DIY Life

I'm a hardwood floors gal all the way. I love the rich colors and patterns that come from natural wood, and there's just something about a good game of sock hockey in the kitchen that gets me every time. Yet I'll admit --- it's sometimes tricky to clean hardwood floors. After all, how do you reach those cracks and crevices between the planks?

Turns out that if you follow a few ground rules, you'll have shiny, gleaming wood floors worthy of a palace. Ready for the tips, straight from our friends at ShelterPop?:

1. Sweep wood floors twice weekly with a soft, fine bristle broom. Avoid hard brooms as they may scratch the surface of your wood.
2. Vacuum twice monthly to remove dirt, sand and other small particles. Use a soft brush attachment to minimize any scratching from the vacuum's wheels.
3. Because water is one of a wood floor's worst enemies, get rid of water right away! Remove wet spills as soon as possible with soft towels or a wet/dry vacuum, then dry thoroughly. Be sure to dry cracks between the planks with a napkin-covered toothpick for heavily soiled areas.
4. Use a very well wrung-out, damp mop when mopping polyurethaned wood floors as excess water can seep into seams and ruin a wood floor.
5. Some floors may require periodic waxing and buffing. Get recommendations from your floor's manufacturer for the specific procedures for your floor, and be sure to avoid using harsh chemicals when cleaning.

Your clean hardwood floors will gleam in no time!

How many days are we into our kitchen renovation now? I've lost count, and it feels like 100. Living without a kitchen is hard. Living without a kitchen when you're a SAHM to two small children is even harder. Luckily, in the scheme of things, this project has gone really quickly.

Last weekend we were able to move most of our stuff back in, including our stove and microwave. In about 10 days our counter tops and sink will be in, making the kitchen fully functional again. We thought we were going to move right into a bathroom renovation after this, but I think I need a break.

For the most part, things have gone smoothly. The falling plaster was too much to patch, so we ended up covering it with a birch wallboard. We'll seal and paint it the same color as the walls. To the casual observer, it shouldn't look any different than if we had plastered it.

If you've been reading DIY Life for a while, you know that I really love my Roomba. Well, now my loyalties are divided because I recently met Roomba's floor-washing cousin, the Scooba.

For the uninitiated, Roombas and Scoobas are robots that vacuum and wash your floor, respectively. I was skeptical that either device would do a particularly good job, but I'm happy to have been proven wrong. To keep my Scooba happily cleaning my floors for a long time, I baby it just like I do my Roomba. If you've got a Scooba, here's how to keep it in tip-top shape.

Linoleum is back...with a new name: Marmoleum. Linoleum's newfound popularity stems partly from its cool colors and patterns. It's also a relatively eco-friendly flooring choice, because it's made from natural substances like linseed oil, wood flour, and jute. (Mmm. Smells like middle school art class...) Manufacturer, Forbo, also touts the fact that linoleum is non-toxic, biodegradable and hypoallergenic. Marmoleum's massive color selection, running the gamut from classic neutral to exhilaratingly vibrant, has attracted tons of attention as well in the past couple years. (The photo, above, shows just some of the available colors.)

What's cool is there is even a Marmoleum option for DIY'ers. It's called Marmoleum Click, and it's sold in the form of interlocking tiles. Click comes in both square and rectangular sizes, and Forbo's website provides very detailed information on how to measure and install this stuff. There are basically two big advantages to going with Click. One: installation is do-able for those with lower or moderate DIY skills. (Yay!) Two: you can be as creative as all get-out in planning your new floor, combining colors and patterns to your heart's content.

A couple caveats: Click color choices are much more limited than for regular Marmoleum. Also, (as with all DIY flooring adventures) you're going to need an absolutely level surface on your existing floor or installation will be a nightmare. Repeat: a nightmare.

