Hammer Out Flaws in Hardwood Floor Without Nails

Question: We recently bought a home that has a 2-year-old hardwood floor in the kitchen. The floor is in perfect condition except for the soft spots in a couple of corners where the wood hasn’t adhered to the glue. Can I just hit a special finishing nail into those spots to connect them to the concrete subfloor below?

H. J., Los Alamitos

Answer: “Normally you don’t nail into concrete,” says Kerry Conley of American Hardwoods in Cerritos. “If you have extra planks available, you can saw the loose pieces out, reapply mastic, then glue the new pieces in. You lose your tongue and groove at that point, but it goes in virtually unnoticed.

“You could also drill into the loose planks at an angle, then get a small syringe sold in hobby shops and insert it down onto the floor, filling the space with wood glue. You can then weight the spot down and fill the holes you’ve made with wood putty.”

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Q: We’ve just painted our bedroom with white semi-gloss, and there are a couple of unopened cans of paint left. Our acoustic ceiling in the living rooms needs repainting. Is it OK to use an enamel rather than a flat on this?

E.E., Costa Mesa

A: “Generally, the semi-gloss will block any acoustical properties of the ceiling,” says Carol Walter of Alamitos Paint and Wallpaper in Los Alamitos. “And you have to make sure you have enough to do the job, since semi-gloss tends to leave lap marks and will look shoddier if you have to stop midway through the job. But if the acoustics of the ceiling don’t matter to you and you have enough to do the job, go ahead.”

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Q: During the installation of our TV cable, the guy who did the work lifted a portion of the carpeting in our bedroom and put it back, but it doesn’t look the same. How can I pull the carpet back into place?

T.Y., Santa Ana

A: “Unfortunately, it’s really not a job for a do-it-yourselfer,” says Trisha Darnell of Mike’s Carpet Emporium in Costa Mesa. “Someone needs to come in with a carpet stretcher or a knee kicker to get the carpet to the tack strip and attach it that way.

“If you just try to pound it down yourself with a hammer or pull it with pliers, it’s not going to be stretched properly and you’ll have problems with ripples in the carpet surface. It’s not a big job, and most companies would charge around $50 to do it.”

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Q: We have recessed lighting throughout our house, and a neighbor told us we should replace the black trim kits we have with white, because it’s easier on the eyes. Is that true?

C.N., Anaheim Hills

A: “Black will absorb the light, while white reflects it,” says Tom Becker of Harbor Lites in Costa Mesa. “It’s really a matter of preference. Install white and black trim kits next to each other and see if you can tell a difference. Some people prefer the cleaner look of white, but others are turned off by the amount of glare they create.”

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Q: Our laundry room, which is off the kitchen and doesn’t have a door leading outside, has developed a horrible odor. We’ve tried cleaning the floor and walls around and under the washer and dryer and nothing’s helped. Any suggestions?

W.P., La Palma

A: “It could be a problem with sewer gas coming up through the laundry drain,” says contractor Steve Smith of Fullerton. “Cover the drain for a while to see if it stops the odor. If not, I once faced a similar problem where a rat had died inside a wall and the smell was coming through an electrical outlet that didn’t have a plate covering it. See if there are any spots in the wall where there’s a gap and cover them with tape to see if it makes a difference.”