Hardwood floors too slippery?

12 years ago

I'm trying to make a list of the things I'll like for building a house in the next few years.

We have hardwood floors now, love the look, but it's really slippery even if not polished. Am I the only one who thinks it's dangerous to have them, esp with young kids or older people living with us? (We remove shoes and walk barefooted in the house btw, may be a factor)

I hate the carpeted look. Is there an alternative?

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User

12 years ago

I'll be watching this thread for other people's thoughts, because I totally agree. My inlaws' house is a skating rink and shoes are absolutely forbidden.

I actually really want pre-finished hardwood (not engineered "wood") rather than site-finished hardwood. When we toured model homes this summer I noticed that the pre-finished hardwood wasn't any more slippery than a ceramic tile even though it had a nice finish to it.

(Depending on your region, one alternative would be those ceramic tiles that look like hardwood, or just a beautiful ceramic tile, but that would be way too cold for our northern climate.)

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Comments (18)

auroraborelis
12 years ago
I don't find our hardwood floors to be more slippery than other hard surfaces, though, maybe if this is a concern for you then you should look at hand scrapped hardwood?
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You need to do a little more archeological digging still. You need to know the whole construction of the floor before you can decide how best to install something new. I'd take up that plywood piece in the kitchen and see what's under it. It's higher than the surrounding floor, so needs to go. You should also be able to see from there what subfloor is under the original kitchen hardwood. It's too bad the space under your entryway is finished, but I'd still do some exploring from below to see what's under there, and to figure out the fix to stop it from squeaking. Is it drywall below or a drop ceiling? I know it probably seems like a pain to tear out drywall, but if you cut out a clean patch, like 2' x the width of the joists, it'll be relatively simple to repair. Just make sure to cut it down the center of the joists so that there's room to screw the patch piece to it later. Cut the hole under the area that squeaks the most, if you can. Have someone walk on and watch the floor from below to see what's moving. It might be as simple as pounding in a couple shims from below, or face-nailing a loose board from above. You want to find out what's underneath the hardwood. It might be laid directly on the floor joists, or there might be 10" wide boards that the hardwood is nailed to. Another thought is to take out a board in the hallway, since that's not original and you want to replace it. See what the subfloor is there. I am a bit puzzled at why, when you've stripped the kitchen down to the original hardwood, it's still higher than the hallway floor. Is your current surface perhaps not the original kitchen hardwood? Peeling back the plywood area will help determine that. BTW, I haven't heard of that stop squeaking product you linked to, so can't offer any personal opinion. And don't pour self-leveling compound over top of hardwood. It needs to go over plywood.
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My experience is just the opposite of yours; in my previous home I had hickory for about 10 years and now I have white oak in my new home(moved in last March). I loved the hickory and was very happy with it but I did not notice that it was "so hard" or that it didn't scratch. I had a dog and although the scratches were hard to see, mostly due to the "busyness" of the nature of hickory, I don't see alot of difference in what I have now. It was refinished once and I always had lots of compliments on the floor but in the kitchen I also had a few dents from dropping things so it is not invincible. Maybe it depends more on the finish you put on it? I just got tired of the "busy pattern" of the wood so that when dh and I built our new home we put in the white oak which I am very happy with. If you put 'hickory floors' in the search engine at the bottom of the main flooring page you will probably get tons of posts on them. HTH
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Choosing the right flooring type isn't enough for your living condition. You will have to consider the types of cut: flat sawn, rift and quarter sawn, quarter sawn or live sawn. Quarter sawn and rift & quarter sawn will be best choices, because expansion and contraction is along the thickness of the wood. You will need climate control all year round. 70 degrees at 40 % relative humidity is where you want to be throughout the year. The use of a humidifier/dehumidifier will be needed year round. Although, engineered flooring is more stable than solid. Using the wrong wood specie in your living condition can run the risk of de-laminating with engineered wood. If, the top veneer is more or less stable than it's core and backing. You will experience de-laminating in extreme humidity swings. Take in account of what the engineered flooring is constructed of: mdf or plywood. The width of the flooring will account for how much expansion and contracting also. 2 1/4" strips are the most stable. As you go wider, expect to see more wider seasonal gaps. Proper acclimating is critical, should be performed with a moisture meter. For 2 1/4" strip flooring , sub-floor and flooring moisture should be within 4%. For all other widths 2% moisture differentiation is allowed or should not be exceeded. Don't forget proper expansion gaps, which is the thickness of your flooring, example: 3/4" thick = 3/4" gap. Sub-floor type and condition will affect the performance of wood floors. All this needs to be considered for the proper and successful performance of your wood floors.
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dekeoboe
12 years ago
Because we did not want our site finished hardwood floors to be slippery, we had them finished with Bona Traffic Anti-slip. You cannot slide across the floors with socks on - it had been tried.
LuAnn_in_PA
12 years ago
We have not found our hardwood to be slippery.
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sis3
12 years ago
No problems with slipping here.
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chispa
12 years ago
No slipping in our last 3 houses with site finished hardwood floors throughout house. Sometimes using the wrong cleaning product can leave the floors slippery.
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EngineerChic
12 years ago
I think the matte polyurethane is less slippery than the shiny one. I don't slip on our floors, but our last big dog found them slippery so we used a ton of the rubber-backed cheap indoor/outdoor carpet for him. Fortunately he only hung out in half the house (the cat owned the other half, they didn't get along).

