Hardwood Floor Restorations

[Beth n Rod]

As a hardwood floor owner ourselves, we are coming to a point where it will need help and would like to ask a question or two:
Is sanding the best way to remove the old finish?

What types of finishes work best and last?

Rod!~

[Kory]

Beth I re-did my Brazilian cherry floors in january. I rented a machine at HD sanded it. I put a clear coat and it turned out awesome!

[Beth n Rod]

My main concern is the crevices between the boards as they have gotten larger due to shrinking as the wood has dried out in the exposed areas.
Thought about doing it myself but that is either going to happen when we remodel the kitchen or sooner depending on the time we can find to do it.

Any others have some input to this?

Rod!~

[Steve Kiser]

Yeah u can rent a "dustless" sander, I have seen those, I would have someone sand it, too many things can go wrong, I would be a little more curious as too why the floor boards shrunk? I've been around alot of hardwood and seen some cool floors but never heard of that. Is there a crawl space under the house? The finish though I would do!!

[Beth n Rod]

Basement. It has a sub-floor under the wood floor. There a parts where the finish is worn. I am guessing this to be a contributing factor.

Rod!~

[PressurePros]

Has anyone ever used the "no sanding" type of refinishing companies?

[Patrick at HMSGA]

Originally Posted by Beth n Rod

As a hardwood floor owner ourselves, we are coming to a point where it will need help and would like to ask a question or two:
Is sanding the best way to remove the old finish?

What types of finishes work best and last?

Rod!~

I see this old post without apparent closure. Do you still need advice or have you already finished this?

[Beth n Rod]

Thanks for noticing Patrick,
While the last few months have been so busy for us here my interest in this subject is still peaked.
As you have noticed, no further posts have been offered on this one. I am all eye's!

Rod!~

[Russ Johnson]

This is the floor in a 125 year old farmhouse we bought 3 years ago. The boards were cupped and hard as a rock. Started out with 60 grit to knock the peaks down to even get to the stain that had been applied ages ago. Switched to 80 grit, then 120. Hours of sanding and 3 coats of gloss polyurethane, applied 24 hours apart and steel wooled between coats, and this is the finished product...not sure what kind of wood it is...was real white after sanding and the poly oranged it up. I'm delighted with the results.

[Beth n Rod]

Oooooh thank you! There is hope for the kitchen floor yet!

Beth

[CarolinaProWash]

Hey - that looks like my floors!!! We'd love to give redoing our floors a whirl but what is the best manner to do so when the ENTIRE house is hardwoods - you would have to be able to function without a room for approximately how long?

Celeste

[Russ Johnson]

About 4 days including sanding, dusting, and polyurethaning. We walked on the floors between coats, but only after 18 hours or so and only in socks.

[CarolinaProWash]

Great chance of that in our zoo At least we're down to one last puppy! LOL

Celeste

[JFife]

...Little bit of a Hijackorama----but awhile back we all were discussing hardwood floors we liked---I mentioned I liked Australian Cypress. I was shopping around online today and snatched a few pics...here they are. Now I can run these through my BenMoore color program and pre-pick all my colors, everything Whenever I buy the house I want to do this work on But I like to have my ideas ready!! Interested to know if you guys like this flooring or not. After this, I like Mahogany.

[JFife]

I'm going to get some samples and see what darker tints look like on it. The light color is nice, but it looks too "Springtime" and "pastel" for me. I prefer heavy, rich, and bold looks. With a touch of coldness, so it doesn't seem cozy....make sense?? Anyway, I like the wood, just not with a clear.