What Causes a Creaking & Popping Noise in Hardwood Floors?

 One advantage of a creaking floor is that it warns you of approaching bears.

Creaking, popping and snapping sounds can emanate from a hardwood floor that has been nailed to a wood sub-floor as well as one that has been glued to concrete. In either case, strategies for eliminating the noise exist, but they don't always work.

Nail-Down Floors

Squeaks and creaks in a nail-down floor usually come from the nails; a board pops loose and the nails rub against the subfloor when you walk on it. You can fix this by driving screws from underneath to anchor the loose boards. A more serious cause of creaking is wood movement, which can be a problem if you install the floor without acclimating it or without a moisture barrier. Spacing nails too closely can also create squeaks. These problems require partial or full replacement of the floor.

Glue-Down Floors

When you glue a hardwood floor to concrete, the subfloor must be completely level. If there are voids, the boards can flex into them and make creaking sounds as they rub together. You may be able to stop creaking by injecting epoxy through a small hole in the board that's directly over a void. This doesn't work for large depressions, however, and when it doesn't work, you'll probably have to remove the squeaky boards, level the subfloor and lay new boards.

Written by:
Chris Deziel
 http://homeguides.sfgate.com


For further maintenance contact us about our wood floor services us on 01223 863632 or visit www.artofclean.co.uk.

Wood Floor Sanding and Sealing at the British Racing School Newmarket

Art of clean were recently asked to visit the prestigious British Racing School in Newmarket to renovate the wooden floors in the bar area.  Due to years of frolicking at the bar, spilt beverages and lots of foot traffic had left the usual wear and tear on the beautiful hardwood floor.

Finished with lacquer and Pullmann extreme with hardener:

Upon inspecting the job we found that the previous floor sanding company had cut a few corners to make life a little easier perhaps, or because they didn't have the training and experience to know better.  Either way, were told they charged  a very low price, so it's true "you only get what you pay for".

Spotting poor craftsmanship on wooden floors:

• Chatter - Ruts along floorboards due to machine being unbalanced due to poor machine maintenance
• Drum marks - Grooves at the edge of boards due to poor machine control using a drum sander.
• 
  

The main issue we had, as can be seen in this image, is the drum marks around the edge of the room, especially around the radiator.  The previous "technicians" didn't sand anything beyond this point so this area of the wooden floor was not refinished along with the rest, leaving a shoddy finish to the room.  At Art of Clean we use a belt sander to ensure we have more control sanding the floorboards, and on those hard to reach areas we use a long nose edge sander so that the whole floor is prepared for refinishing.  The results can be seen in the image below.

Our highly trained technicians took extra care on these spots to ensure that the entire floor was fully cared for.  We are proud of the results they achieved.


For further information on our floor sanding service, or any of the other services we provide please contact us on 01223 863632 or visit www.artofclean.co.uk.

Wood floor restoration

We've had some great floor sanding and oiling/polishing jobs lately in Cambridge, Essex, Hertfordshire, Suffolk and beyond.

Take a look at the images below to see the amazing transformations our technicians have been working on lately……

Here are some images of a parquet floor restoration the team completed in Leicester.

Pre-sanding

Post-sanding

Post-oiling

And here is a lovely hard wood floor renovation in Cambridge we completed recently…

After the sanding and oiling:

After sanding:

Before sanding:

At Art of Clean we understand how a well finished floor can set off a whole room, giving your floorboards a new lease of life and increasing the lifespan of the timber.  Refinishing wood floors is one of our specialties, and we are trained and affiliated with the Ultimate Floor Sanding Company.  If you would like to talk to us about our services, please call our friendly team on 01223 863632 or visit www.artofclean.co.uk

New website - WE NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE

We are very excited that our new website has just gone live. Our aim is to make it easier for you to interact and communicate with us - this is where we need your help.

We would like to ask you for your constructive feedback and suggestions on our new site.

We would like to offer you a reward for the few short minutes you will be helping us.

Here is the deal -

1 Kindly visit our new website at http://www.artofclean.co.uk

2 Visit 3 - 4 of the pages on the site then please head over to the contact us section and share your views on the contact us form about the site.

