Hardwood Floor Restorations

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

As a hardwood floor owner ourselves, we are coming to a point where it will need help and would like to ask a question or two:

Is sanding the best way to remove the old finish?

What types of finishes work best and last?

Rod!~

[Kory 14]

Beth I re-did my Brazilian cherry floors in january. I rented a machine at HD sanded it. I put a clear coat and it turned out awesome!

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

My main concern is the crevices between the boards as they have gotten larger due to shrinking as the wood has dried out in the exposed areas.

Thought about doing it myself but that is either going to happen when we remodel the kitchen or sooner depending on the time we can find to do it.

Any others have some input to this?

Rod!~

[Steve Kiser 14]

Yeah u can rent a "dustless" sander, I have seen those, I would have someone sand it, too many things can go wrong, I would be a little more curious as too why the floor boards shrunk? I've been around alot of hardwood and seen some cool floors but never heard of that. Is there a crawl space under the house? The finish though I would do!!

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Basement. It has a sub-floor under the wood floor. There a parts where the finish is worn. I am guessing this to be a contributing factor.

Rod!~

[PressurePros 249]

Has anyone ever used the "no sanding" type of refinishing companies?

[Patrick at HMSGA 14]

As a hardwood floor owner ourselves, we are coming to a point where it will need help and would like to ask a question or two:

Is sanding the best way to remove the old finish?

What types of finishes work best and last?

Rod!~

I see this old post without apparent closure. Do you still need advice or have you already finished this?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Thanks for noticing Patrick,

While the last few months have been so busy for us here my interest in this subject is still peaked.

As you have noticed, no further posts have been offered on this one. I am all eye's!

Rod!~

[Russ Johnson 141]

This is the floor in a 125 year old farmhouse we bought 3 years ago. The boards were cupped and hard as a rock. Started out with 60 grit to knock the peaks down to even get to the stain that had been applied ages ago. Switched to 80 grit, then 120. Hours of sanding and 3 coats of gloss polyurethane, applied 24 hours apart and steel wooled between coats, and this is the finished product...not sure what kind of wood it is...was real white after sanding and the poly oranged it up. I'm delighted with the results.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Oooooh thank you! There is hope for the kitchen floor yet!

Beth

[Celeste 341]

Hey - that looks like my floors!!! We'd love to give redoing our floors a whirl but what is the best manner to do so when the ENTIRE house is hardwoods - you would have to be able to function without a room for approximately how long?

Celeste

[Russ Johnson 141]

About 4 days including sanding, dusting, and polyurethaning. We walked on the floors between coats, but only after 18 hours or so and only in socks.

[Celeste 341]

Great chance of that in our zoo :) At least we're down to one last puppy! LOL

Celeste

[JFife 14]

...Little bit of a Hijackorama----but awhile back we all were discussing hardwood floors we liked---I mentioned I liked Australian Cypress. I was shopping around online today and snatched a few pics...here they are. Now I can run these through my BenMoore color program and pre-pick all my colors, everything:) Whenever I buy the house I want to do this work on:) But I like to have my ideas ready!!:) Interested to know if you guys like this flooring or not. After this, I like Mahogany.

[JFife 14]

I'm going to get some samples and see what darker tints look like on it. The light color is nice, but it looks too "Springtime" and "pastel" for me. I prefer heavy, rich, and bold looks. With a touch of coldness, so it doesn't seem cozy....make sense?? Anyway, I like the wood, just not with a clear.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Pretty flooring Jon :)

Beth

[Russ Johnson 141]

Were it me, I'd go no darker than maple...anything like walnut, and you'd lose a lot of the character the knots lend.

[Greg R 82]

This topic hits home :) We just put a 2nd story addition on the house last year and I am finally to the floors on the project. Putting down 10" wide plank southern yellow knotty pine throughout the house.

In looking into this I found a company called Chemtech that manufacturers products for the dustless refinishing under the Wood-Solv label. Thought it would be a great addition to the business for the off season months at least plus I may give it a shot on our new floors if its applications allow it. Anyone else used this system at all?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

No, but I would be curious to learn more...I have a kitchen floor I am itching to replace!

Beth

[Celeste 341]

Greg do you have a link? Our hardwoods have taken a beating but I can't fathom having them all redone right now - too much square footage and waaay too much stuff to move! The dust was one of my biggest issues with the process though!

Celeste

[plainpainter 217]

Rent a sander and and edger - 50 grit is common to clean a floor up with - no reason to get real fine - the wood needs some tooth to absorb the poly. Then apply 2-3 coats of the high gloss poly, my favorite is Varmor from P&L - use the scotchbrite machine to buff between coats - its that big round device. And then the last coat use the finish you want, either dull, satin, semi - or high gloss. Use a lambs wool applicator. Oh yes - after you have finished sanding down to bare wood - perhaps 100 grit is fine before poly'ing - vaccum entire surface, tack cloth it, and rub it clean with new rags and mineral spirits. After each sequential coat - wipe down dust after buffing with Denatured alcohol - repeat until final coat is layed down.

[Celeste 341]

Well all that is well and fine, however, I don't want the mess etc that that process is going to leave. My rooms are large, as is my furniture and doorways - it's going to be near impossible to enclose less than one-half of the house at a time to keep the dust down in our living space. Difficult to live with everything piled up! Also don't want anything close to a high shine floor - my floors are from 1929 and simply have been waxed for over half a century.

[Greg R 82]

Here ya go!

Browse Catalog

[Greg R 82]

Click around on the links above the wood-solv info Celeste and you'll find the cleaners and prep chems as well.

I've been told they have seminars every so often on the process to through some of thier distributors. Seems pretty straight forward though.

Most people dread the mess of sanding so this may have some excellent potential. Nobody around here offers anything outside of the sandouts from what Ive seen.