There is a set of specific tools which are required. Besides these tools, an efficient professional is needed to nail the floor. Sometimes the newbie to the profession might not be able to nail the floor properly especially on the tongue portion; this may not fix the floorings properly to the base. Pneumatic staplers and nailers were introduced in 90s for assistance in wood floor installation. Pneumatic works from air pressure with a compressor connected to it. Wood floor installation is no more a tiresome task with introduction of these tools which make it easier and faster. All these fasteners require is a small tap to get a nail or the staple to get engaged in the hardwood. It is good to know that every hardwood require different pressure for setting. You can always give a test run before getting into mistakes which may lead to problems later in life.

With time, new and advanced nails are introduced which intact the floor efficiently to the subflooring. There is resin kept on the bottom which helps in holding the staples to the flooring. Once intact, friction is caused through hardwood and subfloor due to which the temperature of resin rises and this now works as an adhesive. A mallet is a tool which looks similar to a hammer. It has two parts except the handle. A white, rubber portion is used to engage the plunger and join the two boards before hitting the plunger. Opposite the white rubber portion there is a hard and heavy metal portion.

The time consumed in wood floor installation depends on the size of the board; a 400 square inch floor will take 10 to 12 hours for a professional. When knowing the time, you can analyze the expertness of the employee by the time he’ll require. If it is more this time for a 400 square inch then you better move to the other one. This is a messy job to some extent; you may encounter some dust before the wood floor installation begins. You can vacuum your carpet before removing it to avoid dust. Once the task begins you can collect the cutting in the outdoors. Keep a dust bag to collect dust from electric miter saw to make the installation as convenient as possible.