Granite, Marble and Stone Floors

To learn about granite, marble and stone floors go to Floor Coverings

Wood Floor Fasteners

Hardwood floors look great not only because of the type and finish but how the wood is installed. The standard tongue-and-groove 3/4″ strip flooring can be fastened down in several ways but the most common practice is what is called “blind nailing.” This is when the fastener, usually a barbed staple, is driven diagonally through the tongue and into the subfloor so that it will not been seen when the floor is finished. This practice works best with a compressed air-driven floor nailer.

How this process works is the nose of the floor nailer is pressed up against the tongue of the hardwood plank. The nailer is set up so that the staple will be driven in at the same angle for all the pieces. Unlike normal nail guns the floor nailer needs help from the installer. With a special, weighted mallet the installer hits a pad on the nailer which activates the nailing mechanism. This heavy blow compresses the plank into the one behind it for a tight fit while the staple holds it in place.

The fasteners are usually 2″ barbed nails spaced about 12″ along each plank. However, if there is radiant heating or any water pipes under the floor the staple has to be shorter. In this case more staples are used in each strip to make up for the lack of depth.

There are differing arguments about whether oriented strand board should be used as a subfloor because many feel that a solid surface is better for long-term holding. Many installers will put down a layer of thin marante board or 1/4″ plywood which will not only allay this feat but provide a smooth, even surface to work with.

Gluing is another way but this is only recommended for putting hardwood on concrete floors.

The “plug and screw” method is time consuming and is mainly used for long, wide planks. The holes are drilled to a certain depth for the plug and the tap bit goes right through to hold the screw. Plugs can be bought or made.

Wood Flooring Adhesives

With the exception of “floating floors,” which can be laminate or engineered, floors are fastened to the subfloor by means of nails, staples or an adhesive. With the latter method the type is determined by the material to be used a flooring.

In short, floor adhesives create a chemical bond between the sub floor and the finished floor. This is accomplished by the material changing from a liquid to a solid but each flooring material has differing properties and so the adhesive needs different agents and catalysts to make the bond.

While most plank-wood flooring is nailed or stapled down wood floors can be glued. The most common types of wood flooring for this are the engineered flooring which includes cork and bamboo as well. In homes where hardwood is going on a concrete basement floor 3/4″ planking is glued down to a substrate but it takes a lot of care.

Wood Flooring Adhesives

1. Solvent-Based: These are the old-time glues which are still used today but the installer needs a well-ventilated room as the off-gassing is great at the beginning.

2. Urethane-Based: This is probably the most widely-used of the adhesives as it works on a wide variety of subflooring.

3. Water-Based: This is classed as “very low emission” and promotes health and environmental protection as they are free of solvents or volatile organic compounds (VOC’s). Some contractors complain of the wood swelling if too much is used.

4. Powder Adhesives: This is a water-based adhesive where you add the water on site. The chemical in the compound will absorb most of the water reducing the wood swelling found in other water-based products.

Rules of Engagement

1. 20 Minute Rule – Use only as much adhesive as you can put flooring down in 20 minutes.

2. The adhesive’s spread is controlled by the size of the notches in the trowel.

3. Flash Time – Compound has to cure for a specified time before flooring is put down.

4. Wet-Lay – Flooring can go down down on the adhesive immediately.

5. Concrete floor should be washed with a mild muriatic acid to get rod of debris before flooring goes own or the adhesive won’t bond with the concrete.

6. Expensive – Not all glues are created equally. The good glues are expensive, up to 80 cents a square foot, but don’t scrimp or else you may have part of the floor popping up.

Like any project the proper preparation and using good materials will ensure a lasting job.

Hardwood and Laminate Floor Underlayments

It used to be that only carpets needed cushioned underlays. This provided a comfortable base for any type of carpet but also smoothed over irregularities with the flooring.

Hardwood flooring underlayment used to mean a thick paper product that was placed down before the planks went on. This not only “quieted” the floor but prevented the subfloor from later rubbing against the undreside of the planks of some of the staples loosened.

Today there are many types of underlay, most of which came about with the advent of laminate flooring. These sheets not only quiet the floor but provide protection for hardwoods being placed on concrete floors. The most common types are the 3, 5, and 10mm foam which is also used for laminate. Most flooring contractors will put a vapor seal against the concrete before placing any type of a cushioning to prevent moisture from getting up into the flooring.

An eco-friendly underlayment features recycled rubber which can be obtained with both an adhesive and non-adhesive backing. This is made from old tires and can be used in both floors and ceilings. Cork is also a product that is used.

For your needs, it depends on where you are going to put it and how much you want to spend.

