Home Improvement

Many homeowners purchase building materials for their homes without first weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each one. When it comes to hardwood flooring, there are the unfinished and prefinished types. Prefinished hardwood flooring is preferred for its quick installation, as no sanding or further finishing is needed prior to use. However, when not installed properly, it can cup and buckle especially when exposed to extreme weather conditions. It is also important to remember that prefinished hardwood flooring should not come in contact with water if at all possible. To clean, them, use only dry mops or vacuum cleaners with rubber wheels.
Common Prefinished Hardwood Flooring Questions

Many people have a prefinished hardwood flooring and find out that it starts to cup and buckle after a while. This is a common problem with prefinished hardwood flooring; however, it is also entirely avoidable.

The most common reason this happens is because of excess moisture that is building up underneath the floor. In order to avoid this, you will want to make sure that there are no leaky pipes, or wetness before you lay your floors. Another reason that you may come across buckling with your prefinished hardwood flooring is that there is not a proper expansion gap around each wall. This will cause pressure to build up on the wood as it tries to expand, which will in turn cause problems with buckling.

One of the most common questions from people who have prefinished flooring is how they should clean it. First off, you should never use a wet mop on a hardwood floors. In order to clean them, you will want to dust, mop, vacuum, or sweep up the area. Two things to remember are that you never want to use water, and if you are going to vacuum, make sure that you use rubber wheels in order to avoid scratching. A lot of flooring stores will also have cleaners that you can purchase so that you can maintain the shine on your prefinished hardwood flooring.

Another question people have is why should they install prefinished flooring as opposed to unfinished flooring. The answer is simple: after installation, you are done. You will not have to sand the floor or apply any finish to the surface.

Prefinished hardwood flooring can be a great choice. Just make sure that you know the advantages and disadvantages before making your final purchasing decision. This way you will get what looks best for your home.

While you are still in the comfort of the floor store, see if you can open a box of this flooring and assemble on a flat table or floor about 10-20 sq. ft. Some sales people will be reluctant to let you do this, but you wouldn’t buy a car with out a test drive would you? They do have the tools to repack the box, so this should be an easy request. There are a few things to look for. One is the fit, do the pieces slide together easily by hand? Are they well-milled, and stored in a dry environment? Look at how well the side edges fit, is there a bumpy feeling when you run you hand across the boards, or is it reasonably smooth. You should be aware that this product will look it’s best installed on a perfectly flat subfloor. Check to see if your subfloor is really that flat and level. If it isn’t, you should consider a sand-on-site hardwood floor.