redoing hardwood floors?

[jdthomas 0]

So I want to redo our hardwood floors and I have never done this before.
My wood working skills are decent and I think this project is within my skill set, but want to make sure.
Any tip's or tricks from those that accomplished this type of project in the past?

www.greenboxphotography.com

[upndownshop 0]

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So I want to redo our hardwood floors and I have never done this before.
My wood working skills are decent and I think this project is within my skill set, but want to make sure.
Any tip's or tricks from those that accomplished this type of project in the past?

How bad is the floor? Bad stains, light stains......will you use a circular sander, those a real fun. If you do, the secret is to use your finger tips to guide it, soft touch, and dont let it grab a base board or you and or the wood could get hurt. LOL

[normiss 855]

I would rent the floor sander from the local rental shop...it will save ass loads of time.

[JohnMitchell 16]

A better sander for the DIY person is the orbital. Just like your smaller palm version, it's rectangular in shape, all the better to hit the corners, and much easier to control than the circular sanders. Lots of rental places have them.

[monkycndo 0]

I agree with John on the square orbital. If you only need a refinish and not a major repair, it will work great. If you are trying to grind trough lots of damage/stains, it will take a lot of work with the orbital. The drum sander is better for that job. But be very careful. If you don't use a light touch when starting and stopping each pass, it will cut a deep groove that will be hard to repair. I leave drum sanding to a professional. Some engineered hard wood floors only have a thin venier of real wood. Try and find an edge that will show if it is solid wood or an engineered product.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
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[jdthomas 0]

thanks for the tips guys.
I own a few sanders actually, but was thinking about renting the large floor sander for this project.
No stains to speak of on the floor, but where we use the floor the most is really starting to wear thin from the foot and dog traffic.
I want to get it under control before we get any damage.. the crappy thing is that i will be redoing an entire room just to repair the small section that shows the wear.
I want the room to look even and not just repaired in that area of wear.

Is there any thing special i should be aware of for the sealers? I have built some quilt racks and small furniture items in the past and sealed those, but never a floor.

Joe

www.greenboxphotography.com

[kbordson 8]

Only six posts so far.... and actually useful content..... do I hijack this thread on "hardwood floors"?

[jdthomas 0]

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Only six posts so far.... and actually useful content..... do I hijack this thread on "hardwood floors"?

I would (wood?) hope that you don't because i really want some good info on getting this project under way. My time is very limited to say the least.. today is/ was suposed to be my day off and a few things have crept into my free time.. I don't have alot of time to accomplish things these days and wadeing thru a bunch of dz.drama is a waste to me.

www.greenboxphotography.com

[kbordson 8]

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Quote

Only six posts so far.... and actually useful content..... do I hijack this thread on "hardwood floors"?

I would (wood?) hope that you don't because i really want some good info on getting this project under way. My time is very limited to say the least.. today is/ was suposed to be my day off and a few things have crept into my free time.. I don't have alot of time to accomplish things these days and wadeing thru a bunch of dz.drama is a waste to me.

obviously you're not picking up on the double entendre... either that or don't understand that posting in the bonfire tends to lead to less than educational posts...

Maybe you should visit here if you want REAL info. Just like I have to accept the medical post that get hijacked... this is the bonfire.

or here

or here

or this is an actual tutorial.

[Brian425 0]

If you are familiar with woodworking, this is definitely within your ability.

I will offer a few simple tips from my experience. Before starting, go over the floor and remove all staples, recess any nails that are above the floor boards, and remove the base board moulding.

First time sanding will be with a 40 grit paper. This needs to remove all the finish on the floor. Next grits are just to refine the finish. I think I did 40, 60 100 and 200. I don't think the 200 was necessary.

NEVER stop moving the machine while sanding. Smooth uniform movements, yeild smooth uniform floorms. Never sand against the grain.

CLEAN is the key. Once you think you have the floor clean, clean it again. Sweep, vacuum, and clean with a tac cloth. Then clean everything and sweep, vacuum and tac cloth again.

Test your stain and let it dry. I usually test a small spot after I finish sanding. I let is dry over night and stain in the morning. 2 or 3 light coats are better than 1 heavy one.

I let the stain dry overnight, and then seal with poly urethane. Use a lambs wool applicator. If you have to stop, store the applicator in the can of poly urethane. It will keep it ready to use. Even a short time out of the poly urethane can make it hard.

It is easy; but, expect to take 2 to 3 days to complete.

You may want to repaint you moulding before putting it back up. It is much easier to paint while off and then just touch up the nail holes.

Please paint the moulding, you came this far, if the floor needs to be done, so do the mouldings. Just makes everything look nice and new.

