Hardwood Floor Cleaning in Springfield, TN
Pull up the kitchen vinyl in an older Springfield house and you will usually find wood, and stuck to the wood you will find whatever held the vinyl down.
There is a sequence that plays out over and over in Robertson County houses. Oak or pine goes down when the house is built. Somewhere between 1955 and 1975 the kitchen and the back rooms get covered with linoleum, sheet vinyl, or nine-inch tile because that was the modern thing to do. Fifty years later somebody remodels, the covering comes up, and there is the original floor.
The wood itself is frequently in better shape than anyone expected, because it spent half a century protected. The adhesive is the problem. It comes in two general flavors, a black tar-like cutback that was standard under tile and older sheet goods, and a yellow or amber mastic used with later products. Neither is soil, and this is the part worth understanding before you call anyone: cleaning does not remove cured adhesive.
Adhesive Is a Different Category From Soil
What we do is lift accumulated product film, wax, oil soap residue, and embedded grit off a finished floor and then protect it. Adhesive is a cured material bonded to bare wood, usually on a floor whose original finish is long gone under it. Removing it is mechanical scraping and solvent work, and it belongs to the refinishing trade, not to us. Anyone who tells you a cleaning will take it off is selling you a disappointment.
Before Anyone Scrapes the Black Stuff
One serious note. Cutback adhesive and nine-inch floor tile from before roughly 1980 can contain asbestos, and so can the backing of some old sheet flooring. Left alone and undisturbed it is generally not a hazard. Sanding it, grinding it, or scraping it dry is exactly what turns it into one. If you have black adhesive in a house of that vintage, get a sample tested before anyone touches it. That costs very little and it is the right order to do things in.
What We Can Do in a House Like That
Plenty, just not that one room. The front rooms, the hall, the bedrooms and the stairs in these houses usually still have their original finish under decades of build-up, and those come back well. We will clean right up to the boundary of the uncovered area and leave it, and if the adhesive gets dealt with properly later we can come back and treat that room once it has a finish on it again. Splitting the job that way is normal and we quote it that way.
Newer Springfield: Autumnwood, Eden Pointe, and Village Green
None of the above applies on the newer side of town. Those houses are engineered plank or prefinished solid with a factory coat, and the issue there is the opposite one, a floor that has been kept too enthusiastically with spray mops and shine products until it holds a permanent haze. That is a straightforward job and the results are quick. Same crew, same day rate, entirely different conversation.
Not sure whether your floor needs cleaning or refinishing? There are three tests you can run yourself in about a minute, and they will tell you which one you are dealing with before anyone quotes you.
Hardwood problems we handle in Springfield
If you are partway through a remodel on one of the older streets off Main, call us at the point where you know what is staying and what is being replaced. That is when we can give you a number that will not change.
615-380-7233, or book online. $50 off to start.
Areas we cover around Springfield
Neighborhoods: Oakland Farms, Sleepy Hollow, Indian Hills, Historic District, Autumnwood Estates, Glover Hills, Mooreland Estates, Timberlake, Eden Pointe, Village Green
Zip codes: 37172
Hardwood questions from Springfield homeowners
We took up the kitchen floor and the wood underneath is black in patches. Can you clean that off?
If it is adhesive, no, and we would rather tell you now than after taking a deposit. If it is staining in the wood from water that got under the old covering, also no. What we can tell you on a site visit is which of the two it is and whether the surrounding rooms are worth doing in the meantime.
Is the old black adhesive actually dangerous?
It can contain asbestos if the house is pre-1980, which is common in this part of Springfield. Undisturbed it sits there harmlessly. Have it tested before any contractor sands or scrapes it, and pick your flooring contractor with that answer in hand.
Can you just do the rooms that still have a finish on them?
Yes, and that is how most of these jobs go. We measure and quote the finished areas only. There is no charge for the space we are not treating.
How long does a main floor take?
Most of these houses are a half day. Walkable 30 to 60 minutes after we are done, and we ask you to hold off on putting rugs and furniture back for a day so the protective coat cures.
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Schedule your Springfield hardwood floor cleaning
Prefer to talk it through first? Call 615-380-7233. Otherwise, pick a time below.
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