Ask the Flooring Expert

Today we get to look into a question answered by iFLOOR's CEO, Steve, who is a real guru when it comes to flooring and has helped many people complete the project of their dreams.

Q: I am remodeling a bedroom and I have chosen to replace carpet with laminate flooring. I would like to lay it in a particular pattern. Can it be laid with a border that goes around the room like a picture frame then lay the rest of the floor in the regular fashion inside that border? I have one window in the middle of the wall on the south wall of the room, a door on the west wall, a double bi fold closest door on the north wall and a solid east wall. The border will frame the floor then with the window on the south wall would I lay the rest of the floor east to west or north to south? You enter the room from the west. This floor will be laid over cement so I know I need a moisture barrier. The room is 12’x12’ then the closet is 2’x8’. There would be no frame in the closet only in the room. I have baseboards that I have removed and will reinstall after the floor is laid. The walls will be a medium green, ceiling will be sky blue, trim will be white. The accent colors come from the curtains and bedspread that has multiple shades of greens, a light blue and various shades of purple and lavender. This room will be like a garden oasis for me. I suffer from panic attacks and need a space that is calming, cool, and peaceful. The color of the floor I would like dark but not too dark and I prefer the wide plank look with beveled edges that remind me of an old hard wood floor and each plank is distinct.

Yours Turly,
Loralye

A: That is a tough install for laminate. The complications are because to create a board you often need to cut boards, however, the cutting removes the “click” system on the ends or sides, therefore most often it is considered infeasible.

Sorry!

ss

As we get closer to the DIY season for home improvements, I wanted to go a bit in depth on what products and preparation is necessary to put hard surface flooring over a concrete subfloor.

Product Choices
Having a concrete subfloor does limit the choices you will have for flooring, but there is still a great range of different floors you can put down over concrete.

The best rule here for wood floors is that if it can be installed as a floating floor, than it can be installed over concrete. There are also some floors which can be glued over concrete much as stone and tile floors can be installed over concrete.

Hardwood
Hardwood floor choices to be installed over concrete are typically engineered floors, most of which can be floated. You can also look into engineered or 5/16" solid floors which can be installed as glue down floors. 3/4" solid wood floors should NOT be installed over concrete.

Laminate, Bamboo and Cork
For laminate, bamboo and cork all can be installed over concrete, but I suggest looking into the floating choices from these categories as they are far easier to install.

Stone and Tile
Stone and tile can be a great choice to put over concrete subfloors, but a few things should be kept in mind. When installing over concrete it is highly suggested to use an uncoupling layer as this will prevent the tile/stone from getting cracked over time. The reason behind this is that an uncoupling layer absorbs in plane movement as concrete expands and contracts. Without this layer the thinset mortar which holds the tile in place which does not move with the concrete absorbs this movement and cracks occur in the mortar and tile as concrete moves and the tile does not.

Other Flooring Options
There are a few other options out there such as carpet, vinyl and leather tile, and a few select others, but each these flooring types is suited to be laid basically anywhere and there is rarely any installation method which can not be done (most of them are all glued in place).

Subfloor Preparation
Concrete can be very tricky as it is never truly flat, but it is key to make it as flat as possible, so checking how level the floor is and ensuring cracks, and variations in height are taken care of. This is especially true for glue down floors, as variations in subfloor height will telegraph through the floor. Floating floors on the other hand can typically mask variations up to 1/16" over a span of 8 feet or so, but anything beyond this should have measures taken to level out the subfloor.

Check the moisture level of the subfloor, which should not be higher than 8% moisture content, then you will want to clean the concrete and allow it to dry. Once your concrete is fully dry, do any leveling work necessary, such as grinding down high spots or using a self leveling compound for low spots or filling cracks. Allow any leveling compounds plenty of time to cure and use a concrete sealer if there was more than 8% moisture content in the subfloor.

Installation
Typically when installing over concrete there are only two methods of installation: floating or glue down (you can essentially include using mortar with glue down). Floating installations will be your best bet here as they are far easier to do. When installing a floating floor, ensure that you use a moisture barrier. I would suggest avoiding glue down when possible as they are not only messy, but they are the most likely installation to fail if not done by a professional.

Final Tips
One of the most important parts of the process of installing over concrete is the prep stage and ensuring that your subfloor is ready for installation. The key to any installation is patience and the old saying of measure twice then cut once.

