Refinishing hard wood floors - HomeModders.com

sphipps · 01-26-2008, 05:34 PM

My hard wood floors need some attention.....anyone have any tips or ideas on how to make my floors look almost new again?

Thanks.

Jeefsilverado · 01-26-2008, 09:33 PM

You could always try something like the orange glo hardwood floor kit. Its a cleaner and some kind of polish if the floors aren't too bad. If this doesn't work you might have to refinish them.
I would pay someone to do it. I have never refinished floors but I looked into it. If the floors are in good shape no scratches, gouges, or areas you need to fill in you could give it a good scuff sand and put 2 coats of good floor poly on it. Don't use minwax or cheap polys at home depot. Go to a reputable paint store to get the stuff. If you floor has scratches, needs to be filled, etc you need to bring it to bare wood. Then apply 3 coats of poly or what is recommended by the manufacturer.
Becareful with sanding you don't want to gouge the floor. Also to make sure you you get into the corners well. There is a sander at home dpeot you can rent that will take a little longer but is safer for the novice compared to a drum sander. Then with the poly you will want to get a nice even coat and if you have floors that edge up practice feathering the edges.
After you do the floors you shouldn't have heavy foot traffic for atleast a day. Then you shouldn't put furniture or area rugs down for a week or so.
Minwax puts out a good guide to refinishing floors. I just have not heard much good about using their poly for floors.
I would price out what everything from the poly, sander rental, sandpaper, applicators, mineral spirits and all that will cost. Then get a quote of how much a pro will charge. I know people who it would have costed about 3/4 of the price to do it them selves as a pro to do it.

87vert · 01-27-2008, 05:01 PM

when we first bought our place before we moved in we decided to refinish the floors. In our kitchen there was some 30year old linoleum and just a piece of carpet in the dining room, and some old shag carpet in the bedroom (the 3 rooms we did)

we rented a floor sander from home depot and they sold us all the sand paper we needed, buy more than you think you will need because you can just return what you dont use.

we used a gallon of the min wax red mahogony and a gallon of the minwax polyurethane. (we had some left over which I'm using to refinish the stairs.

It was pretty straight foward, sand the floors, we used 2 coats of stain, and 2 coats of poly.

We used the vibrating pad sander over the drum sander. I believe it was about 75dollars a day for the sander (we took 2 days to do the 3 rooms) The total of all the materials (sander, sand paper, stain, rags, poly) was about 250.

We never got a quote from a pro but I'm pretty sure it would be alot more. I've got a few steps left to do on my stairs but I will post pics when I'm done, I'm doing them all with a small hand sander after using stripper to remove all the paint/stain.

briansol · 01-27-2008, 11:11 PM

my parents had it done by a pro. took him about 5 days to do the whole upstairs (raised ranch) of the living room, stairs hallway and 3 bedrooms. it was a total pain in the ass to live there that week

he sanded the first 2 days, polyed the other 2, and the last 2 were spent on the stairs.

He had all kinds of special equipment... i wouldn't try it on my own.

Jeefsilverado · 01-27-2008, 11:55 PM

It sucks, I want to redo my floors but my whole place is hardwood floor except for the kitchen and bathroom. SO I am out of luck.

87vert · 01-28-2008, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeefsilverado

It sucks, I want to redo my floors but my whole place is hardwood floor except for the kitchen and bathroom. SO I am out of luck.

my whole house is hardwood except for the living room, (there are nice hardwoods underneath but I like laying on the floor in there to watch tv, play with the dog/rabbits so we decided to keep carpet in there.

I would just do it a couple rooms at a time.

ScrapinSTi · 01-28-2008, 10:35 PM

its not too hard to do if you rent the equipment... My sister did her kitchen in her condo herself... Which is amazing because other than painting which she is amazing at, she is not handy at all... She did a VERy good job too...

You can do it phipps... i'll help if you want to do one room just to try...

sphipps · 01-29-2008, 08:41 PM

Noah...yeah...I'll let you know when I plan on doing it. I'm going to try the hallways first...they are small and if I mess them up....so be it. LOL

briansol · 01-30-2008, 02:32 AM

i'd suggest starting in a closet first. that way if you screw up bad, it's not a huge deal

ScrapinSTi · 01-31-2008, 09:16 PM

well you can get away with hallways... thats what runner rugs are for.

