We are going to install hard wood floors in our kitchen/family room, and to avoid some of the hassle (sanding, finishing) we thought about using pre-finished 3/4 inch thick, 2 1/4 wide tongue-and-groove flooring (ash).
My question is whether pre-finished HW is good choice for a kitchen, i.e. where there will be spills? We have small kids so spills will be inevitable. Will spills leak down between the boards and cause stains, swelling and/or other problems? Or are the gaps too small to allow enough liquid to be a problem. We understand that we need to wipe up spills quickly and not let them sit on wood floors. Or would we do better to put down unfinished HW so that the finish can seal more of the grooves.
Thanks for any insight anyone can give.
Nat
Replies
I have an Anderson oak HW floor in my kitchen. I used the 2-1/2 strips, glued down to a cement slab. 5 years later and 3 kids splling and droping everything imaginable, no serious problems. My oldest daughter did drop the iron a couple of times and that did gouge the floor, but it was repairable. Last fall I had a pipe break under the sink and had at least 1/2" of standing water on the floor for several hours. I thought for sure it would be ruined. The damage was surprisingly minimal. I did a light sanding and applied a new top coat and it looks like brand new. With all that water there was no swelling and I didn't have to replace any boards. Good luck.
Dave:
You didn't say so explicitly, but I assume the Anderson oak HW floor you installed was pre-finished?
Nat
Yes, it was prefinished. I belive it was called "Lincoln Plank" or something similar to that. It was individual T&G strips glued directly to a cement slab floor. I am very impressed with the durability of this floor.
Experienced, but still dangerous!
I have Bruce 3/4 t&g pre finished oak in my kitchen - 2 kids and a dog. It's durable and looks great after 4 years of hard use.
Been there done this. I have often waxed a pre finished floor with the only reason being to seal up the gaps between the planks. So far it has worked very well and large spills or the forgotten ice cube has not damaged the floor.
Good luck re-coating a waxed floor.Ditch
Do not use Bruce "engineered" 5/16 flooring. I did on a kitchen job, followed manufacturers directions to the letter on a glue down and the sink leaked about three gallons of water and buckeled the floor so it looked like a forest of xmas trees. Called in two experts and they advised agains glue down and the 5/16 flooring because of the potential for spills in kitchen or bath.
I agree with Donebydan- did the 5/16 flooring in a kitchen and bath in Vegas, and it buckled at the dishwasher (from the steam and drippings) and the toilet (from condensation and the "oops" factor). Rep even recommended that it not be installed there, but the homeowner went against the recommendations.
I'd think the same would happen with any pre-finished flooring, as the problem was the water getting into the cracks. But according to the other responses here, that doesn't seem to be the case.
Bob