Q: I have a parquet floor over hard concrete. I would like to install cork underlayment and an engineered floating bamboo floor in its place. Some of the tiles are loose and in poor condition. The tiles themselves come up fairly easily, but the glue underneath them is another story. But the glue that was used is extremely thin as shown in the attached picture (the scrap wood spans both clean concrete and glue, the quarter is there for scale). My question is – do I really need to scrape all this glue up if it is thin like this? Cant I just lay the cork right over it?

Thanks!
Mike

Here is a photo Mike sent a long to give an idea of what he is working with and what he plans to install over.

A: With floating floors, especially those using premium underlayments, they can account for variances of subfloor height up to 1/16". This being said, as long as you remove a majority of the high spots so that the entire floor is relatively even, you can install over the top of the adhesive. Keep in mind you will still need to use a moisture barrier for your installation to ensure that there is no worry of having moisture vapor get into the flooring itself.

If you have a few areas where a portion of the parquet is not getting pulled up easily you can go in with a portable belt sander or similar grinder to grind down the area to a height similar to the rest of the floor. It is in your best interest to scrape up as much of the adhesive as possible, but not necessary to remove all of it, just ensure that higher spots or build ups are removed enough to be within about 1/16" of the height of the rest of the floor.

Q: We are considering buying laminate flooring in our 11 year old house. Should we go with attached underlayment or not? Will we have to put down underlayment boards before we start?

Thank you

A: Depending on the laminate you are looking at buying and where you play to install this floor can give you a few reasons why to choose one underlayment over another. Laminates which feature an attached underlayment have a few benefits: price and faster installation. Typically laminate with pre-attached underlayment will be a bit more economical than buying laminate and underlayment separately, but usually this underlayment is a thinner foam underlayment which does not suppress sound quite as well as other premium underlayments like Cork and Sound 6.

If you are buying separate underlayment, you will not need any specific board to lay down the underlayment, but you will install it across your floor before installing the laminate. For foam based underlays, this simply means rolling out the underlay, then installing the floor. In the case of cork, cork comes in 2' x 3' tiles which you will lay out, then install the floor.

The decision of what underlayment choice to use is based solely on what performance you want from your floor. If you want a floor which sounds more solid and does not have the "clicky" or hollow sound most laminate produces when walked over, use a separate premium underlayment - I personally prefer cork because it walks very nicely. Also, if you want the floor to have a bit less spring or movement when walking over the floor, also look into non-attached premium underlayment.

If you are looking to save a bit of money and this floor is going to be installed in a room where noise is not an issue, then a floor with attached underlayment is a great choice.

Q: I recently removed the carpeting on my 1929 year old floor with the hopes of refinishing the floors but with the condition of the wood, I decided to replace. Now the 2 1/2" planks are placed directly across the joist so I don't really have a subfloor. I plan to lay a 1/4" or 1/2 " plywood on top the old wood and lay out my new 3/4" or 3/8" solid wood floor.
Can you tell me if this is a good plan or tell me how I should go about this? The current floor seems flat as for as I checked with a level just severely damaged.


Thanks
Csam

A: I would suggest removing the old flooring, especially if it is making any noise whatsoever when walked over. There are two reasons why I suggest taking this course of action. The primary reason is that you can use thicker plywood as a subfloor - 3/4" being the preference here. The second reason is that with older floors, especially those already making noise, they tend to transfer this noise directly through any new material installed over it, and later on this is nearly impossible to fix without removing everything.

Now as far as installing the new plywood, you will want to stagger the sheets in order to make the most effective and stable subfloor. This means that each joint or area where the sheets of plywood meet will be staggered so that a single seam does not cross the entire floor in both directions. The easiest set up for staggering plywood involves the use of 4' x 8' plywood. Lay your first row of plywood, then much like flooring, cut one of the 4' x 8' pieces of plywood in half, lay the 4' x 4' square as the beginning or row two, followed by 4' x 8' sheets for the remainder. Alternate like this for every two rows and you will have a nicely staggered subfloor laid out. Also ensure to leave a 1/8" gap between the sheets of plywood to allow for some expansion and contraction of the subfloor.