Old Hardwood Flooring

One of the hardest products to find is thin strip hardwood flooring. Only 10 years ago it was readily available but the product has been shoved aside in favor of wider planking. Why? Well, for one the style changed and for another the thin strips take more labor to put down.

Thin strip hardwood is found in older homes and commercial properties and schools. Not so long ago the demolition of these places required a wrecking ball and a line of dump trucks. All the rubble was unceremoniously trucked to a landfill. Today, because of landfill dumping laws and the demand for old materials, buildings are “de-constructed” meaning that crews strip the building of usable parts before it is taken down. This includes old hardwood floors.

Old flooring material can be found in farm houses, residential properties, barns and bowling alleys. Barn board is especially sought after. The planks are planed, slotted and refinished for their new job as a high-end floor. The old boards have darkened into a mellow, honey color and need only a glaze to bring out their rich history.

Another place where wood is being reclaimed is on the bottom of lakes and rivers. Years ago when logging operations depended on water to transport logs many of these sank and sat until foragers brought them to the surface. These finally make their journey to a sawmill but are made into flooring planks.

Old Carpet – Don’t Toss It

Here is a chilling statistic: 5,000,000,000 pounds of old carpet were sent to landfills in 2003. That’s 2.5 million tons going directly into space that’s quickly filling up all over the U.S!

So what can carpet owners do about this? Well, carpet can be recycled. In fact old carpet is one of the components of composite lumber for decks and posts, backer board for tile, railroad ties, roofing shingles, plastic automotive parts and carpet cushion, to name a few. In other words there is a movement to keep carpet out of the landfills and put it back into the market. The good news is that 500,000,000 pounds were recycled in 2003 – so that’s a start.

To look into why carpet is so hard to recycle it is important to note that each carpet is composed of a number of parts, each of which performs a different function in the carpet. The two main ones are the backing and the face fiber. If you look into a tuft fiber carpet with a latex backing here are the parts:

Face Fibers: This is the matt that is walked on and there are four types:

1. Polypropylene (also know as olefin)
2. Polyester
3. Nylon 6,6
4. Nylon 6

What makes the recycling process so difficult is that these face fibers have to be removed from the backing.

Backing: The two most common backing materials are latex and polyvinylchloride (PVC). PVC-backed carpets are the easiest to recycle. These are used in commercial settings while latex backed carpets are usually for domestic use. There are also some other filler compounds with latex which are hard to separate.

So, you can see, a carpet is a complex system with many components of different chemical composition. In order to recycle carpet it may be necessary to separate these components. Each step in the identification, separation, shredding and handling sequence adds another cost in the process of recycling old carpets. The  key is that carpet manufacturers are taking a long look at making carpet more recyclable.

To find out where to recycle your carpet contact your local flooring contractor.

The World of Bamboo Floors

Next to cork probably one of the most environmantally-friendly floors is bamboo. While this flooring is classed a s “hardwood” in reality bamboo is actually a grass which grows in many of the warm, humid areas of the world. When bamboo is harvested the root of the stalk stays intact and so the plant grows back to a harvest size in 2 1/2 to 6 years when it can be cut again. Bamboo has grown very big in the in hardwood flooring industry. Besides being a product which is self-sustaining it is an extremely durable flooring which can compete with hardwood in price and hardness.

Most bamboo flooring planks are made from split bamboo stems which are flattened, dried and then pressed together with glue to form strips. The other process is called “carbonized,” where the strips are darker. This bamboo is steamed under pressure which breaks down the fibers and makes it darker. During this process bamboo flooring can be used in a laminate form where a low-emission formaldehye is now being used to prevent off-gassing.

Laminate: The bamboo is prepared like engineered flooring where the good surface is thin but durable. These floors can be “clicked” together and installed as floating floors.

Horizontal Construction: In this method the bamboo strips are stacked in three layers and then pressed together. The look presented by this method is the traditional bamboo stalk look with the familiar “knuckles.”

Vertical Construction: The bamboo strips are flipped on their sides, glued and then pressed together. Although this up to 19 strips of bamboo can be pressed into one plank they are not as durable as the normal horizontal construction.

Woven; Also called strand-woven, or stranded bamboo construction, bamboo fibers are put under pressure to create planks. This creates a lot of design opportunities for manufacturers as they can blend colors and lengths for differing styles. Woven construction is considered the most durable.

Installing a Cork Floor

Cork flooring can be purchased in a glue-down tile form or in snap-lock cork planks. This is a “floating floor,” meaning that is it not attached to the subflooring. if the area is more than 30 feet in length you will need and expansion joint but most homes have smaller rooms. It can be put down on most hard surfaces but if it is being laid down over concrete or ceramic tile there should be a vapor barrier put down to keep out the dampness.

