Everyone has their reasons for choosing what they want and that includes the ground they stand on at home. You don’t have to be a flooring aficionado to choose what you love as long as you have a professional tell you all about flooring installation services to save you future headaches. The truth is every type of flooring has its own unique characteristic and maintenance needs. If you had known that maintenance tasks included sanding and resealing, you might have been put off by the idea and chosen against that type. But you wouldn’t know if the original installer you hired had kept it from you because they were merely focused on doing the job you hired them for rather than provide you with a detailed consultation about your actual needs.
There are ways to save yourself from future flooring repairs. Walpole MA homeowners know that in order to keep repairs to a minimum, they have to establish some important priorities. With that being said, let’s dive into common options.
Here are the common types of flooring that we frequently repair:
NATURAL WOOD
As one of the most popular options, natural solid hardwood flooring is a sustainable and environmentally friendly choice. Although new constructions opt for more simple and cost-effective flooring, natural wood remains a classic, especially for rustic cabins and for homes in rural communities.
While real hardwood has become more difficult to come by, Mr. Handyman can help you find trusted sources so that you’re well-informed about where your material comes from, how the installation process goes, and how you need to maintain it in order to prevent early floor repairs. We aim to make Walpole MA homeowners learn all the details necessary to keep a healthy wood floor.
In a humid continental climate like Massachusetts, it’s essential that you’re aware of the pros and cons of hardwood floors before you decide it’s what you want, whether it’s oak, maple, or pine.
Pros:
- Highly Durable: Designed for heavy foot traffic and weight impact
- Long-lasting: With the right maintenance, it can last up to 100 years
- Aesthetics: Besides functionality, it’s natural and looks beautiful
- ROI: Selling your home? Because natural wood is highly desired, expect to recoup the money spent on your initial installation!
- Cons:High Cost: Installation comes with a high upfront cost that includes material and labor
- High Maintenance: Aside from sweeping and mopping, it needs sanding and refinishing every five to ten years; otherwise, scratches and gouges will be visible
- Prone to Moisture Damage: Any surface damage will be prone to letting in moisture, which may lead to cupping, swelling, and even wood rot; plus, your subfloor will also be affected.
ENGINEERED WOOD
Engineered means that the wood was treated with chemicals to become more resilient. While natural wood has a solid core, the engineered core is made of shredded wood fibber, adhesives, and other scrap materials, but the surface is of quality wood material and provides the same visual aesthetics as its natural counterpart.
Despite its cost-effectiveness, stylishness, and climatic resistance, its overall core strength cannot keep up with the quality of natural solid hardwood. Maintenance also includes sanding and refinishing but knowing that it’s not as thick as natural wood, the surface layer might not last after the third round of sanding. Your Walpole flooring repair expert does not recommend engineered wood if you have kids and pets because that will call for more maintenance and repair than you already need.
TILE
Basically, nothing can go seriously wrong with tile installation. Whether you need it for high-moisture areas like your kitchen or bathroom, you can install it almost anywhere in your home without experiencing issues. Tiles take us back to ancient history when people already knew how to create functional, durable systems, although it wasn’t until industrialization that tiles began to revolutionize the world.
Why do Walpole homeowners love tile? It’s water-resistant, durable, and low maintenance. Besides its functional aspects, tile has become a form of art where mosaic lovers and glass painters use tile sheets to create artistic pieces for walls, floors, and on canvases. But even the most versatile and heavy-duty flooring system has its weaknesses, and it’s up to the homeowner to decide if the strengths will outweigh the weaknesses.
Pros:
- Long Shelf Life: Tile floors that are well-installed and maintained can last over 70 years; some types, like porcelain, even longer than others
- Water-resistant: Unlike most flooring types, tile, as long as both sheet and grout are sealed, are water-resistant and ideal for areas that are exposed to a high moisture content
- Low maintenance: Tile flooring is one of the few types that can handle a wet mop on a regular basis; they’re quite easy to keep clean.
Cons:
- Cold Surface: Unless you have floor heating, tile might not be suitable for those who enjoy walking barefoot
- Porous: Tile and grout are made of porous materials that can suffer from water damage if not properly sealed—not to mention that sealants wear off within a few years depending on moisture content; Crumbling grout is one of those issues your local Walpole flooring repair professional tackles regularly
Pro Tip: Laying tiles is an art in itself and requires expertise, especially when working with epoxy grout. During tile flooring repair, Walpole MA service technicians use epoxy grout that is less porous than its cement-based counterparts. We also prefer using epoxy to treat cracked tile sheets. During tile installation services, it’s still common that installers use Portland cement, but feel free to ask about epoxy grout, which will help you save a lot of maintenance work. One disadvantage of epoxy is that it dries fast, so you’ll need an extremely skilled tile expert.