Although this seems like a bit more work, it is the best way to ensure you have a flat and stable subfloor ready for a brand new floor. As far as the old flooring is concerned, there is a market out there for reclaimed flooring from specific decades - so there is a chance that your "old flooring" will be someone's brand new dream floor. Although it has some damage there are folks who work around this in order to get a floor that is to the era of the home they wish to create.

Q: We currently have carpet in our basement, however during wet weather we detect a musty damp smell. We want to remove the carpet and install a non carpet solution - cork, wood or bamboo - but as flexible as possible. The concrete under the carpet has not been sealed and it not completely level. How and with what products would you suggest that we seal the concrete floor, level it and what would you suggest that we install over it.

Thanks
Jessica

A: It will take a bit of work, but the problem you are encountering can be solved. The musty smell you are encountering is because excessive moisture is coming through the concrete and being absorbed by your carpet. After you remove the old carpet, find the areas of the floor that need to be leveled and all cracks, if any, which need to be repaired. Once you have finished leveling the subfloor and ensured you gave the leveling compound plenty of time to cure, you can then seal the concrete. Do NOT seal the concrete before leveling as this will prevent the primer in the self leveling compound from adhering to the old concrete properly. As far as a sealer goes, RadonSeal is a great product, but any high quality roll-on membrane will suffice.

Once you have finished leveling and sealing the concrete you can now move onto your floor. Your best bet would be to use any floor which can be floated. Floating cork and bamboo will both work well here as would any engineered hardwood which can be floated. When installing the floor you will need to use a moisture barrier even though you have sealed the concrete. Concrete is a moisture based product by nature and even after being sealed, very small amounts of water vapor will come through the concrete (this is normal) and if a barrier is not in place, your floor will absorb this and eventually it will begin to warp. When you install the moisture barrier, make sure you bring the barrier up about 2" along all of the walls and tape all of the seams. This ensure you have total coverage and there is no risk of moisture vapor coming up through the barrier.

From here underlayment and a floating floor are your choice. Personally I would suggest using a 3mm cork underlayment as it will keep the floor a bit warmer than most foam underlayments and cork makes floating floors walk a bit better due to its density which removes some of the spring you feel with foam underlayment. As far as flooring suggestions are concerned I would suggest looking into Saso or Kahrs for wood floors, Springwood for bamboo and APC or Westhollow for Cork. All of these feature great floating floor lines which are fairly easy to install and have good track records for quality.

Q: Hello, recently this week we had a leak from our dishwasher which caused some water to go between our congoleum floor and the wood sub-floor. Now as a result we have a thin crease in our congoleum floor about three feet long where it appears that the subfloor has buckled somewhat. It is not hugely noticeable other than a small crease and when you walk on it you can feel a bit of a rise. I guess I am wondering if this will subside over time or will this be a permanent rise in the subflooring? Any fix suggestions without having to pull the section of flooring?

Thanks.

A: Typically when something like this has occurred it will not go away. What you could try, since this moisture issue seems to be somewhat recent, is to try putting a small dehumidifier near the area of plywood which has been affected. This could remove some of the moisture and relieve a bit of the buckle, but the crease you are seeing will most likely remain and I doubt that the buckling will go entirely away. I would do your best to get the dehumidifier in from the under the plywood (along the joists) and make sure it is on a lower setting so it does not remove too much moisture from the rest of the subfloor.

Unfortunately, the only way to ensure that this buckle is gone would be to remove those pieces of plywood in the subfloor, replace them and then reinstall or replace the Congoleum tiles onto the new subfloor.

Q: I used Murphy's soap on my maple hardwood floor this past Christmas; I didn't dilute it enough so I had a film over my floor and every mark noticeable. Since then, I have cleaned several times with the swiffer wood floor cleaner and it did get rid of the film. I still do notice that my floor now shows up every smudge mark which it never did. How can I fix my problem of smudging. It seems I'm cleaning my floor more than ever.

Thanks

A: With any oil or wax based products which are said to be usable for wood floors, getting this type of film is very common. I never suggest using products like Murphy's or Minwax because this is an all too common result and when it happens it can be almost impossible to remove without damaging or needing to refinish the floor.

As far as cleaning the floor is concerned I would suggest using BonaKemi's line of cleaners as theirs is the best out there. I would first suggest trying out their cleaner to see if it will remove the the film, it may take a few cleanings to see home effect and possibly a more vigorous mopping than usual, but ensure to not use too much cleaner. Should this not work, you could try using a white vinegar and water mixture. Typically as a regular cleaner the ratio is about 1/2 cup of white vinegar per gallon of water. Now you could concentrate this a bit, say to 1 cup per gallon and then test this out in a small area of the floor toward a corner. You will want to use very little and be careful as the vinegar in higher concentration can damage the finish on wood floors.

