How to Refinish Faux Distressed Hardwood Floors

 Distressed hardwood floors have a unique appearance that it is impossible to replicate. If your home has a distressed wood floor, you already know how attractive they can be. However, it is far too easy to accidentally damage the finish on a hardwood floor. Unfortunately, if this occurs it can be necessary to refinish the whole thing. While this process is long and requires a lot of work, it is simple enough that you can do it yourself. If you know what you are getting into, you can have the seal of your hardwood floor back in perfect condition.

What You'll Need:

• Adhesive Stripper
•  Broom
•  Mop
•  ShopVac
•  Floor Sander
•  Stain
•  Sealer

Step 1 - Preparing the Area

Before you can do anything, you will need completely unobstructed access to your floor. Remove all furniture and other objects from the area you plan to work in. If your floor is carpeted in any area, you will need to remove the carpet as well. If it is not, simply skip to step 3.

Step 2 - Removing the Carpet

To begin, remove the carpet from your floor. Take out any tacks and staples. Be very thorough, as you will need to have them all out, and it is easy to miss one, especially if your floor is dirty.

Next, you will need to remove the carpet adhesive. There are plenty of commercial carpet adhesive strippers that you can buy at your local hardware store. While the exact procedure will vary from brand to brand, you will usually need to ventilate the area, apply the adhesive stripper, and wait several hours for it to do its work. Once you have done this, you can continue. Consult the manufacturer's instructions carefully before using an adhesive stripper.

Once the stripper has done its job, remove the weakened adhesive with a metal scraper. This may damage the finish on your wood floor, but this is unavoidable.

Finish up by sweeping or vacuuming your hardwood floor. This may reveal more tacks or staples that escaped your notice the first time around. If so, remove them before you continue.

Step 3 - Preparing the Floor

Use your floor sander to sand the floor. Do so using long, straight strokes that cover the entire length of the floor. Keep the floor sander moving as steadily as possible as you do this.

Start out with your heaviest sandpaper. When you have finished sanding the entire floor with it, move on to a lighter grade of sandpaper.

Finish up by using your broom, shopvac, and mop on the floor to remove any debris. Small particles left behind during the sealing process will be trapped, making your finish less attractive and functional.

Step 4 - Refinishing the Floor

Use a cloth to apply your stain of choice to the floor. This may take multiple coats; base your judgment on a combination of the manufacturer's instructions and your own personal opinion on your preferred appearance for the floor. If you need to apply multiple coats, clean the floor between coats to avoid sealing dirt into the finish.

Once you are done applying stain, apply sealer and wait 3 days. You can now move your furniture back into the area.

Source: www.DoItYourself.com

How to Replace a Steel Floor Joist

Learning how to replace a steel floor joist may look daunting at first, but all it takes is a bit of patience and a lot of elbow grease.

Step 1 - Inspect the problem

The first order of business is to determine what the source of the problem is. The old joist can be cracked, twisted, or have some problem at the rim-joist connection. If your floor is sagging, it might be that you just need to replace the joists. If the old joists are made of wood, you might want to replace them with steel joists. If the joists are already made of steel, bracing will strengthen them for the demands of your floor. Before starting actual work, do consult with a structural engineer to see if the finished construction will be within the building code standards of your area.

Step 2-Get the correct joists

Ensuring you have the correct load-bearing joists will save you time, money and future headaches. A joist is one of the horizontal supporting members that run from wall to wall, wall to beam, or beam to beam to support a section of your house’s floor. It may be made of wood, steel, or concrete. Be sure to consult with a trusted steel joist manufacturer when purchasing your joists. They supply you with load tables so you can calculate for, and determine, the correct size of the joists you will need.

Step 3-Reinforcing and Replacing a Joist

Before you can take out the old joist, you have to install a new one beside the old one in order to bear the weight of the floor above it. Use the same length of joist and place it beside the old one. You may want to use rafter ties to tie them together first before taking out the old joist. Attach the new joist to the frames of the floor or structure firmly on both ends using bolts in an X-pattern.

Step 4-Bracing the Floor

Allow the new joist a bit of time to adjust to the weight before you slowly remove the old joist. This can be done by bracing the floor with a hydraulic jack. Connect the 4x6 inch beam across the underside of the old and new steel floor joists in order for it to run perpendicular to the joists. Utilize screws and rafter ties to hold the beam in place. Use 1-inch thick steel panels in between the jack and the beams to ensure equal weight distribution. Once the jack is secure, you may untie the old joist from the new one and dismantle from end to end slowly.

You may want to use a spirit level to ensure your progress is not wasted by having new joists but uneven floorboards.

How to Remove Trapped Moisture From a Floating Subfloor

 A floating subfloor is the layer of flooring installed above concrete and under the finished flooring. The floating subfloor may get moisture trapped and cause cracks in the cement flooring. In order to prevent damage to the concrete and the finished flooring, follow the steps below to remove any trapped moisture.