01-26-2008, 05:34 PM	#1
sphipps Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Baltic, CT Age: 38 Posts: 15 Rep Power: 0	Refinishing hard wood floors My hard wood floors need some attention.....anyone have any tips or ideas on how to make my floors look almost new again? Thanks. __________________ Steve

01-27-2008, 05:01 PM	#3
87vert Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Age: 22 Posts: 25 Rep Power: 0	when we first bought our place before we moved in we decided to refinish the floors. In our kitchen there was some 30year old linoleum and just a piece of carpet in the dining room, and some old shag carpet in the bedroom (the 3 rooms we did) we rented a floor sander from home depot and they sold us all the sand paper we needed, buy more than you think you will need because you can just return what you dont use. we used a gallon of the min wax red mahogony and a gallon of the minwax polyurethane. (we had some left over which I'm using to refinish the stairs. It was pretty straight foward, sand the floors, we used 2 coats of stain, and 2 coats of poly. We used the vibrating pad sander over the drum sander. I believe it was about 75dollars a day for the sander (we took 2 days to do the 3 rooms) The total of all the materials (sander, sand paper, stain, rags, poly) was about 250. We never got a quote from a pro but I'm pretty sure it would be alot more. I've got a few steps left to do on my stairs but I will post pics when I'm done, I'm doing them all with a small hand sander after using stripper to remove all the paint/stain. __________________ 1200sq ft 2bed 1 bath (purchased June '07)

01-27-2008, 11:11 PM	#4
briansol Administrator Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Central CT Age: 28 Posts: 432 Rep Power: 10	my parents had it done by a pro. took him about 5 days to do the whole upstairs (raised ranch) of the living room, stairs hallway and 3 bedrooms. it was a total pain in the ass to live there that week he sanded the first 2 days, polyed the other 2, and the last 2 were spent on the stairs. He had all kinds of special equipment... i wouldn't try it on my own. __________________ 1997 2050sqft Split Level

01-29-2008, 08:41 PM	#8
sphipps Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Baltic, CT Age: 38 Posts: 15 Rep Power: 0	Noah...yeah...I'll let you know when I plan on doing it. I'm going to try the hallways first...they are small and if I mess them up....so be it. LOL __________________ Steve

01-30-2008, 02:32 AM	#9
briansol Administrator Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Central CT Age: 28 Posts: 432 Rep Power: 10	i'd suggest starting in a closet first. that way if you screw up bad, it's not a huge deal __________________ 1997 2050sqft Split Level

01-26-2008, 09:33 PM	#2
Jeefsilverado jeef Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 69 Rep Power: 2	You could always try something like the orange glo hardwood floor kit. Its a cleaner and some kind of polish if the floors aren't too bad. If this doesn't work you might have to refinish them. I would pay someone to do it. I have never refinished floors but I looked into it. If the floors are in good shape no scratches, gouges, or areas you need to fill in you could give it a good scuff sand and put 2 coats of good floor poly on it. Don't use minwax or cheap polys at home depot. Go to a reputable paint store to get the stuff. If you floor has scratches, needs to be filled, etc you need to bring it to bare wood. Then apply 3 coats of poly or what is recommended by the manufacturer. Becareful with sanding you don't want to gouge the floor. Also to make sure you you get into the corners well. There is a sander at home dpeot you can rent that will take a little longer but is safer for the novice compared to a drum sander. Then with the poly you will want to get a nice even coat and if you have floors that edge up practice feathering the edges. After you do the floors you shouldn't have heavy foot traffic for atleast a day. Then you shouldn't put furniture or area rugs down for a week or so. Minwax puts out a good guide to refinishing floors. I just have not heard much good about using their poly for floors. I would price out what everything from the poly, sander rental, sandpaper, applicators, mineral spirits and all that will cost. Then get a quote of how much a pro will charge. I know people who it would have costed about 3/4 of the price to do it them selves as a pro to do it.

01-27-2008, 11:55 PM	#5
Jeefsilverado jeef Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 69 Rep Power: 2	It sucks, I want to redo my floors but my whole place is hardwood floor except for the kitchen and bathroom. SO I am out of luck.

01-28-2008, 10:35 PM	#7
ScrapinSTi Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: In Debt. Posts: 240 Rep Power: 2	its not too hard to do if you rent the equipment... My sister did her kitchen in her condo herself... Which is amazing because other than painting which she is amazing at, she is not handy at all... She did a VERy good job too... You can do it phipps... i'll help if you want to do one room just to try...

01-31-2008, 09:16 PM	#10
ScrapinSTi Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: In Debt. Posts: 240 Rep Power: 2	well you can get away with hallways... thats what runner rugs are for.