Another option would be to try very light amounts of mineral spirits. Typically mineral spirits (which is a very mild solvent) is used to remove excess adhesive which has gotten on the surface of a floor. Again, try using very little of this in a corner or less visible place (a closet for instance) before applying it to the entire floor. After using the mineral spirits, immediately follow up with a proper cleaner (such as the BonaKemi products) to ensure the mineral spirits do not remain on the floor - although mild mineral spirits can ruin a floor given time.

Q: I recently had 20” x 20” porcelain tiles installed in my kitchen – tiles were installed on top of an old raised wood subfloor and then used a 1/4” hardibacker board and then thin-set. Floor was fine for about 5 months but recently, some tiles have loosened to the point that I was able to remove three pieces without breaking them. To my surprise, there was no thin-set adhered to the back of the tiles. There was however some cracks in the thin-set on the floor. Here is where things get tricky. Prior to any tiles loosening up, we had a flood in the basement below the kitchen. Could several days of moisture in the basement cause the wood subfloor to warp and move, then causing the thin-set to crack, and finally loosening my tiles? The flooding continued for two more rains before we found the cause – new hole for water pipe made by my contractor.

Best,
Ryan T.

A: Based on your description my guess here is that this is the fault of the installation. When tiles come up without mortar attached to them, then there is one of several things happening which all point back to installation and the setting material. Using the wrong setting material, insufficient amounts of setting material, or the wrong trowel are all good examples of what causes the problem you are encountering.

I had a quick conversation with Gene D., iFLOOR's commercial contract specialist, who noted that to his experience that with a 3/4" subfloor on 16" joists should be using a 1/2" hardibacker board, not 1/4", which runs at a 90 degree angle to the plywood subfloor.

Now if this was related to the flooding you had, then the loose tiles would have had some mortar still attached to them, as this would show the mortar set properly and adhered to the tiles across the entire floor. This would be evidence of the subfloor expanding and cracking/loosing the mortar and tile.

Q: Hello - Four months ago, we moved into our home which has 3 year-old oak flooring throughout. For the last few weeks, we have been hearing 'random' clicking coming form various parts of the floor - while we are sitting in the living room, something seems to click on/from the floor. I have considered that perhaps the flooring is contracting or expanding, and that perhaps the noises are no more than that. On the other hand, I am concerned that we may have some kind of insect infestation... Can you offer any advice on what we are dealing with, and what we might do?

Eoghan
Waalre, The Netherlands

A: My guess here is that this is just random adjustments from weather - so your expansion and contraction guess is on target. This should not be something to worry about as bug noises tend to be heard from walls and not floors.

Now just to be safe, what I would suggest doing is moving the furniture which is over the areas in question and tapping on the parquet to make sure none of the tiles have come loose. I doubt this is the case, but if so its good to know now rather than find out later after damage has occurred.

If weather is currently a bit different than normal (more humid summer than usual, very cold winter, etc.) than I would suggest looking into measures to bring the environment in your home back to a norm. If its more humid than normal, look into a dehumidifier, if its very dry out, get a humidifier also try to keep the temperature in your home around the same temperature all year long. Typically about 65 degrees with 40% humidity is perfect for both humans and wood flooring.

Q: We recently decided to pull up our carpeting and install hardwood flooring on the rest of our home's ground floor. There is currently Bruce engineered hardwood flooring that the builder installed using a glue-down method. Unfortunately, several of these boards crack and pop right at the threshold. We're convinced that there was not enough adhesive used, and so decided that we would do a floating install for the remainder to be safe. We had previously done a floating install at our old house, and it came out great. However, that house had a wood subfloor.

So, we purchased the correct amount Bruce Lock-&-Fold flooring and the 2-in-1 underlayment from Lowes. We couldn't find any Armstrong or Bruce underlayment, and just assumed that the generic brand they had would be adequate. We prepped the den by pulling up the carpet and pad, and removing the tack strips. We then put down the underlayment as specified in the installation instructions with the flooring and began laying the floor. We're 2/3 done, and while the floor looks great it sounds terrible. It's like walking on a bed of Rice Krispies, and the floor noticably depresses wherever you step.

