If you have a squeaky wood floor under tile or carpet, you
may be able to eliminate the squeak without removing the floor covering. Try to
reset loose boards by pounding a hammer on a block of scrap wood in the area
over the squeaky boards. The pressure may force loose nails back into place.
You may be able to silence squeaky hardwood floors by using
talcum powder as a dry lubricant. Sprinkle powder over the offending areas, and
sweep it back and forth until it filters down between the cracks.
Try filling dents in a hardwood floor with clear nail polish
or shellac. Because the floor’s color will show through, the dents will not be
apparent.
Sometimes you can flatten bulges or curled seems in a
linoleum floor by placing aluminum foil over them and “ironing” them with your
steam iron. (The heat will soften and reactivate the adhesive.) Position
weights, such as stacks of books, over treated areas to keep them flat until
the adhesive cools and hardens.
To remove a resilient floor time for placement, lay a piece
of aluminum foil on it and then press down with an ordinary iron set at medium.
The iron’s heat will soften the mastic, and you can easily pry up the tile with
a putty knife.
To remove a damaged resilient tile, soften it with a propane
torch fitted with a flame-spreader nozzle. (Be careful not to damage
surrounding tiles.) When the tile is soft, pry it up with a paint scraper or
putty knife and scrape the adhesive off the floor so that the new tile bonds
cleanly.
You can also remove resilient tile by covering it with dry
ice, wearing work gloves to protect your hands. Let the dry ice stand for ten
minutes and then remove any remaining ice. The cold will make the tile brittle,
so it will shatter easily. Chisel out the tile from the edges to the center.
Laying resilient floor tile will
be easier it the room temperature is at least 70 degrees before you start,
because tile is more pliable at higher temperatures. Put all boxes of tile in
the room for at least 24 hours prior to positioning tiles on the floor. Try to
keep the room temperature at the same level for about a week after laying the
tiles, and then wait at least a week before washing the floor.
To prevent scratching the floor
when moving heavy furniture across uncarpeted areas, slip scraps of old
carpeting, face down, under all furniture legs.
After laying floor times, you can
help them lie flat by going over them with a rolling pin.
If you want to replace damaged
area of resilient flooring, here’s a way to make a perfect patch from scrap
flooring: place the scrap piece over the damaged area so that it overlaps
sufficiently, and tape it to hold it in place. Then, cut through both layers at
the same time to make a patch that is an exact duplicate. Replace the damaged
area with the tightly fitting patch.
To patch a gouge (not a dent) in a
resilient floor, take a scrap of the flooring and grate it with a food grater.
Mix the resulting dust with clear nail polish and plug the hole.
Another way to camouflage a gouge
or hole in a resilient floor is with crayon wax. Choose a crayon that matches
the floor color, melt it, fill the gouge or hole, and then wax the floor.
Solvent-based cleaners and
polishes preserve cork tile floors and should be used instead of water or water
based products.
So chairs won’t scratch a hardwood
floor, glue bunion pads to the bottoms of the chair legs.
Thumbtacks pressed into the bottom
ends of wooden chair legs will allow them to slide more easily across a wood or
tile floor.
If you’re going to use flagstone or
slate as indoor flooring, these porous materials should be sealed to keep them
looking their best.
Brick flooring can also be sealed
and waxed to protect its porous surface from staining. It is especially helpful
to treat brick this way if it is used for flooring in the kitchen.
Cover hardwood floors with area
rugs to cut down on noise in your home. Upholstered furniture also absorbs noise,
while glass, chrome, and wood reflect noise.
To make a bathroom carpet fit
perfectly, make a precise pattern with paper. Lay overlapped sheets of paper on
the bathroom floor, tightly butted up against corners, walls, and obstacles.
Tape the sheets together and cut. Turn the pattern over, face down, on the back
of the carpet, trace with a pencil, and then cut.
Install floor tiles from the center of a room
outward, because the center of a room is where appearance and matching are most
important.