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  • Learn
    • Refinishing your hardwood floors yourself? We ♥ DIY-ers.
      • You can so sand your own floor
      • Can I save this wood floor?
      • 9 tips you must read before sanding your hardwood floor
      • Our complete guide to sanding your floors
      • First of all: Prepare yourself, and your floors
      • The Sanding Process
      • Sanding FAQ
      • What is a Screen and Recoat?
      • Working with sanders and edgers
      • What pets do to hardwood floors
      • Sanding Exterior Porches
      • Five ways to reduce edger swirl
    • What is the best finish to use on hardwood floors?
      • Finishing Options
      • About Zero VOC – Volatile Organic Compounds – finishes
      • Let me talk you out of staining your floor
      • Staining anyway? Read this!
      • Refinishing hardwood floors in winter
      • Vermont Natural Coatings PolyWhey
      • Bona Waterborne Finishes
        • How to apply Bona waterborne finishes
      • DuraSeal – Our Favorite Oil-Modified Finish
      • How to apply DuraSeal
      • Pallmann Hardened Oil Finishes
        • How to apply Pallmann Hardened Oil Finishes
      • Pallmann Waterborne Polyurethane for first-time coaters
        • How to apply Pallmann Waterborne Polyurethane
      • Rubio Hardened Oil Finishes
        • How to apply Rubio
      • How to booster-coat your Rubio floor
      • Waterlox Tung Resin Oil Finishes
    • Installing wood floors
      • Before you decide to install it yourself
      • Install how-to
      • Install FAQ
      • Patching
      • Hardwood floor maintenance
  • Shop
  • Rent
    • Read this before you rent
    • Rent the right machine to save time and money
    • First of all: Prepare yourself, and your floors
    • List of rental equipment
    • About renting the 220V Hummel
    • Free hands-on personal lesson
    • Equipment operator manuals
  • About Pete’s
    • All about Pete’s Hardwood Floors
    • Visit the store in St. Paul, MN
    • Contact Pete’s Hardwood Floors Help Hotline
    • Blog
    • Testimonials
  • Reclaimed Wood
  • Hire Pete’s
    • Hire Pete’s to do it for you.
    • Pete’s Contracting FAQs
    • What to expect when we’re working in your home
    • Our contract
  • Blog
  • Photos
  • Contact
Home 9 Tag: vinyl flooring that looks like wood
Why you should care about the VOC level of your floor finish

Why you should care about the VOC level of your floor finish

by Pete's Hardwood Floors | Dec 23, 2022 | Pallmann Magic Oil, PolyWhey finish, Rubio, Rubio Monocoat, Vermont Natural Coatings PolyWhey, VOC Free

Low odor polyurethanes have lower VOCs. And lower VOCs are healthier for you and healthier for the planet. But it is more difficult to engineeer low- or no-VOC protection. Hardwood floor finishes need to incorporate really hard, wear-resistant resins and solids in...

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How do I fix orange hardwood floors?

How do I fix orange hardwood floors?

by Pete's Hardwood Floors | Sep 15, 2022 | DIY Hardwood Floor Techniques, Sand hardwood floors, Sand wood floors, Wood floor advice

“We don't want orange floors.” When we first help a typical DIY floor refinishing customer, we ask about their hopes and dreams for their refurbished floor. Their most common wish is to “take away the orange.” We hear that and can help.Many hardwood floors still look...

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Don’t decide to refinish your floors over breakfast and expect to be done by dinner.

Don’t decide to refinish your floors over breakfast and expect to be done by dinner.

by Pete's Hardwood Floors | Sep 14, 2022 | DIY Hardwood Floor Techniques, Wood floor advice

This happens all the time, but especially on Saturday mornings. A new homeowner shows up at our St. Paul storefront at 9am, no appointment, no job pictures, no plan. But they are determined to rent sanders right now because have just pulled up their carpet and found...

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An alternative approach to fir porch floor replacement

An alternative approach to fir porch floor replacement

by Pete's Hardwood Floors | Sep 6, 2022 | Sand wood porch

Here in the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis, we have a lot of historic housing stock with covered fir porches. We need porches to take advantage of our short and glorious summers. But wood exposed to sun and weather year round takes an extreme beating and it...

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Why do I have to sand my brand-new, raw wood floor?

Why do I have to sand my brand-new, raw wood floor?

by Pete's Hardwood Floors | Sep 6, 2022 | Sand wood floors, Sanding floors, Wood floor advice

It’s new; isn’t it already perfect? I know – this seems crazy, right? This beautiful, fresh-from-the-mill, newly-planed wood gets nailed to your subfloor, and now you have to sand it? Why??It’s not that the wood surface isn’t smooth. After installation to your...

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Can I use Rubio Monocoat on my kitchen countertops?

Can I use Rubio Monocoat on my kitchen countertops?

by Pete's Hardwood Floors | Sep 4, 2022 | Rubio, Rubio Monocoat

OMG please do! We didn’t plan for this when we first started carrying Rubio Monocoat, but almost half of what we sell now is for coating wood other than floors.And countertops are the perfect project for Rubio:No stink. Most countertops are already in place by the...

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Random Thoughts on Refinishing Fir and Pine

Random Thoughts on Refinishing Fir and Pine

by Pete's Hardwood Floors | Sep 2, 2022 | Finishing floors, Fir floors, Pine floors

As we’ve probably told you a million times already, Pete’s is proudly located in Minnesota. So the lion’s share of our customers have floors made of northern woods like oak, maple, or birch. But the next most common wood in these parts is Douglas fir which we see on...

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What do I do when my sandpaper keeps gumming up?

What do I do when my sandpaper keeps gumming up?

by Pete's Hardwood Floors | Sep 1, 2022 | Sand hardwood floors, Sand wood floors, Sanding floors, Wood floor refinishing

We love this question so hard. Because any time your sandpaper is gumming up, it is not a problem; it is a SOLUTION! When sandpaper is loading up, it means that the friction and heat created by the paper as it spins on your floor is actually melting off the old...

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Do my floors have pet damage, or water damage?

Do my floors have pet damage, or water damage?

by Pete's Hardwood Floors | Aug 31, 2022 | Refinish hardwood floors, Wood floor damage, Wood floor refinishing, Wood floor water damage

"Can you tell me if this will sand out?" Some customers come to us unsure of whether their floors can be saved. But about 25% of them arrive with panic in their hearts and photos like the ones above, hoping that we have a magic cure.Most water stains sand out; most...

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Do you have mystery marks in your wood floors?

Do you have mystery marks in your wood floors?

by Pete's Hardwood Floors | Aug 31, 2022 | Finishing floors, Refinish hardwood floors, Sand hardwood floors, Wood floor damage

Have you been Googling “wood floor problems?” You just bought a house and pulled up the carpet to get a good look at the hardwood floor the sellers promised, and you find blemishes you don't even have words for. If you don't have the words, how can you figure out what...

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