We know that we cleaned and prepped the subfloor correctly, so we're wondering if the generic underlayment could be the culprit? In looking through the Bruce installation instructions, we noticed that it calls for Bruce ComfortGuard, Armstrong Quiet Comfort or Quiet Comfort Premium underlayment. However, we can't find it at Lowes or Home Depot. Will either of those underlayments take care of this problem? We noticed that you seem to recommend cork underlayment a lot, and we're curious if maybe that would help our situation?

The project is currently on hold until we can figure out what to do about the sound and "bounciness" of the flooring. We've already spent quite a bit on this flooring. If we have to spend a little extra to get proper underlayment that's fine. We're just afraid that we'll keep throwing more money at this and wind up with a floor that looks great but drives us crazy when we walk on it.

Thanks.
Ken & Crystal

A: With any floating floor there are a few things that you need to keep in mind. First of all, underlayment will only account for variances in subfloor height of up to 1/16" and typically only the premium underlayments do this well. With the 2-in-1 and 3-in-1 underlayments you typically have a very thing and inexpensive foam underlayment, so getting quite a bit of noise and spring from the floor is common.

The Armstrong Quiet Comfort is a fairly good underlayment sitting a step below cork 3mm cork. In this case as long as your subfloor is rather even and does not need to be leveled, then the problem here is most likely the underlayment. I would suggest changing out to at least one of the suggested underlayments if not 3mm or 6mm cork or Sound 6. I tend to lean on cork as its natural density (amongst other qualities) removes much of the spring felt in most floating floors while also reducing the noise considerably, make the floor sound and feel much more like a nail down solid floor.

Keep in mind you will need to have a moisture barrier, so if you are using another foam underlayment, such as the Bruce/Armstrong stuff or Sound 6, you can leave your 2-in-1 in place then install the new underlayment over the top, but if you use cork, you will need just moisture barrier and I would avoid using the 2-in-1. The reason behind this is that the density of cork gets somewhat removed when a softer underlayment is laid under it, so it will have a bit more spring than the cork alone.

Q: Is there a floor that can be install over ceramic tile? Vinyl or wood..has this been done where you can put a floor leveler on ceramic fill the grout lines even, install vinyl over it.

Thanks
Bob

A: There are a few floors that can be installed over ceramic tile, but there are a few things you need to make sure you do first.

The critical key to making this type of work successful is prepping the tile to become an effective subfloor. First ensure that all tiles are in good condition and none are loose. Next you will want to level out the grout line areas as best as possible. If you intend to put leveling compound over the top of the tile surface, you should lightly abrade the surface of the tile in order to make sure that the leveling compound properly adheres to the tile surface.

Once you have leveled out the floor and allowed everything to cure you can move onto installing the floor. The only key here would be to ensure you put down a moisture barrier if the original subfloor under the tile is concrete. This will make sure you have no worries of moisture vapor coming up from your concrete into the flooring installed.

Let's talk about what types of floors you can look into. Your best bet will be any floating floor. Floating floors are a great fit for this type of install as most of them are built to be stable over concrete/hard surface subfloors. Look into engineered hardwood, laminate, engineered bamboo or click-together cork for your best flooring choices. You could also look into the vinyl floors from Konecto as their construction and installation method makes them great for this project.

Also, when looking into floor choices, keep in mind the area you plan to install this floor in. For higher moisture areas like a bathroom or kitchen, look into products more suited for this environment like cork and vinyl. For higher traffic areas like entryways and halls, look into something built to take traffic like laminate or denser species of engineered hardwood.

You could also potentially look into glue down floors, but I would honestly suggest avoiding them at all costs and going with a floating floor.

Q: What is the best brand and series Wood laminate flooring on the market today?

A: This is a very tough question to answer as the "best" is usually a matter of opinion from person to person. Honestly I feel there is no single best laminate out there, but there are a few who rank amongst the top tier for construction, abrasion resistance, ease of installation and color selection.

Let's go over a few of the big hitters in the industry when it comes to laminate choices.

Pergo Select is a great AC5 laminate with excellent construction and good color choices. Pergo has been the name in laminate ever since they introduced laminate flooring to the US market. Many times, folks will only know the name Pergo and use it's name to refer to all laminate floors. Pergo Select also features a lifetime warranty, which is a big testament to Pergo's confidence in their product.