Mix the Mortar and Lay the Tile

I used mortar on my floor but there are other adhesives out there as well. Your choice. Spread the mortar or adhesive with the trowel evenly and begin laying the tile using the spacers. I like to lay about two rows of four full tiles on one chalk line and then cut and lay the borders. Then I do the same for the other line. Seat each tile by lightly rapping it with a rubber mallet.

Remember to spread the mortar slightly beyond where the tile will lay so there's no void. Voids cause tiles to crack at some time in your future, drawing displeasure from your spousal unit and casting a shadow of doubt over your impressive DIY skills. Don't go there.

All done? Clean up your tools and have an adult beverage of your choice.

Time to Grout!

Grouting is the fun part. I let the mortar dry for twenty four hours first. Mix the grout using the ribbon mixer again. I know you can buy it premixed, but that's cost-prohibitive for all but the smallest of projects. Start grouting where you started laying the tile if that worked well for you. Arm yourself with the sponge in a bucket of water.

First scoop some grout onto the float and work it in between the tiles (removing the spacers as you go). Then grab your sponge, wring it out, and start wiping the grout off the tile surface with a light touch, and forming the concave shape typical to grout lines. As the tiles dry off, you'll see a glaze on them. Don't worry about that now; you'll wipe it off with cheesecloth later.

Finally, after a day or so after the grout's dry, come back and apply a high-quality grout sealer. Other than nailing up the baseboard, your work here is done. As before, clean up your tools and enjoy an adult beverage. You've earned it!



Additional resources:
Laying a vinyl tile floor (This Old House)
Tile setting tools (The Tile Doctor)
Installing hardwood floor (Hometips)
Laying floor tile (Hammerzone)

The old saying - measure twice, cut once - is a lesson most DIY'ers learned the hard way, and if you're like me, learned more than once. We're replacing some old carpeting on our stairs and upstairs landing. I did some quick measurements this morning, and we headed out to look at carpet. Arriving at the store, the sales-person had all sorts of questions about what dimensions of roll we needed. I didn't have the answers handy. This highlighted my inability to do simple math quickly in my head, but also my sloppy measurement and incomplete information which could have caused a big mistake and an even bigger expense.

I thought I'd share with all of you two of the things I learned about getting accurate flooring measurements when determining what size of carpet you need.

Did you say that Aunt Jenny's poodles scratched the heck out of your cherry wood flooring in the guest room? Did your riotous nephews gouge the tongue and groove planks in the family room with their radio controlled missile launcher? Is there a way to repair your lovely basswood dining room floor after Uncle Hal slid his chair across it with all 328 lbs of his lumbering carcass? Yes my friends, there is hope for your natural wood flooring even after your in-laws have done everything in their power to destroy it.

The National Wood Flooring Association has kindly placed instructions on their website to help you recover from some of life's worst known wood flooring disasters. With just a click of the mouse in your trembling hand, you can find the magic solution to repairing damages such as crayon marks, mild burns and dog accidents. You can learn how to remove food stains, grease stains, heel marks and much more. The NWFA website even addresses the difference between wax finished or surface finished floors, so you can be sure you are undertaking the proper method of repair.

So, the next time your neighbor's daughter brings her pony into your oak floored foyer, do not despair. Those hoof marks can be made to disappear. Natural wood has been used for flooring because it is so durable, and the science of repairing wood floors has been refined over time. With a little patience and some elbow grease you can certainly make an acceptable floor repair all by yourself, but you might want to discontinue parking your Harley Davidson in the family room just as an added precaution.

Choosing new flooring? Experiencing painful indecision? Well, I sympathize. In fact, I just about tore my hair out last spring while trying to decide what should replace the disgusting cheapo vinyl in our kitchen. Here's why it's so stressful: a new floor is a big commitment, and you'd better choose correctly. Wish you'd gone with the hazelnut hardwood instead of the java bean laminate? Too late! Unlike a coat of paint, you can't just redo your floor in an afternoon. Then there's the expense factor. Phew. Flooring is darn expensive, especially if -- like us -- your sub-floor is uneven.

