Hardwood floors are all the rage with homebuyers and those looking to remodel rooms with other less durable, tough, or natural flooring materials. Many different looks and types of hardwood floors are available today. Depending on your budget, there is a hardwood floor product for you. Make a trip to your local home center store to see firsthand the different options available. If you’re not the weekend handyman type ask for preferred installation contractors at the home center.Here are some handy tips and hints.
-Solid hardwood floors come in three varieties. Strip floors; this is the most common. Plank floors, random widths give any home a rustic, colonial, or country look. Parquet are short wood pieces glued to backing on 12 inch square tiles.
Solid hardwood floors can be sanded up to three times in their lifetime.
-Common hardwoods and softwood used are; birch, beech,maple,oak, red oak, pine, fir, and cherry.
-Laminated hardwood floors are not the same as solid. A thin layer or veneer is bonded to another less expensive wood, and typically pre-finished with both stain and sealer. The down side is these types of floors can’t be sanded and refinished.
-Bamboo floors are becoming more and more popular. Considered green-building-friendly, they are an easy-to-replenish species. Bamboo floors are more flexible than oak and maple. One downside is that it does stain more easily. Make sure that you apply an extra two coats of sealer.
-All wood flooring should be placed in the space where it is to be installed for a couple of days to acclimate the wood to the heat and humidity level in the space.
-All wood floors need to be applied or float over concrete or supporting floor joists. Sub-floors are a must for slab concrete installations. Wood floors should be installed perpendicular to floor joists.
-Squeaks in hardwood floors can be daunting to find and fix. Squeaks occur when a board works loose and rubs against another board or against the subfloor. Hire a professional to fix squeaks and you’ll get it done right the first time.
-Wood floors can be easily cleaned using a product such as Murphy’s Oil Soap once a week. Be sure you don’t wax wood floors that have been sealed with any polyurethane product.
By: Mark Nash
Posts Tagged ‘Floor Joists’
Hardwood Floor Options for Your Home
April 6th, 2010Practical Home Improvement – Soundproofing Techniques
March 28th, 2010
One of the most welcomed, and most valuable, of all home improvements is creating a quieter world in which to live. We all know that the modern world is a noisy place, and making it a little bit quieter will go a long way.
There are many techniques for soundproofing a single room or an entire home, and which ones are appropriate will depend in large part on the location of the home, the nature of the noise problem, and of course the budget of the homeowner.
For new construction, one of the most effective noise proofing techniques is to stagger the location of the doorways so that they are not directly opposite one another. This will keep the sound from traveling directly across hallways and reverberating around the home. It is also a good idea for at least one quarter of each room to include some sort of absorbent material, be it carpet, curtains, or furniture. It is also possible to install a soundproofing mat on the walls and the ceilings.
If noise from squeaking floors on the upper floor is the problem, it can be solved by taking down the ceiling on the lower floor and placing triangular wood strips on the flooring above and an the floor joists. In addition, liquid adhesive can be used to keep the flooring from moving around and causing squeaks.
Another popular soundproofing technique is to use two sets of disconnected wall studs to frame back to back walls. In addition, the use of fiberglass installation will help to absorb sound.
For traditionally framed houses, the wall framing and the covering drywall will transmit noise from through the wall to the other side. This is because the wall studs transfer the noise which bounces off the drywall in one room through the stud and into the drywall which is mounted on the back of the same stud in the other room.
Simply by inserting fiberglass installation bats, the sound will be dampened but not completely eliminated. For greater noise elimination, it will be necessary to use separate studs for each wall, therefore stopping the noise from being transmitted room to room.
Using double paned glass and vinyl frames for windows is another good way to soundproof a home. These double paned windows will cost a little bit more, but they are worth it in the long run. Adding shutters to the interiors of the window can be a big help as well.
By: Brooke Sikula
Soundproofing Techniques – Home Improvements With Big Payoffs
December 3rd, 2009
You can find soundproofing techniques both for individual rooms and for your entire house, and the selections of which ones are most suitable for you situation will depend on three factors: where your home is located: what sort of noise you want to eliminate: and how much you can afford to spend.
Soundproofing Techniques For New Homes
If you are having your home built, you can get an early start on soundproofing it by having your doorways staggered so that none of them is directly across from another one. In doing so, you’ll prevent the noise from one room from being transmitted across a hallway and echoing around the home’s interior. You should also request that your contractor design each room so that at least 25% of it will be taken up with sound-absorbing materials like draperies, carpeting, or furniture. If you can afford it, also request that your walls and ceilings have soundproofing mats installed.
Soundproofing Techniques For Existing Homes
If you are trying to make an existing home quieter, and are bothered by noisy floors on the upper stories, you can remove the ceilings beneath them and add triangular wooden strips to both the floor joists and the floors themselves. You can also consider using a liquid adhesive to secure the squeaky floorboards so they move around less.
Another of the commonly used soundproofing techniques is to frame back-to-back walls with a double set of disconnected wall studs, and add some fiberglass insulation to deaden sounds. If you live in a traditionally framed home, your wall framing and drywall will allow sound to pass through your walls from one room to another. The wall studs attached on one side of the drywall will transmit the sounds from one room through it into the drywall of the other room to which they are attached.
You can dampen the sound transmitted in this fashion by installing fiberglass batts, but in order to eliminate it completely, you’ll have to put up a separate set of studs for both the walls, so that the noise from one room can’t be transmitted to the drywall of the other.
Soundproofing Techniques For Windows
In addition those you use on your walls, ceilings, and floors, you should find some Soundproofing techniques to employ on your windows. Think about using both vinyl window frames and double-paned glass, because although you’ll pay more for double panes, you’ll be rewarded with both quieter and a more energy-efficient house.
Finally, one of the soundproofing techniques which will not only make your home less noisy, but add an attractive privacy accent to its interior, is to install shutters on the insides of your windows.
By: Eric Henry