Quick Step Perspective is another excellent laminate which features great construction, abrasion resistance and the best locking mechanism in the industry - the unilin system (also known as Uniclic) which was originally made by Quick Step. In lab testing, Perspective has been a front runner for abrasion and moisture resistance which make it a great choice. Quick Step Perspective features a 25 year warranty, which may sound a bit weak compared to Pergo Select, but as far as lab tests have shown, they both sit on par with one another for quality and durability.

Westhollow's South Pacific line is the next big hitter on the list when it comes to well built laminate. The South Pacific line features a great locking mechanism which is easy to install and holds true. Much like our other front runners, South Pacific has performed rather well in third party lab testing for abrasion resistance and moisture resistance. Also, South Pacific is a 12mm product, which is the thickest of the 3 laminate lines giving it a more solid sound when walked over - so it sounds closer to a true hardwood floor. Westhollow South Pacific features a 50 year warranty which much like Pergo's warranty, shows the confidence Westhollow has in their product.

Those would be the big 3 from my experience for choices of the best in the laminate industry. A small note I will add is that underlayment is key in ensuring your floor is tip top. Make sure when you order your floor that you are not getting a cheap underlayment, as this can hamper your floor looking and feeling like a great floor.

Q: I am interested in using the Konecto vinyl planks in my kitchen/breakfast nook/den. Unfortunately the existing flooring is the old '70s style "brick" sheet vinyl. Pulling this up may run into an asbestos issue. I believe laying any "soft" product on top will eventually end up picking up the embossing. The research I've done indicates that an embossing leveler would be an option but as a DIYer I'd rather work with an underlayment (no mess, pet pawprints). What are your thoughts on using the Sound6 II as a base for the Konecto? What would be your alternate options?

Thanks so much for your help,
KG

A: Konecto specifically mentions to NOT use any type of soft underlayment or subflooring with their products. They do mention that you will need a leveling compound for things like highly embossed tile and to fill grout lines, but as long as these variations are not more than about 1/16" you should not need to worry.

If you are ultimately concerned with using an underlayment to account for the embossing, you would need to use something fairly dense. Cork could be an option, but I would contact Konecto directly to find out before purchasing any cork or proceeding with installation. The key here is not to ruin the inherent strength of Konecto's product and locking mechanism by installing it over an unsuitable surface.

Q: We have an old (30 years) linoleum kitchen/dining room floor and an old dog who slips quite a bit on the floor. I’ve spread throw rugs and runners everywhere but now I’m afraid my 88-year old dad will slip on the mishmash of rugs. I would like to put down a new kitchen/dining room floor that is easy to clean (wet mop) but has some texture to help with slipping and would be good for future dogs — since we can’t be without a dog. Is there something in the vinyl category that meets these requirements and looks good, too?

Debra F.
Berkeley CA

A: There are a couple great vinyls out there that will fit the bill for you. If you want the wood floor look, both Congoleum and Konecto make a great textured product which is not only easy to maintain and durable, but also non-slip. Congoleum's Regal and Forum plank collections are easy to install but require you to glue them in place using an adhesive or you can look into Konecto which has an excellent locking mechanism which is very easy to install.

Now if you are trying to find a stone look, there are a few lines from Congoleum, but generally most vinyl tile has a texture to it which makes it fairly non-slip. Konecto also has a few stone looks, but not quite as much variety as in their wood look lines. I would avoid roll vinyl as these are more likely to end up similar to your current vinyl, slippery for the dog or father if the floor is wet.

Another floor you could look into beyond vinyl would be cork. Cork is rather easy to maintain, comfortable under foot and dent resistant. The only problem you can run into with cork is problems with gouging, but if you ensure your dog's nails are clipped and long hair is kept trimmed away from the pads of paws then you should have a great floor choice in cork. Maintenance wise, you can not wet mop, but you can damp mop (the difference is the amount of water/cleaner on the floor).

Q: I am going to have my parquet floor with new hardwood floor in my living room, which houses a small concert grand piano. The subfloor is concrete, and my floor installer says that I should go for engineered hard wood strips. My question is: should the floor be floated or glued down to the subfloor? I am worried that if the floor is floated, then it could serve as another big sounding board for my piano and this will disturb my neighbors. I live in an old condo. With my current floor, my neighbors have not complained, but I need to make sure that I can minimize the transmission of sounds (it is more of vibration than impact sound).

