The idea of waxing and polishing one’s hardwood floors has pretty much disappeared from the homeowner’s memory. Realizing the user-friendliness is now a requirement for product success, hardwood flooring manufacturers have created advanced urethane flooring finished which can be applied at their factories and which dry under ultraviolet lights in a matter of minutes.

The Finishing Process

Because the finish is factory applied, it will be put on the flooring in a dust-free environment, and several thin coats are applied each being dried under ultraviolet lights before the next is added. Most prefinished hardwood flooring has between six and ten coats of urethane, producing a highly wear resistant result.

While both Polyurethane and Acrylic urethane will produce a clear hard finish, the durability of prefinished hardwood flooring can be enhanced with the addition of either ceramic or aluminum oxide particles to the urethane; aluminum oxide is the favored additive because of the abrasion resistance it provides.

Finally, acrylic-impregnated prefinished wood flooring is strengthened by having acrylic injected into its fibers, and sealed with a urethane “wear layer.”

For those who are having homes built. Or a mew floor installed, the use of prefinished hardwood flooring eliminated the extra wait involved while their hardwood floors are sanded, stained, varnished, sanded again, and varnished again. Trying to put six to ten coats of varnish on and unfinished floor, and having to wait for each one to dry, would try the patience of Job himself--not to mention the fumes of sawdust and varnish permeating the entire house.

Prefinished hardwood floors are also low-maintenance. A weekly vacuuming with a soft brush, and a vacuum with rubber coated wheels, followed by a swipe with the cleaner/shiner recommended by the floor’s maker which you’ll be able to find at the retailer which sold you the flooring, is all that’s required.

Disadvantages of Prefinished hardwood Flooring

Prefinished wood flooring, however, is not without its drawbacks. One of them is that, in order to make allowances for any irregularities either in the sub-flooring or in the flooring itself, prefinished wood flooring is usually produced with beveled edging. While beveled edges are usually less conspicuous than square ones, they can be a hindrance during sweeping or mopping.

And the number of colors available in prefinished hardwood flooring is still rather limited, although the flooring manufacturers are doing their best to introduce new ones. But trying to custom match a new prefinished hardwood floor to the existing floors in your home may be very difficult.

By: David Faulkner
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If you're looking to save money on your home improvement project, perhaps you should consider refinishing your own hardwood floors rather than paying the high price tag a professional would charge. While it may not require quite the investment of money to refinish your own hardwood floors, it does require a significant investment of time. It is often possible to rent the equipment at a fraction of the cost that it would require in order to buy them and less than a professional would charge.

The first step in refinishing your hardwood floors is removing all furniture, rugs, and mats that are on the floor. It's also a good idea to wear a dust mask as you are going to be stirring up quite the dust storm as you go about your business.

Refinishing hardwood floors is an excellent way to restore existing hardwood floors to their former glory. You can buy many books on refinishing hardwood floors and you may find some in your local library at no charge, you can also find a great wealth of information on the subject online. You will need a heavy-duty sander for the task of smoothing out any rough spots and removing the existing stain. You will want to move the sander on the floor in one direction that moves with the line of the hardwood rather than going across it. This is especially important to do if your hardwood floors have beveled edges or small grooves. You also need to take care that you aren't applying more pressure in some spots than others as doing so will result in pits in your floor and more sanding in your future.

Once you've finished with your initial sanding you must sweep and vacuum the dust from your floor and lightly wash it. This part is often not given the proper care it deserves and is very important when refinishing hardwood floors. The reason it is so important is that the tiniest speck of dirt and dust will show up when you stain the floor. It is also important that you use only a damp mop for washing the floor rather than a wet mop. If there is too much water in the floor that has been sanded it will cause stains.

After drying the floor you will be ready for the next step in the refinishing process. You have many options for the color of your stain depending on the type of wood you have and your personal preference or you can choose to leave it a natural color. There's also a relatively new protective coating for hardwood floors called polyurethane. You can choose high gloss or low luster depending on how shiny you prefer your floors. The more coats you put on, the glossier your finish will be. It is vital that you do not apply additional coats until the previous coat is completely dry.

While refinishing hardwood floors is time consuming, you do not have to move out of your home in order to accomplish it. The stains and protective coatings do not have harsh fumes so they are not dangerous to breathe. You do want to take care not to walk on your floor until it is completely dry. If you do not wait you will have wasted all that time and effort and have to either start over or try to hide the footprints.

