Do you have wooden kitchen floors?

[Anonymous]

We've got 90yo pine wood floors. For some years they were covered with asbestos/vinyl/tarpaper - I peeled 5 layers off 10 years ago. The floors look nice, but weathered. Spills clean up, even if left for a few days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We cook a lot, and the floors in the rest of the house are red oak. Red oak in the kitchen would be a nightmare, since water stains it so easily. We're planning a kitchen renovation, and so far, stone tile in the kitchen is winning out.

However, I'm listening to all of you who are saying that you can keep the wood floors looking nice in the kitchen. Convince me that red oak floors in the kitchen wouldn't be as horrible as I imagine.

If you're very concerned, you might want to try quartersawn, which is harder.

Get oil-based rather than water-based varnish. Get an extra coat.

Get a satin finish -- to much shine makes the marks more visible.

And to the PP who wondered, no, our floor with tiny dents are solid hardwood. Drop a cast-iron lid on something (as certain people have maybe done I WOULDN'T KNOW), and there will be a mark. But I'm guessing that would mess up a tile floor, too, and anyway the wood is much easier on my joints.

[Anonymous]

PP makes a good point. There is a lot of variation in the durability of different kinds of wood species, but also in the way the wood has been cut and treated. It's hard to generalize.

[Anonymous]

We renovated and put in wood floors so that it will gel with the rest of the house but also b/c tile is so cold and no matter what we always had grout issues previously.

A few suggestions: use a water based sealant, as opposed to polyurethane. We learned about this from a flooring company that said it was what most commercial places use. b/c it stands up pretty well. The bonus too is that it doesn't smell like the poly. We didn't stain our floors so didn't have that smell either.

I use PolyCare to clean our floors (on the recommendation of our flooring company). No water needed afterward, just wipe and dry, so I imagine that there is some residue build up from the liquid being sprayed on and then wiped up. The Bona system is also good, again no water needed. I've been told that using water to clean your floors (or steam cleaning them too) can cause the sides to buckle. So even though Bissel etc says you can steam clean wood floors, I wouldn't personally.

I agree with the PP who said they don't eat off their floors so don't worry about sanitizing. We have no pets and do not wear shoes in the house, yet the kitchen floor is constantly dirty. We have a runner for carpet but nothing else. I suppose I might feel a little cleaner if I could run an anti-bacterial wet Swiffer wipe around the floor, but I'm glad we chose wood and would do it again.

In terms of denting, I think that depends on the color you choose. We did slide our fridge out once and it left serious gouges that you notice only in certain lights. The scratches I don't see, although I'm sure they are there.

[Anonymous]

I must say that we have had leaks in the laundry and kitchen areas (dishwasher, sink, refrigerator, washing machine) enough that the thought of wood scares me. I suppose if you get a dark color and sand in place flooring that is more durable it could work. The idea of refinishing floors when you live there is a turn off. I did it once before and it took a long time to get rid of the dust all over the house.