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Why is moisture bad for my hardwood floors?

Because wood is porous, hardwood floors contract and expand with changes in temperature and humidity. When wood loses moisture, it shrinks. When wood holds moisture, it expands.

Hardwood Floors in the Washington Metropolitan Area

Water can get trapped between your floor and subfloor, and this excessive moisture can cause your floor to warp, cup, flake or crack. Additionally, standing water can discolor, dull or damage the wood.

This is why you shouldn’t install hardwood floors in high moisture areas like bathrooms or basements. If you have hardwood floors in your kitchen or dining room, consider using mats or rugs in high-spill areas. Additionally, you should also use doormats or rugs at entrances to absorb moisture you might track in from outside.

Also avoid cleaning your hardwood floors with water or a wet mop. Instead, use a dry mop or a vacuum with a hardwood floor setting. If necessary, you can remove any stickiness or spills with a slightly damp cloth.

But don’t let living in a humid area like Maryland stop you from installing hardwood flooring. To prevent humidity-related contracting and expanding to your floors, you can use a humidifier in the winter and a dehumidifier or air conditioner in the summer.

Please contact us today if you’re interested in installing hardwood flooring in Maryland. We install hardwood floors in Bethesda, MD, Potomac, MD, Silver Spring, MD, Washington, DC and nearby areas.

Benefits of Stone Flooring Restoration in Silver Spring, MD

Very few materials out there in the DC metro area can match the visual appeal of stone and marble. For luxurious, unique design, they really stand right at the top! But despite how great any material may be, absolutely nothing is impervious to the wear and tear of time and frequent use. Are your marble, stone, or terrazzo floors starting to show a bit of age? If so, you might consider investing in a stone floor restoration.

For superior stone floor services and restoration, you can always trust the specialists at Elegant Floor Service. We’re the leading team for perfect service and reliable quality in Maryland and Virginia, so contact us online today!

What Is Stone Flooring Restoration?

Stone floor restoration service depends on the specific needs of your flooring and the specific material in question. A restoration can be as simple as a thorough cleaning and polishing, or as complex as crack and scratch repair, refinishing, or grinding and maintenance.

Standard floor restoration services include:

  • Stone floor cleaning services – Thorough cleaning is a great place to start when you want to beautify and restore your stone flooring materials.
  • Grout repair and touch-up – When grout begins to wear or starts to stain, a touch-up service helps to put things back into proper order.
  • Restoration and grinding – Grinding and refinishing restores your floors to perfect, pristine condition.
  • Polishing – Polishing for stone flooring is a great way to really boost the aesthetic appeal of your floors.
  • Sealing for stone floors – Sealing helps to preserve and protect your flooring, and also serves to reduce the amount of work you have to put into cleaning it.

What Are the Benefits of a Stone Floor Restoration?

Beyond the obvious, there are actually quite a few huge perks to getting professional restoration services! When you choose a restoration, you can expect:

  • Gorgeous, like-new stone flooring. Do you remember the day you first had your gorgeous, stunning stone floors installed? If you long for those days of a pristine, perfect stone floor, you might be pretty happy to know you can have it again! Professional restoration service can make your stone floors like new again, restoring the vibrancy and beauty they had on day one.
  • Reduced homeowner maintenance. As stone flooring begins to age or wear, keeping it clean and clear becomes harder and harder. Not only that, but dirt and grime start finding totally new places to hide out! You wind up with those hard to clean cracks loaded with grime, or grout that never seems to keep proper color. Professional restoration can ensure your floors keep clean and clear far easier, saving you the headache of doing it yourself.
  • A protection of your investment. Stone floors might be some of the most popular and beautiful flooring options in Maryland, but they certainly don’t come free. Your stone flooring was an investment, and one you likely want to protect as best you can. With a restoration service, you add years and years to your stone flooring!

Stone & Marble Floor Restoration Services in NoVa

The certified specialists and restoration experts at Elegant Floor Service have been serving home and business owners across MD, VA, and DC for years. We carry the experience, the superior tools, and the top-class training needed to ensure your stone floors are restored to perfect condition. Contact us online today to learn more, or to set a date for your service consultation!

Can You Sand and Refinish Engineered Hardwood?

Are your current hardwood floors looking a little dull? If they’ve seen some better days, then it’s probably time to give them some needed TLC! Whether your engineered floors are chipped, stained, warped, or scratched, you can rely on a quality sanding and refinishing job to fix them up. So can engineered floors be refinished? Absolutely! The question is…just how many times? The basic idea here is, the thicker the layer, the more times your floors can be refinished. If you are considering adding new engineered floors to your home, our specialists suggest choosing a thicker material so your floors can be sanded and refinished to add years to their lifespan.

Ready to learn more about engineered hardwood services in the Maryland, Virginia, and DC area? Contact us today to schedule your sanding, refinishing, or installation with the team at Elegant Floor Service.  

When Should You Refinish Your Engineered Hardwood Floors?

How can you tell when it’s time to give your floors a facelift? Most homeowners opt for sanding and refinishing when their floors begin to look dull.

Other signs that you may need to refinish include:

  • Deep scratches that cut through to the floor’s protective coating
  • Stubborn stains
  • Warping that exposes wood fibers

Have you noticed scratches, stains, or warping on your engineered hardwood floors? Elegant Floor Service provides reliable sanding and refinishing for homes and businesses throughout the DMV area.

Engineered Hardwood Refinishing in the DMV Area

Don’t let those beautiful hardwood floors continue to scratch and fade! Update the look and feel of your Maryland, Virginia, or DC property with professional flooring service from our best. Because your engineered floors are an expensive part of your home, you won’t want to turn this into a DIY project. If you attempt to sand or refinish your hardwoods without professional help, you may end up damaging your floors and spending extra on costly repairs.