1. Acclimatize: Always place the cork in the room where it will be installed for a minimum of 2-3 days. This means opening up the packages so that the cork can breathe.

2. Floor Preparation: Since cork is a soft material you have the choice of putting a thin foam sheeting underneath. Either way make sure the subfloor clear of voids and peaks. And never put it directly on carpet. You have the choice of removing moldings or using a quarter-round strip to hold the plank down on the edges afterward.

3. Starting: Using 1/2″ spacers on 2 edges start in the corner of the room. Putting the planks in short-end to short-end make a line down to the far wall. Tap the planks with a small hammer and wood block to get them tight. Just before you reach the wall you will see that you will have to cut the last piece. Make sure the cut is 1/2″ away from the wall for expansion.

4. Rows: If the cut piece is more than half the length of a new piece cut this to half the length of the original plank and use it to start the next row. This way the planks are offset. Now continue with the long planks until the far wall again. Repeat until you reach the target wall. In this case the tiles may have to be “ripped” or cut lengthwise. Make sure you leave the 1/2″ gap.

5. Primer Coat: Apply floor primer with a lamb’s wool applicator. This will seal the floor and the seams.

6. Urethane Top Coat: Also apply this with the lamb’s wool applicator.

When finished the cork floor will provide a warm, soft surface for years.

Cutting Tile

Tiling an area of the home puts a great, long-term flooring that is extremely durable and easy to clean. It also can set off the area by embellishing the decor like cabinets or appliances. But doing a tile floor takes a skilled hand because the materials that are being used are hard and brittle and can break when cutting is involved.

Professional tile installers have the right equipment for doing a floor: diamond wet saw, 4 1/2″ grinder with a diamond blade, mixing paddle for mastic and grout, etc. These tools not only make the job easier but will allow specialized cuts that would normally shatter tile if other types of cutters were used.

1. Ceramic Tile Cutter: This tool is a small metal table (usually aluminum) about 16″ X 6″ (they are bigger for larger tile) with a cutting arm above. The cutter slides along this arm the full length allowing tile to be scored by a tungsten cutting wheel. The tile is positioned on the table and the wheel is pulled to scor the surface of the tile. Then the tile can be snapped at the score mark. This works great for thinner, ceramic tile.

2. Diamond Saw: For porcelain tile and thick ceramic there is a diamond wet saw which resembles a small table saw with a small plastic tub below it. The tile is cut in the same way as a table saw cuts wood and the water cools the blade so it lasts longer. The water bath also keeps down the dust which can be a lot as the amount of tile increases.

3. Grinder: Many pros prefer an ordinary 4 1/2″ grinder with a diamond bladed for small cuts. These cuts can almost be made as the tile goes down without pulling them back for a measurement.

4. Nippers: These are a plier-like device with a pincer end for trimming off ragged edges or for carving out pieces too small for a grinder. Care must be taken with nippers as the pressure might break the tile.

5. Hole Saw: These are a masonry drill bit with a sleeve around in the same manner as a doorknob hole saw. They are for drilling ager holes in tile for pipes or conduit. the masonry bit makes the hole and acts like a cut so that the sleeve can drill the proper hole.

6. Tile Edge Stone: This tool is like sanding block only with a rough stone to smooth the tile edges after a cut is made.

7. Chipping Hammer: Resembling a geology hammer is has a shape, pointed end for chipping tile.

Floor Designing

There are many different ways you can do a floor. You can cover it up in a homogeneous layer of carpet, vinyl, tile, hardwood or laminate. Or you can design the floor in much the same way you would a garden layout or kitchen backsplash.

1. The Border: Whether you use tile or hardwood putting a border around the room makes a striking vision when you walk into the room. For example, you could use a standard light-oak hardwood floor but have a 4″ border of darker wood around it. This could be the edging or you could place 6″ of white oak between the border and the wall to give a picture frame effect. This works well with tile, as well. For the border you can use many different colors, styles and sizes for the right effect. Carpeting also makes a striking border and changes up the texture

2. The Design: Many rooms have a central design piece to define it. This could be a pattern or a real design motif like a rose. For hardwood this would take a skilled artists to make the mosaic of the picture but you can also buy then pre-made.

This is the same with tile. There are many wonderful designs that include a mosaic glued to a web background. All you have to do is glue the pattern in place and grout.

3. Mix-and-Match: Sometimes a great design can use both tile and hardwood. This can be done in a diagonal, bordering design, a hardwood floor with tile squares inserted or any other pattern. There can even be carpet squares.

Whatever the design make sure the thicknesses of the materials are the same. This may take some building up of the subfloor in some areas.