Thank you and look forward to hearing from you.

A: My first bit of advice would be to check with your HOA for any regulations required when installing a wood floor in a condo. Usually this requires certain underlayments, typically most HOAs require cork, to absorb the sound from the floor. This being said a floating floor can be a great option as it will need underlayment; however, having a concert grand piano over this floor leaves me to worry a bit.

The best set up for such a heavy furnishing on a floor is to have it solidly anchored to the floor, so I would honestly suggest going with a glue down application. This might mean needing to glue down a cork underlayment (do not use foam based underlayments when gluing down) then glue the floor down over the top of the underlayment. Again, I stress that you check with your HOA before you proceed to ensure you meet their sound requirements. Typically, gluing down 6mm cork then gluing down a floor will meet all HOA requirements while getting exactly what you will need to place your piano on this floor.

Q: I have two four year olds and a large dog. I installed bamboo in the bedrooms, but its scratched already. Is laminate scratch proof or what type do you recommend?

Any help is great, thanks.
Ryan

A: When it comes to abrasion resistance laminate is your best bet for a wood floor. Assuming that you want a wood floor, the finishes placed on the higher grade laminate floors are built to take quite a bit of abuse without showing it. Typically this means look into AC4 or AC5 rated laminates, which are the two commercial level ratings. Good examples of laminate rated this well would be Pergo Select, True Flooring Commercial Collection, Quick Step Perspective and Westhollow South Pacific.

Beyond laminate more resilient floor options would be stone or tile, vinyl and linoleum. Typically with these floors you lose the warm and look of wood flooring in exchange for a very resilient floor. Overall, if most of your scratching is from kids and a dog running around, laminate should be a good choice, but make sure you look into a higher rated laminate and a decent underlayment.

Q: I would like to install a laminate (floating) floor in my basement, in a workout area (under a treadmill and a recumbent bike). My home is 17 years old, basement is dry and presently have carpeting; which I know I must remove with padding. Can laminate be installed under a treadmill? Could you recommend a particular brand? Also, should I use a particular vapor barrier/foam? Lastly, should I glue the laminate? If so, What type of glue should I use?

A: Floating floors can work with work out machines like treadmills. They can even work for something like a pool table assuming a few things are kept in mind. First of all, after you remove the existing carpet and pad, take your time to ensure the subfloor is as flat as possible. From here any 6mil poly vapor barrier will do, there is no need for a specific brand, but keep in mind this is a thin plastic (think like saran wrap for your floor) and not a foam, the foam is a type of underlayment.

The key here to making this floor suitable for your treadmill is a higher grade laminate with a dense underlayment, cork being your best bet. Underlayment is crucial because less dense underlayments, typically foam or rubber, leave a floor somewhat springy. Floating floors will naturally move ever so slightly under foot, but a dense underlayment, especially cork, removes nearly all of this movement and for heavier items, this is critical. Most underlayments act as a cushion where as cork does not give like the foams. Do not glue your laminate into place as modern laminates are not meant for this type of installation.

Product wise, avoid floors which have an attached underlayment and look into AC4 or AC5 rated floors. Thickness is not a major issue, though it can help here, but keep in mind a very good laminate like Quick Step Perspective (8.5mm) and Pergo Select (10mm) both perform very well, better than cheaper laminates of similar or greater thickness. Other good choices would include Westhollow's South Pacific or Handscraped lines.

Q: I have Salito flooring and I would love to have hard wood flooring installed in the entire house. My question is do I need to remove this floor and if I do what is the best way to do it. The House is about 2000 square feet and the tile is all over ...please help me resolve this issue.

Thank you

A: You will want to remove all of the tile before installing any new wood flooring in your home. Let's do a quick step by step for how to remove tile:

The most important part of this will be determining if you want to save the tile or not. If you want to save the tile, you will need to use a rotary tool to cut the grout around the outside of the tile. Then, carefully use a pry bar to remove the tile. Depending on long the tile has been in place and how well it was installed can make this very difficult.

Now if you do NOT want to save the tile, this gets much easier. All you will need to do is break up the tile using a hammer. I would suggest placing a towel over the tile to prevent any chunks of tile from flying around as you break up the tile. Remove the tile in sections as you break it up.

