Help with hardwood floors (hardwood floor, roofing, vacuum, refinish)

[jamiew]

I have carpet and I pulled up a little of it and discovered Hardwood Floors the carpet does not have padding nor is it glued to the hardwood, the property was probably built in the 70's. If I pull the carpet up how do I refinish the hardwood floors that I discovered?

[rubytue]

Very carefully!

Do you want a poly finish? Thats what most people do these day, but some call it junk food for wood, and say you should use tung oil and/or wax.

Anyway, assuming poly... first, you sand it all down 3 times. First with 36 grit, then 60 or 80, then 100. If the floors are really torn up, start with a 24. The drum sander is easy, the edger is a PIA. You will spend as long on the edges as the main part. Use a paint scraper to scrape the finish off in the corners. Before you do the last round of sanding (with the 100 grit), use stainable wood filler to fill any noticeable gaps. Round holes can be filled with oak dowels.

Vacuum up all the dust. It will be everywhere. Make sure you get it out of all the cracks, too. A microfiber cloth is good to take up the remaining dust after you vacuum.

After its all sanded, you want to use a sanding sealer, like Zinzer over everything. It stinks, and is probably pretty toxic to breath. Wear a mask. But it dries pretty quickly.

Then, if you want, stain the floors using a lambs wool pad. We didn't do this b/c the 40-year-old red oak floors had aged to a beautiful color.

After the stain in dry, put down the first coat of poly. Let it dry 12 hours. Run over everything with a buffer. Then poly again.

We just did this at the end of June. My husband's friend (who refinishes floors for a living in TN) came up and helped us. Even with the pro, we worked Thurs-Monday straight. 3 bedrooms, a hallway, living and dining room. We didn't even get to the stairs then. They took another week of work in an of themselves.

[Picassine]

Originally Posted by jamiew

I have carpet and I pulled up a little of it and discovered Hardwood Floors the carpet does not have padding nor is it glued to the hardwood, the property was probably built in the 70's. If I pull the carpet up how do I refinish the hardwood floors that I discovered?

If I were you, I would definitely remove the carpet. I would call an expert... don't do it yourself if you've never done a job like that... you can ruin your floor. Sanding is a very delicate job, leave it to the experts.

The floor could also be damaged in some areas, so the expert would know how to fix it and it wouldn't show.

[jamiew]

How long do you think 1 room (1,000 sqft) it would take to take care of the floors.

[rubytue]

Originally Posted by Picassine

If I were you, I would definitely remove the carpet. I would call an expert... don't do it yourself if you've never done a job like that... you can ruin your floor. Sanding is a very delicate job, leave it to the experts.

The floor could also be damaged in some areas, so the expert would know how to fix it and it wouldn't show.

I agree with this! Despite giving all the detailed instructions LOL My thinking was it would sound horrible enough to keep someone from doing it.

[vpcats]

I used to have all hardwood, except the family room. Previous owners had put down carpeting and when I pulled up a piece because I was going to get rid of it anyway, I found these nice beautiful hardwood floors underneath. There were some stains but I got them professionally redone and even though it was a nightmare, and we weren't even moved in yet, and the house was empty, they looked beautiful. Then they started warping. So I had parts replaced and the whole place was done again, with this very heavy marine urethane on top (2 coats of that).

Guess what....after 4 months warping again. I was ready to bulldoze the whole house. We started pulling up the floor and most of the subfloor was rotted. I have crawl space underneath with bad ventilation because of a addition that was done, obviously not completely right. I have fans underneath the house and everything.

Anyway, we pulled up ALL the hardwood from the living room, dining room, and hallways, which were the worst parts. Replaced he subfloor, put roofing paper, hardybacker, plywood and then slapped on porcelain tile. No more problems.

I did keep the bedrooms with the hardwood. Those are ok.

That's a beautiful floor in those pictures!

[CBB]

We have hardwood floors in entry, kitchen, dining, living which is more or less one large room. It was "cupping" from the start. Last fall, when we bought a new kitchen, we decided to redo the floors when the old kitchen was gone and the new one not yet in.

As we have the bedrooms and baths upstairs, we couldn't opt for a new poly finish because it has to dry several days. So the sanded floor was oiled. The whole process was a loud and dusty nightmare but we are very happy that we had it finally done because the "new" floor looks just great!

Is redoing a hardwood floor a DIY job? Absolutely NO!

[A.L.I. Designs, Inc.]

It is a huge undertaking to take on yourself. I would hire someone to come in, sand and finish the floors. I would recommend doing it to add value to your home.