Hardwood Floors: Laying, Sanding and Finishing

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Hardwood Floors: Laying, Sanding and Finishing

by Don Bollinger

Quote from Book:

"Back in the early 1930s, when the Farmer's Home Administration began issuing cheap mortgages, it required all houses to have hardwood floors..."

Topic include:

car decking, nested bundles, unfinished strip, balanced baseline, floor mechanics, prefinished flooring, staggered seams, flooring dealers, medium sanding, slash grain, primary baseline, face nailed, laminated flooring, sanding equipment, strip flooring, power nailers, moisture stable, parquet patterns, parquet tiles, diagonal layout, face nailing, your flooring, blind nailed, rough sanding, floor sanding

Hardwood Floors: Laying, Sanding and Finishing

Quote from Book:

"Wall-to-wall carpeting is one of the easiest and quickest ways to improve the look of most floors..."

Topics include:

cork planks, laminate planks, tackless strips, leather tiles, cement backer board, excess carpet, bamboo planks, stair tool, laminate floors, power nailer, bamboo flooring, leather floors, wood grid, knee kicker, grout float, leveling compound, flooring nails, drum sander, vertical bamboo, inch expansion, longest wall, loop pile, wet saw, sheet vinyl, bamboo floors

From Library Journal
While wood flooring has been much in vogue in recent years, it has received little if any exceptional treatment from do-it-yourself writers. Bollinger, an experienced flooring contractor, has produced what has to be the definitive guide to installing and finishing wood floors. He addresses the three types of flooring: strip, plank, and parquet--covering such topics as estimating costs; selecting wood types and grades; preparing the underlayment; planning the layout; sanding; and applying various finishes. Bollinger brings in many tricks of the trade, such refinements as wood and metal inlays, and ideas for dealing with the irregularities that invariably crop up in the repair or layout of floors as part of renovation projects. Nicely illustrated with photos and drawings. For most public libraries with active how-to collections. A companion video is also available; contact the publisher.

Customer Reviews:

Really a "must read"

If you're planning to install or refinish wood floors, you really should read this book. Installing wood flooring is definitely something a determined beginner can do, but there are some pitfalls along the way. This book will help you avoid them. There's also a companion video that I highly recommend. The time and expense of buying and reading/watching these materials will be returned many times over by avoiding mistakes.

I used the book and video to help prepare myself for my first DIY floor installation, and everything went extremely well. I also had some coaching from a local installer, which I highly recommend. He had me practice on an 8' x 8' square before doing anything on the actual floor. The more you can learn, the easier it will all be and the better the final results. In my case, the results were really quite astonishing - I had many, many comments and compliments, and more than one person mentioned that my work was better than the "professional" work in their own house. That's an advantage of doing it yourself - you can take the time to do it right.

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Great For Your Do-It-YourSelfer

This is the book you need if you want to install or refinish your hardwood floor. And the author even covers his views on water based finishes.

In addition, I recommend only using a continuous belt sander. The author mentions the benefits, but the sheet fed causes chatter marks. GO WITH THE BELT! The belt sanders can be harder to find, but look for it.

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Used for installing heart pine floors

Great book. Covers all you need from actually installing the floor to the final coat of finish. I'm a first timer, but installed and finished my pine floors and saved about $7000.

I'm now planning to install ceramic tile for first time and hope to find book on this subject as good as Don Bollinger's book.

 


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This page last updated: Wednesday, 2005-04-27 10:41