LUXURY VINYL PLANK
Also known by its abbreviation LVP, luxury vinyl planks provide a home with a smooth, modern vibe that many young professionals prefer to have in their condos. While your home has the appearance of hardwood, you’d actually be marvelling at the smoothness of vinyl with this product. Luxury vinyl planks are made of about eight layers of PVC materials and provide a crack- and scratch-resistant surface. It’s durable and handles medium to heavy foot traffic.
LVP is also perfect for homes with kids and pets, although protecting it with additional rugs will help protect specific areas and minimize the need for early flooring repair. Walpole MA residents will benefit from an easy installation process because these planks simply have a click-and-lock system—unless you prefer gluing your LVP onto your subfloor. Gluing versus click-and-lock is something you should discuss with your Walpole handyman in advance as both strategies have their pros and cons, depending on the room size. Nonetheless, if either strategy was completed poorly, you may be looking up a Walpole flooring repair expert to take care of damages associated with improper installation.
Lastly, it should be mentioned that LVP is sensitive to sunlight. If not previously treated with UV inhibitors, they can fade over time.
LAMINATE
Laminate floors have improved in the last few decades thanks to advanced technology that uses aluminium crystals to enhance the laminate surface areas. Now they are just as scratch- and water-resistant as luxury vinyl planks, except that they are cheaper and offer a wide variety of design options.
Although they’re also installed with a click-and-lock mechanism like LVP, laminate is not glued onto the subfloor; instead, it merely sits on the subfloor or even floats over concrete flooring. It may sound nice and easy, but it also means that your subfloor will be more susceptible to moisture. As long as you keep the humidity level in your home low, you shouldn’t experience any issues. However, your Walpole flooring repair technician recommends routine inspections and paying attention to signs of lifting or buckling.
Top Signs You Need Walpole Flooring Repair
Squeaky floors or scratches aren’t just a nuisance but could potentially indicate serious problems. Hopefully these issues are within the early stages, so that your Walpole flooring repair professional can rectify the problem before anything spirals out of control.
When in need of flooring repair, Walpole MA property owners should keep an eye out for these warning signs:
- Scratches and Chips: As your expert Walpole flooring repair specialists, we detect scratches and splintering on wooden floors before they get worse. We’ll analyze the depth of the damage and decide whether sanding and refinishing are sufficient repairs. Minor cracks can be treated with epoxy wood fillers, but in more severe scenarios, you might need to consider a replacement.
- Squeaky Boards: Since you can’t look underneath, it’s hard to tell whether your boards need to be refastened due to a poor installation service or whether you have rotted wood. Having a Walpole flooring repair technician investigate it for you sooner rather than later will stop the damage from deteriorating.
- Buckling: This is a sign of water or moisture damage that either occurs underneath your floor system or on the surface. It could be due to high humidity levels in your home or an undetected leaky appliance.
- Warping: Floor materials expand when it’s hot and humid and contract when it’s cold. Extreme temperature fluctuations can cause these materials to warp over time.
- Musty Smells: Musty smells typically signal Mold growth and may be hard to detect whether it comes from the wall, ceiling, or floor. If you have damaged floors, it’s easy for moisture to penetrate the affected areas and cause further damage to your subfloor. With the detection tools used by your Walpole flooring repair technician, you’ll get a thorough diagnosis of how serious the mold situation may be. In the worst-case, your subfloor needs a replacement.
Why Choose Mr. Handyman For Walpole Flooring Repair?
We are proud to be part of Neighbour’s trusted home service experts and are blessed with a reliable team of skilled professionals who have built strong relationships with our local customers by proving their excellent workmanship.
Unlike contractors that can’t provide references and background details, our team of professionals have all passed their background checks and are fully insured to perform any type of handiwork that would otherwise pose a safety risk to the homeowner.
When hiring our expert services for flooring repair, Walpole MA service technicians at Mr. Handyman won’t waste any time! Let’s get that project done.
Need Expert Flooring Repair? Trust Mr. Handyman to Get It Done!
We've helped numerous homeowners with a wide range of home repair and improvement services across the Metro Boston and S. Shore Area, from Walpole to Norwood to Westwood.
To book an appointment for floor services today, we invite you to find us online and give our friendly customer service representatives a call at. We look forward to helping with your future home improvement needs, from grout repair to tile repair, and beyond.