Before you give up in frustration, check out a really awesome interactive design tool. Flooring manufacturer Mannington's My Virtual Decorator is free and it's compatible with both PCs and Macs. It's easy to use and the photos look pretty real. Best of all, while the basic Virtual Decorator can be used online, the My Virtual Decorator program can be downloaded to your hard drive. Once it's on your computer, you can click in your own photo for use in mock-up designs. To get the proportions right, though, you'll need to use a photo that incorporates some special tags that you can print out from your home printer.

The photo of my kitchen (above) shows what correct tag placement looks like. Once it's up you can decorate the scene however you like, changing the color of the walls, and, of course, trying out all the different flooring types and colors.

Thanksgiving is behind us and Christmas preparations are under way. We'll bring out old boxes of decorations and add some new stylish pieces. It doesn't matter how good your decorating taste is, if you're trying to hide wood panel walls and '70s linoleum, your house can only look so good. What better motivation for some household updates than your parents coming to town. Surely they will wonder why you haven't fixed that tear in the wallpaper from last year?

These updates don't have to take from your Christmas fund, there are four easy ways to update the look of your home and stay on a tight budget. I'll provide two important tips after the break.

Green flooring reduces damage to the environment and avoids the toxins that other flooring might expose you to. Building green is increasing in popularity and DIY'ers are among the pioneers in this area.

Here are 6 earth friendly flooring materials. The article Green Floors: Six materials to have underfoot outlines these flooring materials and offers important facts to consider when choosing a flooring product.

Here's a quick DIY fix to get your deposit back when you move out of wood floored rental property or if you've invited everyone and their cousins over for a big party and realized that your wood floors look like ...well, you know. I came up with and have used this technique upon moving out of our last two rentals with great success. With this low cost, quick and genuine method, there'll be no need to completely refinish a gently worn wood floor by sanding and applying several coats finish just to get your money back (which would probably cost as much or more than your damage deposit in the first place).

All you need for this project is a small can of clear polyurethane (I prefer semi-gloss, but gloss could be appropriate too), a pair or two of nitrile gloves (I keep them stocked in the kitchen for handling meats), some clean smooth rags (that you will throw away), and your favorite mop (with a clean head). keeping a can of mineral spirits on hand is a good idea but hopefully you won't have to use it. A quart of polyurethane should be more than enough to do a two bedroom apartment with wood floors throughout.

Yesterday, I wrote about a great website that will help you figure out which glue is the best one you can use for a particular job. In the comments, a reader associated with home expert Danny Lipford's site noted that they'd also just posted a useful guide to glue, and because our readers are awesome, I thought the article deserved its own post.

Jerri Farris's article isn't a substitute for ThisToThat.com, and it doesn't really cover glues that would be used for most craft projects, only those you're likely to use in home construction and improvement. It doesn't go into great detail about the differences between specific brands of glue, either, or the differences in the chemical compositions of some of the glues it discusses. ("Instant Glue" may be a retail category and general name, but last time I checked, its formal name was cyanoacrylate glue. It's an acrylic resin. Leaving out this info makes an article user-friendly, but disappoints us geeky types.)

However, if you've ever wondered about the difference between two-part epoxy and contact cement, or where it might be appropriate to use Gorilla Glue, Farris's article is a helpful read. You'll learn to take care of your glue supply, and you'll never again try to use wood glue where you should be using Liquid Nails.

Wood flooring is great -- it's attractive, easy to clean, and adds a certain charm that carpet simply can't provide -- but anyone who has lived with older hardwood floors can relate to the frustration of creaky boards, nails that pop up from the floor, and unsightly scratches. Luckily, it doesn't take much to fix these problems and get your floors back to looking (and sounding) like new.

Squeaky floors

Squeaky floors can be caused by several things, ranging from the settling of your house over time, expansion and shrinkage of the wood in varying climates, and / or standard wear and tear from foot traffic. Some solutions are more temporary than others, so you have to ask yourself whether you'd mind if the squeak comes back.