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I have an oak floor that I'm going to refinish. It is not deeply scratched anywhere, just dull from the finish being worn. Should I start with a finer sandpaper than you'd normally begin with when refinishing a floor, since I pretty much just want to remove the old finish and smooth it out a little? Could I get away with a belt sander rather than renting one of those oscillating sanders?
What polyurethene do you recommend coating it with? Brush or roller? How many coats? Sanding between coats?
We recently moved to a house with hardwood floors. If the hardwood is not stained or you like the stain that is there it is really easy. All you really have to do is use100 or 120 grit and give the floor a light sanding. They have an applicator you can screw sandpaper onto. Make SURE you get up all the grit(tack cloth) and then apply a water based poly. They dry in a few hours and I am told it is as good or almost as good as the old stuff that took 24 hours. I put three coats on mine in two days. The best applicator I have used is a lamb cloth? pour the poly down and spread it with the applicator. Just watch your overlaps and good luck.
Update: My floors look great and I saved myself probably over $1000! I rented an orbital sander (the hardest part of the job was how heavy the machine was - I don't know how I got it in and out of my car!), bought Fabulon floor refinisher based on favorable reviews here and on other sites. Fabulon is expensive and so I lucked out when my hardware store sold me their last two gallons for 50% off. Getting up all the dust after sanding was a big job. In retrospect, I could have started with the 80 grit sandpaper to take a little more of the top layer off, but I went with 100 and this worked out because it was hard to make a mistake with a fairly fine grit, and as a first-timer it would have been easy to make a mistake! I put on about four thin coats and will probably do one more. The water based poly dried really fast, it was so easy.
What great information. And a time saver on doing wood floors in fair condition. I'm going to remember it next house I need to redo floors. Thanks.
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