What You'll Need:

• Plywood or OSB Sheets (floating subfloor)
•  Moisture Barrier
•  Stapler or Nailer
•  Dehumidifier
•  Saw
•  Pencil and Marker

Step 1 - Inspect for Trapped Moisture

Moisture usually gets trapped inside the floating subfloor when the concrete below the structure has a high moisture content and has not been coated with a moisture barrier. Usually, the trapped moisture in the subfloor can be spotted easily because of the darker coloring it has compared to the normal color of the concrete. If some areas of the subfloor do have trapped moisture in it, then make sure to take action before installing the finished flooring above it.

Step 2 - Remove the Affected Subfloor

It is best to remove all the subfloor if this does not cause an issue. The reason is that if the concrete has a high moisture content, it needs to be coated with a moisture barrier first to prevent any moisture issues in the future. When the subfloor has been removed, mix the moisture barrier product in a container and apply it to the concrete floor using a notched trowel. Install a dehumidifier in the room to allow the moisture to evaporate quickly. This will also be useful in creating a moist-free space.

Step 3 - Allow the Floating Subfloor to Dry

While waiting for the moisture barrier to dry, place the subfloor material in a well-ventilated area in order to allow the trapped moisture to evaporate. Sometimes, the affected parts of the subfloor may warp or distort. In this case, make sure to have replacements ready. It's not a good idea to have the subfloor dry under the sun when the moisture is still fresh.

The reason is that the quick drying process will distort the size and shape of the material, especially if the moisture is quite high. Therefore, just let the material dry out naturally in a well-ventilated room.

Step 4 - Reinstall the Subfloor

When the subfloor material has dried out, check for parts that need to be replaced with new ones. Use a pencil and a marker to mark areas that need to be cut. Cut these areas and prepare replacements. Afterwards, reinstall the floating subfloor on top of the coated concrete. Lay the pieces carefully and staple them together to form the subfloor.

As long as the concrete is coated properly with the moisture barrier, the subfloor will never have issues again with trapped moisture. Just to make sure the moisture does not become an issue in the future, make sure to install exhaust fans, dehumidifiers or ventilation materials in order to keep the area free from high humidity.

Source: www.DoItYourself.com

How to Sand Bamboo Flooring

Bamboo flooring is fast becoming one of the most popular flooring materials in use today. Bamboo is dent resistant, mold resistant, mildew resistant, stain resistant, and waterproof and insects don't like it. There are two issues with using bamboo as flooring: cost and ability to stain. When you purchase bamboo flooring you'll notice few color choices.

You can get natural bamboo and two shades darker which is achieved by the process used to turn bamboo into flooring material. It's possible for you to stain the bamboo but you need to sand it and this article will show you how.

What You'll Need:

• Carpenters pry bar
•  Palm sander
•  Hammer
•  Plastic drop cloth
•  Square buff sander
•  Sandpaper
•  Water
•  Clean rags
•  Soft broom
•  Vacuum
•  Tack cloth

Step 1 – Prepare the Floor

Sanding bamboo flooring is a process due to the texture of the material. Remove everything from the surface of the floor. This means everything from a step stool to a wrap around sofa. You'll be generating a large amount of sawdust so to protect other rooms of the home use painter’s tape and a plastic drop cloth to cover the entrances to the other rooms.

Use the carpenter’s pry bar and carefully remove the baseboard material. This will allow you to be able to sand the entire floor. Place the baseboard material off to the side to use later if you plan to use it again after staining the bamboo flooring.

Step 2 – Sanding the Bamboo Flooring

As mentioned in Step 1, this is a process, due to the fine grain found in bamboo. Begin your sanding using the square buff sander. Begin at the furthest corner of the bamboo flooring. Use the sander by pulling it directly toward your body using constant and even pressure. You also want to sand along the length of the bamboo against the grain. Work like this until 2/3 of the floor is sanded. You will then want to finish your sanding in sections one pass at a time.

For any areas that cannot be reached with the square buff sander use the palm sander to reach those areas. You will, in essence, be sanding the bamboo flooring three times. Start with the 100-grit sandpaper then go over it again with the 120-grit sandpaper and finally with the 180-grit sandpaper.

Step 3 – Final Floor Preparations

Now that the bamboo flooring has been thoroughly sanded down it is nearly ready to be stained. Use a push broom with soft bristles to sweet the sawdust in to a manageable pile and then suck it up with a vacuum. A tack cloth is a fabric that is fairly stiff with extra matte to not just wipe up dirt but to cling to it.

Wipe the bamboo flooring down with a tack cloth to ensure there is no sawdust lingering. Bamboo has a very tight grain which makes it hard to stain. Soak a rag in water and squeeze it out then so that it is damp. Wipe the bamboo flooring down in order to open up the pores of the bamboo.

Source: www.DoItYourself.com