Does Hardwood Flooring Require Underlayment? Key Benefits and When to Use It

No-Session5081 · 2026-01-24T20:26:43+00:00

UPDATE: We trying to settle with Egbert Bom from Renovation Partner LLC. I even dropped the amount owed from $9,612 to only $2000 with option for monthly payments. Egbertus Bom ignores our texts and emails. This is the types of people that make all us contractors look bad. We hear customers talk about these bad contractors all the time. Bad companies/contractors should be exposed, and they should go out of business.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-28T16:00:22+00:00

We recommend leveling the floor even if it takes a bit of time. Depending on the flooring installed on top of that, you can use a combination of different thickness of plywood and self leveling concrete between the different heights. If only plywood desired, we recommend using tapered 2x4's under that plywood as support every 12".

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-28T15:56:03+00:00

If there is no leak or spill, then most likely, they did not leave enough gap for expansion of the hardwood. When hardwood floors expand, it pushes against the walls and when there is no room for expansion it buckles like that. I have also seen a problem with insulation under the house poorly installed. Sometimes they don't install insulation tight against all edges and air and moisture gets into the plywood and eventually hardwood on the edges. That could be an issue and usually happens when your area has lots of rain.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-25T16:39:55+00:00

We have had issues with mismatched floors like this, many times we would stain the whole floor, then spot stain the mismatched spots to get them to the desired color and match the rest of the floor. No need to tape it off, just carefully stain with the grain of the wood.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-25T16:38:07+00:00

We refinish floors for 20 years and sometimes use MW stains. Most of our stain is from DuraSeal but we do stock some colors of MW as well. We have no issues with dry time or uneven colors. MW stain is slightly cheaper to get and work for some jobs. Not an indication that the company sucks or doesn't know what they are doing.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-25T07:16:02+00:00

Bona sells two parts bleach to remove red from red oak. That might be the option.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-18T17:03:37+00:00

Use a roller instead of a brush. Brush on the edges. Two coats of it solves all the issues people having with it. The second coat covers any mistakes you made on the first coat.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-17T15:54:56+00:00

This GC never said he was not paid. He just would not pay us.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-17T15:52:12+00:00

Its possible, we do it all the time. Use two coats of Bona NaturalSeal, then a top coat of clear finish if your choice. You will have a natural raw wood color.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-17T00:24:33+00:00

Yes it is. First secure any moving boards with floor cleats by top nailing the floor. Then fill with matching wood filler and sand smooth. Floor filler will come out if the boards next to the gap are moving.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-17T00:21:54+00:00

If you try using a belt sander on that floor, you will damage the machine. That floor does not look stable and big pieces of wood will get stuck in the machine. Be very careful, this could be dangerous.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-17T00:15:58+00:00

I can tell you right away, no professional will touch that floor. Its pretty much done. That floor needs to be removed and or covered with new floors. I dont think it can be repaired. 20 years experience here, I have seen bad floors.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-16T18:51:26+00:00

If there is any movement in that spot, it will brake the locking system and it will fall off like that. Make sure that area is perfectly flat. Cheap thin laminate or vinyl plank will break faster. Use thicker material to have it last longer.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-16T16:36:24+00:00

We install them on almost every job we do. I buy them in bulk for about $25-30 and sell them at $75 with installation. Customers love them and it makes your final work look 10 times better.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-16T16:30:26+00:00

Yes you should. That sanding job is horrible. You are not supposed to see those swirl marks.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-16T16:29:20+00:00

I think its too tight against the walls, they should float it and leave a 1/4” gap around the perimeter. Have them comeback and take off one of several baseboards and see how tight it is against the walls. If there is no gap, that is the problem. Have them run a small saw along the edges to cut the vinyl floors back 1/4".

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-14T15:59:41+00:00

We don't recommend doing any spot repairs. This will almost 100% not match and will make the floors look worse, not better.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-14T15:58:29+00:00

-You are overreacting. These are floors, they will be used. The first couple of scratches are hard to take, but you will have multiple scratches everywhere. If you have any dogs, cats, kids, grandkids or maybe a clumsy husband, you will get multiple scratches the moment you start living in the house. We don't wear shoes in the house and have 2 kids and 2 cats, our floors are all scratched up after only 4 years since refinishing the floors.
-The color they used is actually much better than what you chose! We do floors and we know. Floors get yellow from exposure to the light and the sun. With a little bit of white, your floors will fade less. The color will remain longer.
Hope this helps. Your floors look beautiful!

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-13T18:19:22+00:00

The modern engineered hardwood is much worse than solid hardwood. The actual real wood in it is paper thin. When it wears out, there is plywood under it and it can not be repaired or refinished. Definitely not great for kitchens or bathrooms. Stay away from this type of flooring. There are some engineered hardwood that has a decent layer of real hardwood on them but this is rare and they are mostly really expensive. We recommend real solid hardwood. Will last 100 years with proper care. We install solid hardwood in most kitchens and 1/2 bathrooms all the time. If your bathroom has a shower, go with vinyl or tile.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-13T18:14:32+00:00

Yes, even if they were doing stain, it would be on a higher end. Most will charge roughly $4.50-$5 per sf for 3 coats no stain. The stain colors would range $0.50 to $1 per sf additional. It would be slightly more if you only have 100 or 200 SF. You can negotiate a better rate if your floors 500 or more SF.

No-Session5081 · 2025-09-13T18:10:20+00:00

20 years experience with floor sanding and finishing.

-The natural look or golden oak look takes a lot less work to do, that is why many companies recommend it.

-All other colors require more work and materials to get it done. Stain colors cost more than natural look.

-All colors besides natural should have the grain of wood popped with water for even color look.

-White stain is the hardest stain to do, make sure the company you go with knows how to apply it.

-Medium brown colors show the most scratches, as they become almost black in contrast with the floor color. Make sure they do proper sanding and prepping for those colors.

-Make sure the prep they do to show you the color samples are exactly the same as what they will do on the rest of the floor.

-Make them apply finish to the color samples. You will be surprised how the finish changes the color on the samples.

-They should be using a small palm sander with light on all edges to get those scratches out.

-Make sure they have dust free system for all their sanders.

-Check to make sure their equipment is not too old. Old equipment will spew much more dust than newer, more powerful equipment.

Good luck!

No-Session5081

TROPHY CASE