By: Christopher Smith
Need hardwood floor refinishing tips? Do you know how to properly clean your hardwood floors? Visit http://www.refinishinghardwood.com for more details.

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Hardwood floors are all the rage today in newer homes. but floors have been made of hardwood for hundreds of years. In medieval times. floors were made of dirt. and wooden floors were the next step up. Hardwood floors should be considered one of the most important elements in your home design. The comfort and value of hardwood floors is unequal. and they offer many benefits to the homeowner.

One of the most important and desirable features is easy maintenance. New technologies have produced wood flooring that can be beautifully maintained with just a daily sweeping or dusting. Coatings and surfaces have been developed that eliminate the work that used to be involved in keeping wood floors looking good. From time to time. a good cleaning product. one that is recommended by the manufacturer. should be used to keep a hardwood floor looking new for a long. long time.

If you have decided to install hardwood floors. you need to be familiar with the grades that are available. This is the appearance of the wood. based on the type of manufacture used. Different parts of a tree. and how it is cut. will deterine the grade. The part of tree the wood comes from will influence the final color of the wood floor and the grain of the pattern will be determined by the way the wood has been sawed. Hardwood for floors is cut from a log in different directions. and this will determine the look. Tangent to the rings will produce a different look than radially across the rings. Depending on the look you want. either one may be the right one for you. If you are looking for durability. hardwood floors are the right choice.

In addition to being durable. hardwood floors are an environmentally friendly renewable product. Many people use the wood from old barns and old homes for the flooring in their new homes. Wood floors do not have the alergens and dust that accumulate in carpets. and so if you or a family member is plagued with allergies. this makes hardwood floors the best choice for you. As a matter of fact. hardwood floors are endorsed by a number of health organizations as the healthy choice for people with any kind of allergy or breathing conditions.

Hardwood floors are the best choice in terms of investment for your home. and adding to its resale value; even though the initial investment may be higher than carpeting or vinyl. it maintains its value longer since it does not have to be replaced. Hardwood floors also do not look worn as easily and readily as other floor coverings. and this further adds to the value of your home. These are just some of the reasons that it makes sense to invest in hardwood floors. These reason. plus the infinite variety of styles and colors available that will suit any decorating scheme makes hardwood floors the ideal choice.

By: A.Caxton
Andrew Caxton use to write for http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com. For additional information regarding flooring or floor care go to hardwood floors.

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If you are in the midst of shopping for pre-finished wood, I would encourage you to take a minute and brush up on the basics. You see, there are many people that are more than willing to sell you new pre-finished wood flooring. However, the number of those who will sell it to you and supply you with the proper information, is far less than the total number available.

For the purpose of this article, I am assuming that you have concluded that pre-finished wood flooring is what you really do want. There are other choices including linoleum, natural stone, ceramic tile, as well as laminate flooring, depending on the look that you are trying to capture. I am assuming that you have narrowed your choice down to pre-finished wood and this process should help you make the right choice.

The first part of any flooring experience should be to establish the basics of your lifestyle, living habits and general needs. This will help the salesperson with his selection and so too assist in the choice of flooring you finally make. It is simply not enough to find something you like the look of and then expect it to work with your living environment.

Beyond those basics, we are going to talk today about your ability, as the consumer, to help guide the buying process. These principles can be used in most purchasing situations - but this is specifically directed to pre-finished wood flooring. Remember that this is an 'interview sales format' and is similar to what your sales person should be asking you. Following the standard questioning I have added a few of my patented insights which I hope will help guide you to your own conclusions. Let's begin.

GOOD DAY TO YOU. THANKS FOR COMING IN - LET ME GUIDE YOU THROUGH THE PRE-FINISHED WOOD SHOPPING PROCESS BY ASKING YOU A FEW QUESTIONS. FIRST - WHAT AREAS OF THE HOME ARE YOU CONSIDERING INSTALLING WOOD FLOORING IN?

Because of the natural beauty of wood and the trend towards natural colour and texture, I have found that wood is used throughout the home. Many people have wood starting in their entry, going down the hallway into the kitchen and dining room. There are truly unlimited number of choices - but I personally consider wet areas off limits.

