Most people probably do not think of a floor as something that locks.  Hardwood floors can do just that, however; a locking hardwood floor is a particular variety preferred by many installers because it is easy to work with.  A locking hardwood floor may use the familiar tongue and groove arrangement to snap boards into place together, or it may have a more advanced proprietary locking system; this depends on the manufacturer.

Installation of a locking floor generally begins with the removal of baseboards; however, a spacer piece is necessary in order to keep the floor from jamming up against the wall.  When all rows have been completed, the spacer piece is removed so that baseboards can be reinstalled.  The use of the spacer helps to make sure that the flooring will not inadvertently occupy space needed for the baseboards later.  As any homeowner knows, the addition of baseboards to a hardwood floor gives it an additional elegance that can be quite pleasing to the eye.

Locking floors offer some benefits over other installation methods such as using glue and nails to fix the boards to the subfloor.  As a locking floor is free floating, it can contract and expand more as a single unit.  As long as appropriate gaps have been left at the edges, this can help to minimise or even prevent buckling.  This type of installation is also far simpler.

Locking hardwood floors will need periodic maintenance in the form of floor sanding and refinishing.

Many people installing hardwood flooring choose red oak, which has become a standard wood selection in the industry.  Others, however, want to branch out into species that are a bit more adventurous.  One of these is pilang wood, which comes from the tree commonly known as white bark acacia.  This tree is native to the South-eastern Asian nations of Indonesia, India, Thailand and Vietnam, where its most common uses include providing shade for herds of livestock and providing them with a source of fodder during the dry season.  As it grows in several nations, it has a variety of names including safed babul, sarai velvelam and Safed Kikkar.

White bark acacia is called Acacia leucophloea by scientists and is remarkable for its thorny nature.  These trees are enormous, reaching more than 100 feet in height during a lifespan that may exceed a century.  For their height, however, they are relatively spindly; the trunk in even the largest specimens of white bark acacia rarely exceeds three feet in diameter.

Pilang wood has heartwood with a vibrant reddish-brown hue and is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful of the tropical hardwoods.  The sapwood is much brighter, consisting of a hue that varies from yellow to cream.

Pilang wood is considered to be very hard, earning a score of 2400 on the industry standard Janka test.  This means that it can stand up to multiple rounds of floorboard sanding, making it a long-lasting hardwood choice for your home.

One of the things that makes a hardwood floor so appealing is the grain of the wood.  Many types of flooring material have a repetitive pattern, but wood grain presents a natural randomness in which every board may be different.  The overall effect on the eye is calming and pleasant – an understated elegance.

There is more to wood grain, however, than just a series of rings.  Granted, annual growth rings are the most commonly recognised element in wood grain, but in most hardwood flooring applications, the familiar circular pattern will not be evident.  This is because planks intended for hardwood flooring are usually cut parallel to the trunk of the tree, not crosswise through it.

The grain in a plank of wood may exhibit several features including “figure,” which refers to a pattern formed by not only growth rings but also by the knots and other natural variations that may be present in a given section of wood.  One of these other natural variations derives from a tree structure referred to as medullary rays.  These reach from the core of the trunk out toward the bark and may be extremely thin – only a few cells across in some varieties of tree.  In other species, such as oak, medullary rays may actually be several inches across instead.

Many flooring planks exhibit what experts call tangential grain in which the growth rings intersect the plank at an angle – typically of 45 degrees or less.

Regardless of the grain pattern in a hardwood floor, regular maintenance in the form of floorboard sanding will be required on a periodic basis.

Most people want to save money whenever possible, but those who decide to use products that “restore shine” to a hardwood floor should take care to remember the tried and true adage: you get what you pay for.

The point of using a do-it-yourself product is to avoid having to pay for wood floor repairs such as professional recoating or hardwood sanding and finishing.  These products, however, typically sold in home renovation stores, have major drawbacks.  Not all of them are compatible with the various kinds of finishes that are used on today’s modern hardwoods.  Using an incompatible product runs the risk of ruining the finish completely.  A best practices approach to this problem is to ask the manufacturer of your flooring about the finish so you can determine if a particular product that promises to “restore shine” is compatible or not.

Even when a product is fully compatible, however, another problem remains.  Application of shine restoration products is far from simple.  In essence, you will be applying an extremely thin layer of finish.  It is essential to sweep and vacuum the floor thoroughly to remove every trace of debris.  This is easier said than done, but it is absolutely imperative.  Any dust or grit that remains on the floor will be sealed into the new finish you are applying.  The results can be unsightly if the floor was not clean enough to begin with.

Rather than use a do-it-yourself shine restoration product, have your floors professionally sanded and resealed.

When a wooden floor begins to show its age, it will need maintenance and repairs beyond the usual advice to keep the floor well-swept or vacuumed. At that time, homeowners who look at the scratches and other marks on the floor may well wonder if the accumulated damage over time calls for recoating or for hardwood floor sanding.

What is recoating?

“Recoating” refers to a procedure in which a floor services company lightly grinds off the finish on the floor so that a fresh coat of finish can be applied. Another recoating method involves the use of a chemical solution that allows a new finish coat to be laid down without the previous one being removed. Recoating is generally more appropriate in cases where the finish is only damaged in spots or patches. If the floor has been seriously damaged and there are patches where none of the original finish material remains, a recoating solution will generally not be adequate to get a good result.

In some cases, in fact, a recoating will only make problems more noticeable. This is because recoating does nothing to repair scratches that may extend down to the actual wood surface itself.

What is hardwood floor sanding?

A complete floor sanding is appropriate if the floor currently has bare patches that lack any finish. It is also appropriate in cases where the scratches and damage are extensive – meaning that scratches are deep and may reach the wood itself. The only true solution in this case is to sand the floor’s surface down to reach a layer of new, fresh wood.