3 All the feedback will be acted upon and the top 5 suggestions will be selected and a winner will be drawn

4 The winner will get a £50 John Lewis Gift Voucher and a voucher for 1 room of carpet cleaning or a rug clean or a seating place of upholstery

Simple as that!

I so look forward to your feedback and serving you better

Warmest Regards

Pierre de Wet
http://www.artofclean.co.uk
01223863632

PS - feel free to try our website on your phone as well as your tablet

Parquet Flooring sanding in St George's Church in Chesterton Cambridge

We sanded wood floors at the vicarage of St George’s church Chesterton a few months ago. Following this work we were asked if we could help with a problem Parquet floor made of pine in the Church hall. When we first looked at the floor it was not clear if we will get the desired effect on the parquet pine floor. The wood floor was extremely worn in places and we could not work out why some blocks in the parquet floor was so badly worn down while others right next to it where still in good order. The whole wood floor was very dark and very dried out. The floor was laid in the 1940’s so we knew it was exposed to a lot of wear and tear.

We determined it was a tong and groove wood block floor and we had to be extremely careful not to sand too much wood away otherwise the blocks will come lose.

We also noticed a thick layer of build-up along the sides of the wood floor in the hall. It did appear to be old wax residues though we had to be sure. Some older floors laid between 1940 and 1970 and sometimes even later can contain asbestos. We therefore called in an asbestos testing firm to test the floor for the presence of asbestos. It is not only to safeguard our floor sanding crew but also to ensure a safe environment for the people who use the church hall.

We started the sanding of the wood floor and immediately discovered why some blocks worn so fast. Repairs were carried out on the floor and the replacement blocks that were used was a soft pine whereas the original floor is made up of Douglas fir wood blocks. Douglas Fir is a harder and more dense type of pine. It also appears as a darker orange brown coloured wood. In the after photos you will notice lighter blocks in the floor that are the blocks that got replaced.

To secure the future of the parquet wood floor in the church hall in Chesterton Cambridge – we applied Pallmann Magic Oil to the Parquet wood floor.

This will allow for minimal future sanding on the floor as it can be cleaned back and re-oiled to give it a new lease of life. The parquet wood floor can also be lightly sanded back and re-oiled if it starts to wear out. Another benefit in oiling parquet wood floors like this one in Chesterton Cambridge is that localized repairs can be carried out. If an item of furniture gets dragged on the floor and cause a deep scratch – this can be sanded out and a fresh coating of oil can be applied over the area. There will be no need to sand the whole floor again.

Always call the professionals.

Art of Clean is a specialist cleaning firm in: 

Wood Floor Sanding,

Stone floor Cleaning,

Carpet Cleaning,

Rug Cleaning,

Upholstery Cleaning 

Leather Furniture Cleaning, 

Working for domestic or commercial clients throughout Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk and Hertfordshire.

For more information on our services contact our friendly team on 01223 863632 or email us at info@artofclean.co.uk

Wood floor filling and sanding

Parquet floor cleaning, we sometimes have to fill unsightly gaps before sanding…

Although it’s not always necessary we sometimes have to fill the gaps between the boards before sanding, here is a recent floor where we had to fill the gaps between the boards, please pics before and after. The process is quite simple and it can really make a difference to a floor. If the floor has gaps of 2mm max we will be able to create mix of fine sand with resin (an alcohol based product is better than other solvents), and then we fill the gaps in the wooden floor, we would strongly recommend that we fill the gaps in the entire floor so that there are no parts which stand out afterwards as being different. However we can only fill the gaps if the floor is solid, i.e situated on a concrete floor, as if the floor is placed on a flexible surface it can cause movement and the filler will come out over time. But our specialised team will be able to offer advice on whether it is a viable option for your floor. If the gaps are more than 2mm we would need to fill the gaps with strips of pre-manufactured V shaped tips of wood, as if the gaps are too large these would come out over time.

The strips are then dipped in glue and then driven between the gaps. If the strips of wood then protrude above the level of the wooden floor we will then sand it flat, once it has dried the next day. Here are some pics of the before and after, the customer was really impressed with how the floor now looks as good as new.