Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My husband and I just bought our first home. It's a great house that only needs a few repairs. I'd like to do something about the original (presumably hardwood) flooring in the bedrooms (most of the house has new flooring but the upstairs does not) but being a newbie to all of this, I have no idea where to begin and am seeking advice.
Here is a picture of the flooring in the bedroom:
As you can see, the flooring is quite old, possibly original. It's rather bumpy. I would rather refinish it than replace it and I'm curious what you guys think? Should I replace it? Refinish it? Where do I start?
My husband and I just bought our first home. It's a great house that only needs a few repairs. I'd like to do something about the original (presumably hardwood) flooring in the bedrooms (most of the house has new flooring but the upstairs does not) but being a newbie to all of this, I have no idea where to begin and am seeking advice.
Here is a picture of the flooring in the bedroom:
As you can see, the flooring is quite old, possibly original. It's rather bumpy. I would rather refinish it than replace it and I'm curious what you guys think? Should I replace it? Refinish it? Where do I start?
Thanks!
I love original wood floors, and don't mind "character" (realtor-speak for flaws), so personally I would keep it. However, if you're planning on refinishing it you need to know that due to the deep divots that it seems to have you will never have a perfectly flat floor surface. The floor refinisher would have to take off too much of the wood to get to that. At best I would opt for having the very top surface refinished. If it were my personal project, I would use a product called Renuzit on the floor. I used it in one bedroom of my 1927 bungalow on previously unfinished heart pine flooring and the floor came out great. It still looked great 10 years afterwards when I sold the house too.
I would leave it alone. As soon as you put sandpaper to it, decades of patina that only come from absorbing oxygen and decades of temperature cycles are instantly gone, and your old floor is no more distinguished than the one installed two days ago.
I'd do a good cleaning and a good heavy wax, and declare victory.
The finish looks fine to me, but if it is unacceptable, you can just screen it (not sand) remove the finish and refinish. that will not remove the patina.
If you tried to sand that floor flat, you would probably sand through the top of the grooves and the tongues wold pop -this basically ruining the floor and requiring replacement.
except with very very high end jobs I have yet to see a new wood floor that looks anywhere near as nice as an old wood floors. The new ones all look like plastic. Further, you cannot get the grain they used to get because they are no longer allowed to cut old growth timber.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