A critical component to this part of your decision is the technical feasibility on where the product is to be installed. For instance, if you want new wood in your kitchen and family room, that sounds like a good application. However, if you have vinyl in the kitchen with a ¾" particleboard underlayment and your family room has carpet, you now have a more complex installation. Most people want the new floor to be one level so you can do one of two things:

Raise the thickness of the family room by adding an underlayment, so that it matches the total thickness of the vinyl and particleboard. This can be done for most glue down, nail down and floating floors. But, you may create a thickness problem in the family room doorways. Don't forget to check tolerances at the slider door, and other transition points, to make sure that doors still work after adding both the underlayment as well as the new pre-finished flooring, which can be as thick as ¾ of an inch.

You may also need to consider whether your refrigerator will still fit under your cabinets and whether you will still be able to get your dishwasher out in the future with the addition of the new pre-finished wood flooring. What about a fireplace? Will you scribe cut to the bricks or masonry work or will you undercut? What is the impact on the baseboard? Remove the vinyl and underlayment in the kitchen and install the new flooring in the new area. This may sound simple at first - but let's investigate further.

Getting vinyl and underlayment off the sub-floor is a difficult and possibly dangerous task. You need to make sure your vinyl does not contain asbestos by getting it tested. If you do have asbestos, ask a local asbestos company for advice about how to proceed. If you do not have asbestos in your vinyl, you can move onto the next step, which would be cutting up the sub-floor (with the vinyl still attached) and removing it in chunks. Once you remove every single nail and staple what was left from that old sub-floor (pray that it was not screwed and glued down), you can then look at the damage you just inflicted on your cabinets. If you are careful you won't hit them or scratch them - but be aware of this possibility during the demolition so that you don't end up spending more time and money due to carelessness. Once you have removed the carpet,underlay and tack strip.

That is basically all you'll need - but you'll still need to be aware of transition points and how they will work with the flooring. One other problem is the chance that your baseboard will now be lower than before and that may leave an exposed area of wall that does not have paint or wallpaper on it, and therefore, may require additional cost and attention.

Whew! How exhausting! My object with the above accounting, about what goes into the typical process, is not to scare you. I simply want to make sure you anticipate every detail prior to the job starting and not have it surprise you once you are in the midst of it.

There are literally hundreds of variables with your home and the potential choices for flooring, but here is what impacts the technical part of your job the most:

Installation method Thickness of new wood floor Existing sub-floor where new floor will be installed Transition points in the room and availability of transitions Usage of the room and applicability of the proposed material

If you are trying to match wood that has been installed previously, you will really need to determine what you mean by match. If you mean match dead on - you are headed for trouble. If you mean match as close as is reasonable - you will need to duplicate the previous floor to the best of your abilities. That means, if your floor was installed, sanded and finished in place, you will need to use that same process again, which means you can quit reading this. If, on the other hand, you want to use a pre-finished wood that ties in and has a good flow, then read on!

NOW THAT YOU HAVE DETERMINED WHERE IN THE HOME TO INSTALL THE WOOD, WE NEED TO ESTABLISH WHAT KIND OF TRAFFIC THOSE AREAS WILL HAVE TO HANDLE. DO YOU HAVE ANY FACTORS THAT MAKE YOUR AREA A HIGH TRAFFIC AREA?

This key question should be answered as honestly as possible. If you have kids and pets, you should already know the answer. Large dogs in particular can be a tax on your wood floor so be prepared to choose a better quality flooring that can withstand your needs.

For instance, there are some really beautiful high gloss wood floors, from brands like Mirage, Bruce, Hartco, Mercier and many more. These sleek ultra sheen floors have almost a wet look. Some people really really like this look. However, a general rule is that the higher the gloss, the more likely you will see flooring imperfections and scratches. Therefore, if you have a high traffic area - do not put in a high gloss. Use a satin or semi-gloss finish.

A satin or lower gloss look can be absolutely stunning and show less day to day wear and tear than the high gloss looks. I recommend people with high traffic go with the lower gloss levels.

If you are looking for a super formal look, or have a low traffic area, a higher gloss level can work out fine.

Pre-finished wood can be an excellent choice for someone who wants to do an installation by themselves, or with a friend. The product gives you the benefit of installing without sanding and finishing, this means a cleaner job-site, too. Price is not usually an advantage to be perfectly honest.. As usual, you can expect lower priced floors to have a shorter life span than those at the top end of the scale.

Other benefits of pre-finished flooring include a clean clear finish with very few defects. Although a floor will never have a "table-top" finish, you will generally find a cleaner finish because of the factory making the product under very strict controls.

Pre-finished floors can also give you a bit more variety than standard sand and finish floors. Sure, you can get any species in the raw form and have a finish applied - it just seems that few people choose non-standard floors when using the sand and finish process.