The only time you should look down on someone is when you are offering them your hand.

[drdive 0]

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Only six posts so far.... and actually useful content..... do I hijack this thread on "hardwood floors"?

So without violating HIPPA, what percentage of your patients have hardwood floors?

"We saved your gear. Now you can sell it when you get out of the hospital and upsize!!" "K-Dub"

"

[Zep 0]

Every thing Brian425 said, One thing I do is after the floor is sanded is mix a weak mixture of plaster tinted to the colour of the floor
an douse the floor, literally just let the mixture flow out of the bucket an mop the whole floor, this will fill the small cracks between
the planks, when this has dried just go over it with a fine sandpaper an vacuum up the dust,
I also use a 2 pack self leveling polyurethane varnish applied with a soft clothes brush,
If you have removed every speck of dust and I mean every speck, the floor will come up with a mirror finish

Gone fishing

[airtwardo 7]

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Every thing Brian425 said, One thing I do is after the floor is sanded is mix a weak mixture of plaster tinted to the colour of the floor
an douse the floor, literally just let the mixture flow out of the bucket an mop the whole floor, this will fill the small cracks between
the planks, when this has dried just go over it with a fine sandpaper an vacuum up the dust,
I also use a 2 pack self leveling polyurethane varnish applied with a soft clothes brush,
If you have removed every speck of dust and I mean every speck, the floor will come up with a mirror finish

Every thing Zep & Brian425 said~

I've done a bunch of them too, and unless it's a REALLY small floor...rent the upright floor sander, you'll be glad you did!

The only other thing I'd stress is what Zep said about keeping everything dust & lint free...and give everything plenty of time to dry before adding coats.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[jdthomas 0]

What is self leveling polyurethane?

I will be sure to rid my floor work from the dust, I have had probelms with small projects in the past that saw dust messed up.
I have never run an upright sander, I did seal a cement floor once, we used a wet polisher and found that the light touch was hard to master at first. I am a little bit nervous of the upright sander to be honest.
The lambs wool is the way to put the polyurethane down? and would it be best to do the whole room at once or can it be done in two sections without thier being a line where i stopped and started?
Thanks everyone for your thoughts and not hijacking the thread to much even though the desire is there.
Joe

www.greenboxphotography.com

[kbordson 8]

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not hijacking the thread to much even though the desire is there.
Joe

Well..... who doesn't want to talk about hardwood floors?

[monkycndo 0]

Another method for filling cracks. After completing the rough sanding to get off the old finish, start saving the sawdust from the next couple of finish sandings. Mix linseed oil or hide glue into the sawdust and use this to fill the gaps/cracks. Once the oil/glue dries, it can be sanded. Application normally happens just before the last sanding, or if the cracks were big, prior to the next to last. This creates an exact color match for the patching since you used the wood itself. And it accepts most stains. Do a test patch to confirm compatibility.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[airtwardo 7]

The upright sander is pretty simple, the one I rent from time to time has a guide to set the 'depth' so I always use the smallest setting first just to get the feel of the sander again and not gouge anything.

You will...as mentioned above use several grit grades so take your time and sand the entire floor evenly, and 'dark' spots will stain even darker etc.

I don't like the lambs wool, if there 'is' any small amount of dirt or dust you spread it around more, I use cheesecloth and toss it out & get another one if you start seeing lint hairs.

Don't stop 1/2 through, do a whole coat of each step, trying to blend the 1/2 point line isn't easy.


Self leveling polyurethane is a little 'thinner' poly that won't thicken up creating heavy spots...oh, and watch the corners, it's easy to over apply around the baseboards and especially the corners.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[jdthomas 0]

I will remove my base boards and repaint those at the time of the floor is getting redone.
I am looking fwd to this winter task, should be a fun task. thanks for all the input.
Joe

www.greenboxphotography.com

[JohnMitchell 16]

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Only six posts so far.... and actually useful content..... do I hijack this thread on "hardwood floors"?

Post a picture of the hardwood floors. Then we can better judge what tool we should use to do them.

[headoverheels 333]

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So I want to redo our hardwood floors and I have never done this before.
My wood working skills are decent and I think this project is within my skill set, but want to make sure.
Any tip's or tricks from those that accomplished this type of project in the past?

I've only done new wood installation. Not too difficult, using a rented sander. My limited understanding is that refinishing is actually more difficult, as the varnished (or whatever) surface is harder than the raw wood. When you get through the finish, which will happen in some spots quicker than others, the sander will cut the wood much faster, so watch out or the first-exposed parts will get sanded much deeper.