Once all of the tile is removed, you will need to scrape the floor to remove adhesive/mortar. You could use a hand scraper, but honestly for the amount of tile in your home I would suggest renting a power scraper from a local home store. Typically these machines run about $50 to $75 for a day and they make the work a breeze compared to hand scraping. One thing I will note here is that these machines are very loud, so use some ear plugs.

After the subfloor has been scraped, its likely that you will have a few spots here any there that will need leveling because small amounts of the subfloor come up or get gouged into. So make sure you take time to level out your subfloor and get it clean before installing your floor.

From here, go ahead and install your floor. Assuming this is going over concrete you can either float the floor (make sure to use a moisture barrier and good underlayment) or glue the floor in place. If the floor is being glued, take extra caution during the leveling process to get your subfloor as flat and smooth as possible.

As a final note, when removing tile I would suggest wearing proper eye protection because some bits may fly around, also gloves and knee pads are a good idea. When scraping, a dust mask and ear plugs is also suggested.

Q: Adding a basement bathroom, painted concrete floor, going to add ceramic tiles. Used latex bonding over the painted floor, allowed to dry according to direction, mixed flooor lever as per direction, poured to cover 5 X 10 floor area. allowed to dry as per directions, left the floor to do other work came back 2 weeks later and noticed some cracks starting to appear in the leveling compound, decided to wait longer to see if any more appeared, and they have.

Question: can i continue to put the tiles down over the cracked lever or must i take it up?? Or is there a fix??

Mike

A: Typically when cracks like this occur it is for one of two reasons. Either A) the mix was a bit off or B) the leveler dried incorrectly, usually if a room is too warm or cold, but typically its when it dries too quickly as the moisture in the mixture escapes too quickly. Now since you mentioned you followed directions, my guess is this is most likely temperature related in the room, rather than mixture. Make sure the room sits around 65 degrees Fahrenheit while you give the leveler proper time to cure. Unfortunately this does mean that you will need to take up all of the current leveler and mix up a new batch then pour it out and allow to cure.

After you have cleaned the concrete you are leveling, make sure it is dry before putting your leveler on. Also, it might be advisable to remove the paint on the concrete if possible. This is a bit of extra work and not necessary, but it can remove potential problems if the latex bonding has any issues.

Q: I have just recently installed Pergo Savannah oak (accolade) throughout my home. I have a split foyer design home. I have seven steps up and 6 steps down. How do you use Pergo on steps? Can you use a full width piece on the step and use step nosing? What do you do with the riser part? Can you use Pergo as well or use white wood? I was told AFTER my floor was done that Pergo does not make a step piece only the stair nose. I wish they would have informed me of that prior to starting the project. How do you attach the stair nose if you use Pergo as the part you step on. I went to Home Depot and asked for white riser board and they did not know what I was talking about. Now I am stuck with beautiful floors and unfinished steps. Please help.

Thanks
kd

A: For laminate floor like Pergo, you are going to need to use a stair nose in conjunction with planks of flooring to make the tread of your stair. Keep in mind that you will have to gauge your cuts on the planks to account for the distance after the nosing is installed. This means you need to mark out what room the nosing takes up, then dry rack out the flooring you will be using and mark your cuts accordingly. Make sure you leave an expansion gap for the tread area behind the scribe line. The scribe line is a chalk line you will need to mark to note how much of the tread area will be covered after the riser is installed. Always install treads then risers.

For risers, I would suggest not using planks of the laminate as a riser. It can be done, but you will need to do quite a bit of cut work to remove the locking mechanism. I would suggest just getting plywood/poplar and cut to the size necessary for your risers, than paint to the color you would like them to be. Typically you won't get material for risers that is pre-painted as it is better to paint after making all of your cuts. Also, this allow you to paint them any color you would like if you want something other than white.

To install the nosing, you will be gluing this directly to the stair itself. Usually this is done with the flooring as well using a troweled out flooring adhesive. When you are installing, install the planks of Pergo, then the nosing as this nosing is typically has an overlapping portion.

Quick summary here: You will need to use nosings. Dry rack out your stair tread to account for expansion and how much room the nosing will take up. Mark your scribe line for your riser, then begin installing your tread and nosing. After the treads are installed, install your risers and allow everything plenty of time to cure.