You’re searching for a wood floor expert: cue Cleveland Hardwood Restoration — all we do are wood floors. Need guidance with your hardwood floor? You’ll find it here. Our team will walk you through the various paths you can take to achieve the look you want: this extends to wood species, style, stain color, sheen of the finish, etc. If you know what you want, we will support you! If you don’t know what you want, we will support you!
Services
Design / Aesthetic
Installation
We specialize in unfinished, solid hardwood flooring. The product is delivered to you in its raw state from a locally-sourced, sustainable forestry certified mill. Our carpenters install the floor based on National Wood Floor Association guidelines for best practices. After the floor has been properly acclimated, our finishing team begins the next step.
Solid hardwood flooring is an organic material and therefore responds to the relative humidity and moisture content of the environment. There are a lot of variables involved in acclimating a hardwood floor from the mill to its new home.
Process
Following an in-home estimate that you then accept via email (an additional site visit may be necessary), the materials are ordered and a lead time is generated upon order confirmation from the mill.
Payment for materials is due within 72 hours of delivery of the materials.
Wood is delivered by an independent contractor employed by the mill or FedEx. You must provide either a lockbox code, key, or be present so the delivery can be made.
Wood must be stored inside the home under normal living conditions. If floor installation is part of an overall renovation, all work that creates artificial humidity must be completed prior. Examples of this are not limited to the following: installation of new doors and windows, insulation, drywalling, mudding, taping, oil priming, and stonework. It is also advised that custom tilework should be included prior to floor installation: that includes bathrooms, hearths, kitchens, etc.
You must run your heating and cooling systems as you normally would, both prior to and after the wood is delivered. If you have a furnace, it is advised that you install a humidifier. Ideally, you also have central air conditioning.
The best thing you can do for your wood floor’s overall health is to maintain consistent levels of humidity throughout the year. That includes running your heat with a humidifier throughout the winter, running your air conditioner to remove humidity during the summer, and only living with open air during the times of year in which the climate is temperate.
Typically, a floor sits bundled for approximately two weeks prior to installation in the home. The time of year does influence the length of acclimation; ideal humidity levels are between 40-60%. Keep in mind that you are having a floor installed during a moment in time; it will always look its best during the time in which it was installed. The better you control the relative humidity, the better your floor will behave.
Finishing / Refinishing / Restoration
We specialize in site finished hardwood flooring. The term refinishing refers to the restoration of a floor that has already been finished. The term finishing refers to the sanding and application of product on a raw hardwood floor that has been installed.
Process
Newly-installed floors: although raw hardwood floors are slightly easier to sand than older floors, they still require a full premium sanding sequence. A newly installed hardwood floor is not flat. The purpose of sanding is to flatten and create a consistent palette to receive stain, oil, or polyurethane. We strive for a consistent, chatter- and scratch-free finish.
Existing wood floors: The restoration of an older floor requires more aggressive sanding. Sanding an existing hardwood floor can present more variables; the older the floor is, the more character it will inevitably have. We always try to preserve the integrity of the hardwood floor by not making repairs for cosmetic reasons.
Historic floors: We love working on historic projects! There is no greater treasure than a historic home. A lot of decorative floors are very fragile, and our technicians are educated in the various ways to preserve the integrity of the floor.
Nothing is 100% dust-free; we choose to accurately represent the process by saying that our machines are dust-contained and about 90% of the dust is removed. We recommend that you remove pictures, mirrors, knickknacks, fine drapery, or any other type of material that might be damaged by minimal amounts of dust.
Our craftsmen are conscientious, skilled, and educated, but they are human beings and it is always possible that there may be light clean-up or touch-ups required to shoe-molding, base-molding, and walls, knicks on door frames, doors or cabinets in tight spaces that may need attention following completion of your flooring project.
We use American Sanders and Lagler sanding machines. All machines are either self-contained or are attached to a vacuum system. Our technicians will decide the sequence of sanding that will benefit your project: this may include a drum sander, an edger, a palm sander, a planetary sander, and obviously old-fashioned elbow grease. If you have any questions about the sanding sequence, you are free to ask our technicians, as it always depends on the craftsman’s preference.
We will always recommend you vacate the premises to reduce the possibility of inconveniences and imperfections resulting from continued traffic on the floor. We need to work efficiently, and this can often be hindered by your occupancy during the process. Pets should ideally be boarded elsewhere during the project and at least 5 days after the project’s completion (please keep your pets corralled; we don’t want to lose your pets!).
Custom Woodworking / Repairs
Hardwood floors can take a beating overtime and sometimes even reach the end of their lifespan. We can effectively determine whether your floor should be repaired or replaced. We are skilled at repairing worthy candidates, whether the floors are on joists, sleeper joists, have a subfloor, or on concrete.
In addition to functional repair, we are also skilled in the rebuilding of decorative hardwood floors.
If hardwood floors are part of a renovation and you are removing walls and adding flooring, we can determine the most cost-effective and efficient way to give you a seamless product.
Sometimes remodeling an old home means you need to mimic old pieces that resemble the time period of the house with a custom transition in between rooms. Our carpenters can make them onsite. This includes simple transitions from, for example, a tiled bathroom to a wood floor.
Although stairs differ somewhat in process from hardwood flooring, it is sometimes necessary for stair treads to be repaired or replaced. Our carpenters can address and resolve stair issues that include replacement, rebuilding, and reworking.
We DO NOT do individual board repairs. Our repair services are offered as part of an overall restoration product. It is not possible to replace individual boards and refinish them in a way that resembles a finished wood floor.
Trim
Trimwork involves removing, reinstalling, adding, or replacing the base- and/or shoe-molding where the wall meets the floor. This can also extend into vent work, cabinetry trim, and toe-kicks. Whether you need to add pre-primed white trim or a solid, custom-stained wood trim.
We do not do crown molding, door casings, or window casings. We cannot guarantee a perfect match between new trim and historic trim. We use our discretion to mimic it the best we can.
Maintenance
Any hardwood floor needs to be properly maintained to preserve your investment.
For polyurethane floors: depending on the traffic and location of the floor, it will need to be buffed and recoated every 5-7 years. A buff and re-coat entails a light abrasion of the polyurethane (water or oil); this process knocks down surface scratches, evens out traffic patterns, removes contaminants, and creates a mechanical bond for an additional polyurethane coat to be applied. Once the floor is buffed, either at 180 or 220, the floor is vacuumed and coated with the appropriate finish. The floor is then subject to the same curing guidelines as the product specifies. (link to PDF)
For Hardwax oiled floors: there are several different maintenance products. In general, an oil floor looks its best from 18 months to 3 years. Your technician will determine which maintenance product is ideal to regenerate your floor.
Paste Wax floors are maintained by being re-waxed as necessary based on the sheen.
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