I think that a benefit of pre-finished engineered woods is dimensional stability. That means, that if your floor is an engineered construction, it usually has multiple layers that composed the flooring. This can be two layers, three layers up to five different layers. The benefit of this process is that when the wood tries to expand and contract, it will actually pull against itself. These layers create a self-balanced board which leaves your overall installation subject to less movement. This is especially important for concrete floors and radiant heat floors, that can have a lot of movement. The layers are usually applied in different directions using a system called "cross-ply-lamination". This process is not to be confused with laminate flooring. Lamination simply refers to the process of glueing the layers together. The industry now refers to these kinds of floors as "engineered wood flooring". Not all pre-finished floors are engineered. Some are ¾" solid wood. It just depends on your application for which one you should choose.

Finally, I like the idea of having a warranty of some kind on the flooring. Typically, the warranties are hollow and leave almost no recourse for actual problems. Most of the time, the manufacturer's will blame everything on the installer. However, in spite of this fact, there seems to be some sense of comfort in knowing that a pre-finished floor has something to refer to in case of problems. The standard warranty with sand and finished floors is something like when you can't see the tail lights of the work truck anymore, your warranty has just expired. Now, before all you wood floor professionals start sending me flaming e-mails, let us agree on one point. - Most good guys stand behind their work, but the lack of written warranties in the sand and finish business is not a consumer benefit. Pre-finished floors have a wide range of warranties. Some are builder grade products, which just warrant against manufacturing defects and others have a 25 year guarantee that you won't have to refinish floor.

Please, let me say that warranties are not the reason to choose one thing over another, based solely on that criteria. They are a component in the overall decision.

NOW WE KNOW WHERE THE WOOD IS GOING AND WHAT KIND OF TRAFFIC TO EXPECT. DO YOU HAVE A PREFERENCE ON THE SPECIES OF WOOD?

Most floors today are still made in oak species. Red oak is the most common, but white oak is used as well. Oak is a good floor for almost any staining situation imaginable. Oak has a very pronounced grain and hides lots of little things.

Maple has gained a great amount of popularity over the past 3-5 years and is used is many homes. Maple has a very subtle grain to it and a light yellowish colouration. Because these features you can see more things like small gaps and minor imperfections in maple than you can in a darker colour.

Ash has a similar grain to oak, however, has a more yellowish tone to it. So if you have cabinets that you would like to tie in the colour ways with the floor - but either can't get oak to match or don't want the "same old look" check out ash. It is a hardwood and compares very well to oak in terms of hardness.

Bamboo is a fast growing grass, it can be as tough as oak when it is all put together and typically has a few lighter shades available in it. Bamboo has a vertical and horizontal grain layout so you'll want to figure out which look you like the best.

Cherry may be one of the most misunderstood woods of all. If you pick up one cherry board and you like the look of it, please remember this may not be a good indicator for the entire look of the floor. Cherry starts as a light wood with a reddish cast and very soft graining, however cherry changes dramatically with time due to sunlight and electrical light. This means that if you have an area rug over part of the floor and you move it months later there will be a very obvious spot where the rug was. All cherry darkens with time and it is considered a soft wood.

NOW YOU HAVE A GENERAL SENSE ABOUT WHAT LOOK YOU LIKE - BUT HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY KNOW WHAT KIND OF FINISH TO CHOOSE?

There are literally too many finishes for me to keep track of but I am going to list a couple that you are likely to hear about.

A polyurethane finish is very popular and up until recently, was the number one finish used on the majority of all pre-finished floors. The process still can be very good and it can be stained and quite versatile as a finish. There are many different kinds of polyurethane and many blends as well. For instance Kahrs flooring uses an acrylic and polyurethane mix to achieve a very tough finish. This can be a good choice for you. Maintenance is ok and spot repairs can be done, but they are easy to spot.

An acrylic impregnated floor, which can be found in Bruce floors, can really add an excellent durability factor to your flooring. One benefit of this process is that the finish is actually forced into the floor itself which creates a finish that is all the way through the top wear surface. I have seen wonderful results from this kind of flooring. In fact many commercial areas use this flooring because it is so tough.

By: Adrian Lee
Managing Director for FlooringSupplies.co.uk
You can visit the website at: http://www.flooringsupplies.co.uk
Please call 0871 250 1066 or e-mail: sales@flooringsupplies.co.uk for more information.

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