Wes Fernley asked:

ght (c) 2009 Wes Fernley

Do you want to add new life to your hardwood flooring? Flooring is a major part of your home and can be quite costly if you’re just starting out in life with a new home. If you are living in an older home with hardwood floors that have seen better days, there are a few different options available to you depending on your budget and personal preferences.

Installing New Hardwood Flooring

If you’re in the process of renovating your home or even just a few rooms, your costs are going to add up so you’ll want to save money any way you can. If your budget allows and your hardwood flooring really isn’t worth saving, replacing it with new flooring may be your best option. You can save a lot of money by tearing out the old hardwood flooring yourself. You may be thinking that this is an opportunity for you to choose less expensive flooring but in terms of aesthetics, beauty and durability; you really can’t go wrong with hardwood flooring. Not only does it add a touch of elegance to your home but will also add value to the home if you should want to sell in the future. If installing new flooring is your choice, you’ll be amazed at the many styles and colors available to you, all with simple-to-follow installation instructions.

Refinishing your Hardwood Flooring

If your hardwood flooring only has slight damage like nicks, scrapes or similar surface damage, you may have the option of refinishing it to an almost new appearance. Water damage to your wood flooring is the worst kind of damage and may cause warping as well. If your floors have this type of damage, you probably won’t be able to refinish those boards but you may be able to remove the top layer of the boards and put a new sealer on it. Replacing the few damaged boards is also an option. You can then finish the new boards with the same color and finish as the cleaned refinished boards.

Area or Throw Rugs Add Appeal to Hardwood Floors

You may have grown up hearing your mother say she bought throw rugs to cover up some imperfection on the floors. While throw or area rugs are still used for that purpose at times, they are also used as a great fashion statement. In fact, seldom will you see a hardwood floor and not see some sort of area or throw rugs. Designer rugs are very popular in homes of all styles. Area rugs come in a variety of sizes and patterns and will not only enhance the beauty of your hardwood floor but also coordinate with your other furnishings. Designer or custom-made rugs are also great for protecting your hardwood floors in high traffic areas. You guests will admire your hardwood floors and the stylish rugs as though they belonged together.

Distressed Flooring—A New & Stylish Option

If the majority of your hardwood flooring still looks good but is being ruined by a few badly scratched or damaged areas, making your entire floor match can be a unique and very popular option for your room. Distressed flooring is very popular today and is something you can do yourself. You’ll find that distressed hardwood flooring hides future wear and tear and is a very inexpensive way to preserve your floor and still be in style.

Some of the methods used to create distressed flooring vary but you can try different ways and find one you like best. Some people have filled socks with nuts, bolts or similar items and “beat” them on the floor in a repetitive manner until they have the design they desire throughout the entire floor. You and also get some really unique impressions with the head and claw of a household hammer. When you get the desired look on your entire floor, stain in with the finish of your choice, making sure the distressed areas show up darker. When the floor is thoroughly dried, add a sealant or protective coat of gloss on the entire floor. You’ll love the finished effect.

Rafal Maleszyk asked:

Unfinished or prefinished hardwood floors?

It is not easy task to  decide what kind of hardwood floors install in your house. There is a lot of different kinds of floors, there are domestic floors like oak, cheery, maple, walnut and exotic such as Brazilian cheery, bamboo, teak and much more. You can see samples of hardwood floors in the showrooms or order one online and compare the look. Make sure you take in consideration the hardness of the wood.

Here is the list, the higher the number the harder the wood:

Ipe / Brazilian Walnut /  Lapacho                        3684

Cumaru / Brazilian Teak                                   3540

Ebony                                                                       3220

2900

Red Mahogany, Turpentine                                   2697

Brazilian Cherry  / Jatoba                                   2350

Santos Mahogany, Bocote, Cabreuva           2200                                                       

Cameron                                                           1940

Rosewood                                                           1780

Kempas                                                           1710

Wenge, Red Pine                                                   1630

Zebrawood                                                            1575

Hard Maple / Sugar Maple                                   1450

Natural Bamboo (represents one species)            1380

White Oak                                                           1360

Ash (White)                                                           1320

American Beech                                               1300

Red Oak (Northern)                                              1290

Carbonized Bamboo  (represents one species)      1180

Cocobolo                                                           1136

Teak                                                                       1000

Douglas Fir                                                           660

Larch                                                                       590

Chestnut                                                           540

Eastern White Pine                                               380

After you have chosen which species you like you have to decide from unfinished or prefinished hardwood floors.