To provide a flooring solution for each engineered hardwood, we conveniently offer the following services:

Schedule Engineered Wood Floor Refinishing in NoVA

Give your home a newer look by choosing Elegant Floor Service for your hardwood floor refinishing project for your home or commercial property. Whether you need scratches, scruffs, stains, or splinters, removed, our team of professionals can help you bring your flooring back to life.

Since 1987, our team of experts have been providing quality wood floor service. Give us a call today at 800-417-3172 to or contact us online to receive your estimate and see why so many Northern Virginia residents choose our experts to handle all of their flooring needs.

Engineered vs. Solid Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood Floors in Washington Metropolitan Area

High quality hardwood flooring can add character and beauty to any room in your home. While both engineered and solid hardwood floors are made from natural, real wood, there are some differences in their configuration. What’s the biggest difference? Engineered wood floors are made from multiple, bonded layers, while solid hardwoods consist of a single slab of wood.

Read on to learn more and find out which type of hardwood flooring is the best option for your Maryland, Virginia, or DC area home!

What Is Engineered Hardwood Flooring?

Engineered hardwood is a multipurpose, durable flooring option that can be installed in just about any area of your home. This sleek material is sure to give your home an updated look and feel for years to come without warping. Unlike solid wood flooring, engineered flooring is made from multiple pieces, consisting of 3 – 12 thin layers of wood. Each wood layer is placed in a different direction and then bonded together using heat and pressure. This bond creates a very strong piece of wood that is more resistant to moisture and heat compared to solid hardwood. Contact our team at Elegant Floor Services to request samples of this long lasting hardwood.

Learn more about our engineered hardwood flooring.

What is Solid Hardwood Flooring?

Just as the name itself describes, this flooring material is made from a single layer of solid wood. Each board of hardwood is about 3/4 of an inch thick so that it can be sanded down and refinished multiple times. Unlike engineered wood, solid hardwood expands and contracts in reaction to changes in the environment such as moisture and temperature. This feature makes solid wood ideal for environments with low moisture and humidity. To prevent extreme movement between solid wood boards, this type of flooring is only recommended for rooms at ground level or above (meaning no basements).

Learn more about our solid hardwood flooring.

Hardwood Flooring Installation in the DMV Area

Our team of professionals can help bring your flooring back to life in no time with our hardwood floor repair, refinishing, restoration, and new installation services. Don’t let your outdated floors keep you from inviting guests into your Maryland, Washington, DC, or Virginia home. With hardwood floor services from Elegant Floor Service, you will want to show off your floors to everyone you know! If you are interested in learning more about hardwood flooring options, call Elegant Floor Service today at 800-417-3172.

So what are you waiting for? Contact us today to schedule hardwood floor installation in the DC metropolitan area!

We offer the following hardwood floor services throughout Maryland, DC, and Virginia:

Why Are My Hardwood Floors Squeaky?

Find out Why Your Hardwood Floors Are Squeaking & How You Can Silence Them

Hardwood Floors in Washington Metropolitan Area

Squeaky floors can cause a huge headache. Don’t let your beautiful hardwood floors drive you crazy any longer! It’s time to find out why the squeaking is occurring, how you can fix it, and the best way to prevent these noises in the future. To silence the squeaking, most floors will require a professional repair. Your hardwood floors are likely a high quality, costly piece of your home. To keep your floors in top shape, it’s wise to leave the maintenance up to floor repair specialists who know exactly what they’re doing. By attempting to repair hardwood on your own, you could end up causing further damage to the floors.

Leave the floor repairs to the specialists! Elegant Floor Service has been serving the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia area since 1987. Contact us today to receive a free quote and we’ll have a team out to your DMV home in no time to silence your squeaky floorboards.

Why Are My Hardwood Floors Squeaking?

To prevent this issue from occurring in the future, let’s take a look at how this irritating noise began in the first place. Squeaks can be caused by movement in wood seams between sheets of subflooring. Once this movement is stopped, the squeaking should stop too. Because you need to dive down into the subflooring to fix the root of the problem, it’s best to stay clear from DIY (do it yourself) projects.

It is also common for squeaks to occur as a result of the normal seasonal contraction and expansion of the wood. During dry winters, fine cracks can form and when the season changes to a humid summer, your flooring begins to swell. When the wood swells, it causes the boards and fine cracks to rub together, resulting in squeaks.

How Can I Fix My Squeaking Floors?

As mentioned previously, we recommend hiring a professional service for the job. While there are plenty of articles out there with tips for fixing floors yourself, you risk the chance of damaging your hardwood or even the subflooring.

To schedule your hardwood floor repairs in the Virginia, Maryland, or DC area, call Elegant Floor Service today at 800-417-3172.

How Do I Prevent My Hardwood Floors From Squeaking?

Once you’ve silenced your floors, you will want to make sure they stay quiet. Since the majority of floor squeaking issues are a result of poor subfloor quality, it’s important to have your local floor service company evaluate this flooring during their repair service. If your subfloor is not made from plywood, then you will want to make the switch. Some lower quality subfloors are make from OSB (oriented strand board) and this material won’t hold up as well.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a subfloor fastened to the floor joists with nails is more likely to squeak than one fastened properly with glue and screws.

Hardwood Floor Repair in DC, Maryland, and Virginia

If your wood floors have seen better days and could benefit from repair, call Elegant Floor Service today! We offer hardwood floor repair services to homes and offices throughout Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia. Don’t put up with that irritating squeaking for any longer.

Our hardwood floor services include:

With our extensive hardwood services, our team will be able to address and fix the issue in no time. With a hardwood floor repair from Elegant Floor Service, you will want to show off your floors to everyone you know! Contact us today to schedule your repair service.