Refinishing Hardwood Floors

[Brenda Starrr]

Wayne is ripping up this shitty pink carpet that we have in our living room/dining room area. We have nice hardwood floors underneath. I have the most vile allergies, so this will be a great thing for me.

Has anyone ever done this task before? Any good advice? Many thanks!

[Msterbeau]

Wayne is ripping up this shitty pink carpet that we have in our living room/dining room area. We have nice hardwood floors underneath. I have the most vile allergies, so this will be a great thing for me.

Has anyone ever done this task before? Any good advice? Many thanks!

Make sure you get ALL the little tacks/nails out of the wood. Remove the shoe molding from the base of the walls, assuming you have it. I haven't actually done the sanding/finishing part. It makes a huge dusty mess... Move everything out and be prepared to vacuum and wash the walls and stuff afterwards.

[Hellion]

:devil You will also have to rent a floor sander,I have sanded hardwood floors,and just like Marc said,it will make one hell of a mess.

If you can get clear plastic film and cover all doorways it will minmize the dust to one area,so the mess will stay in that room you are working in.good luck. :cheerful

[odims_sphere]

They are both right, It's a bit of a pain in the ass, but looks awesome when it's finished.

Be sure to strip all of the old stain otherwise the colors will be slightly different. There are 3 steps to sanding and the rental shop should know this. First there is an abrasive screen that does most of the actual removal of the old stain. Then an 80 grit sand paper, followed by a 200 grit. After sanding it's best to do 2 coats of stain and 2 coats of clear. Each coat taking between 4 and 8 hours to dry.

To reduce the dust I like to block off all the doorways, windows and hallways, then as I am sanding I have someone right beside the sander with a shop vac. It doesn't get it all but it helps.

[Lilith]

MAke sure Who ever is in the area sanding/looking uses a mask of some type.

[Steven]

Laura and I did this in our house in California. follow all of the above advice and you'll do wonderful. Its worth the hassle. Try to find floor varnish that is for heavy duty use - almost like (or just like) the kjind they use on basketball floors.

by the way we left some of the road wear on our floors in california prior to varnishing. We had the house all done up to look like a castle inside and the worn floors looked bitchen. Do you want to look like a good housekeeping home ro a home that says "I live here and Martha Stewart dont"???