Unfinished floors are very much like prefinished the only difference is that the actual wood is sanded and finished after install at your home. If you decide for prefinished, the floor boards will be finished at the factory so after installation you don’t need to deal with sanding, dust and long wait.

If you remodel your home and don’t live in it, sanding is not a problem, you might consider unfinished wood. Unfinished hardwood floors are considered the top quality product on the flooring market. Unfinished wood can be installed with all kinds of design; boards can run in different directions, unfinished floors can have borders. You can have the medallion installed when you decide for unfinished floors. You can choose from different shines of the finish: satin, which nowadays is very popular and gives contemporary look to your house semi-gloss or high-gloss. You can choose water based finish which is environmentally friendly and creates better air quality in you home ,oiled based finishes are widely used for hardwood floors and are considered little harder then water based. After the process of installation, sanding and finishing the floor will be smooth, the seams between the boards will be tight and most importantly there is not going to be a bevel of any kind on the seams. This is an important difference between unfinished and prefinished floors. Unfinished floors will not have a bevel so there is no place for debris to collect. If the unfinished floors are incorrectly installed or wood is exposed to extremely big difference of moisture and temperature, floor boards will shrink and expand this will create a gap between boards. This is why it is important to hire experienced ,licensed hardwood floor contractor.

Prefinished floors are fast to install and your floor contractor will not sand it at your house so if you live in the house while during the project. You can get eco friendly prefinished floor such as bamboo or cork. Remember you will be limited to linear design and there will be a bevel between the boards so if you get light wood you might have dirt collecting inside the bevels of the floor boards.

Prefinished hardwood floors have finish already on the boards, make sure you are getting the floor that has hard finish, aluminum oxide it very commonly used and is in most cases harder then the regular finish that your floor contractor will apply at home. Prefinished floors are usually more affordable and the selection is very wide, there are exotic species, boards come with the variety of colors and width, can be smooth or hand scraped.

Both unfinished and prefinished floors can be refinished in the future, make sure to  ask your hardwood floor installer how many times you can refinish the floor he is suggesting. Solid unfinished floors can be refinished in general 5 times. Prefinished floors come in a different thickness, some prefinished floors are very thin and there is not enough material to refinish. This is an important factor when you decide because it is always good to be able to refinish hardwood floor. You might think it is expensive to go with unfinished floor but think that you can refinish it 5 times this gives you at least 20 years, so if you save a little bit and go with prefinished floors you might end up replacing it in 5 years and if the floor you have chosen can not be refinished you will have to pay again for a new floor. Refinishing is of course more affordable then new floor.

While you consider refinishing, you will be astonished to know that this is a task that you can do yourself without paying professionals high amounts of money to do it for you. But it would be worth to understand that you would need to have time to spend on your refinishing project to make sure that you end up with the effect you wanted to achieve.

Refinishing a hardwood floor is definitely a time-consuming project, if you want to do it by yourself. However, it does require you to move out of the home until you complete this task. Also, the coatings for refinishing these floors do not have any strong fumes that may be dangerous for anyone with respiratory problems. But the only thing you will have to remember is not to walk on the floor until the finish is dry.

If you forget our advice and jump on to the freshly refinished floor, your completed task will have your footprints all over it, and believe me it would be in more ways than one. There are many books you can buy on the subject and you can also get many useful resources when you search online.

Now when you have weighed all the possibilities, you can move on to the task. For this project you will need some equipments like the heavy-duty sander that you can always rent from your local supplier. When you begin with the project, you first have to move all the furniture and take up any rugs or mats that you have on the wood floors. If you have some sort of allergy with the dust, you need to wear a dust mask so that you won’t breathe in the dust coming out.

The most important equipment you will need for this project is the heavy- duty sander. When you use one, move gently back and forth over the wood floors. Move the sander in a straight line similar with the pattern of the hardwood boards. Try not to go across, if the flooring has a beveled prescription medications edge with small grooves.

Also do not apply additional pressure in one place that in another. This will help you to avoid taking out the gouges from the floor. When the first finish is sanded off, you have to sweep or vacuum up the dust and give the floor a light washing.

This will help you avoid the staining marks if dust is present on the floor. When refinishing wood floors, it is essential that the first coat is dry before you apply another coat. The more coats you put on, the shinier your floors will be. But at the same time will more coats will result in added cost.