But, in this house we have the matte finish on the floors and they are a lot less slippery. You might want to try those out and see if that works better for you.
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chiefneil
12 years ago
No slipping problems with my hand-scraped hardwood. We walk around barefoot though. I could see it being a problem in socks (but then all smooth hard surfaces are slippery in socks).
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mojomom
12 years ago
Same as EngineerChic - the the humans in our household have never had a slipping problem, but the young husky with furry feet can sometimes hit this skids when careening through the house to answer the door and our old girl tends to have a problem with getting up and getting her feet under her. We have strategically placed mats for her too.
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User
12 years ago
@chiefneil, our ceramic floors are not slippery in socks. :) I think they are JUST textured enough.
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Ray72
12 years ago
We used to have wood (standard oak) in the foyer. In the winter it became really slippery when your shoes were wet. I replaced it with textured tile and we never had a problem. I suspect hand scraped wood would do about the same but we haven't tried it.
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susanlynn2012
11 years ago
I had a flood in my home not too long ago so I will be replacing my Brazilian Cherry Floors and now I am thinking I need a floor less slippery since my little dogs are having problems walking on the floor. I will be following this thread to see other options.
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zone4newby
11 years ago
Growing up I remember losing my footing on our site-finished wood stairs and landing on my butt a few times, but I never had trouble apart from that.

Pets can definitely slip and slide on wood.
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Annie Deighnaugh
11 years ago
We went with luxury plank vinyl flooring instead of hardwood for durability and maintenance reasons and we are very happy with the results.
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CamG
11 years ago
Annie, what brand/line did you use? We are likely going to do our kitchen, dining, entry and hall in wood-print vinyl tile. I just got a section under my chair at work, excited to see how it holds up!
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susanlynn2012
11 years ago
AnnieDeighnaugh, I would also like to know what brand you went with. Was it glued down directly to the floor and what subfloor was it glued to? I wonder if I did decide to go with hardwood floors again, if hand-scraped would be less slippery? I have three little dogs and two of them are having problems walking on my floor. The smallest one has no problems and is not afraid of the floor but the other two keep slipping and need to walk right next to something to feel safer in case they slip.
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brickeyee
11 years ago
The only time I have found them slippery is when some yahoo uses furniture polish on a dust mop.

They can be like ice then.
M K
9 years ago
I am that yahoo described above! My floors are now like an ice skating rink. The cleaner used Method clean for good wipes (cheap and easily found) took the bright purple acrylic paint off without any struggle. Now I am off to mop with a touch of white vinegar to erase the slippery. whoops.
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Hardwood floors too slippery?

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auroraborelis

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