Tips on refinishing wood floors

[handystan]

I recently refinished our wood floors. The wood is, i think its 50 yo red oak. When the floors were sanded it looked great. I then put on floor polyurethane on the wood ,but the floors never looked good. Does anyone have any tips or steps of refinishing wood floors. I want the luster of the factory refinished floors.

 

[mynameisCat]

Well, my BEST advice is to hire someone to do it. If you have the money, it's the best way, because they have all the equipment and deal with sanders and such every day, so they never get out of practice.

Other than that, sites like this one are helpful: http://www.woodfloorsonline.com/techtalk/techline2.html . I've refinished a few floors in my time, and basically every time I just wished I'd spent the money on a contractor! All that sandpaper...all that dust!

 

[eldragon]

Any idea what a basic cost is?

Just curious.

Our living room floor needs to be refinished, and it's a huge room. I don't see my husband ever having the time to do it all.

 

[echos]

I paid over 500 dollars, just yesterday to have my living room and 1-small bedroom refinished, and that didn`t include the extra finish I had applied.Echos

 

[mynameisCat]

Ouch. Yup, it's pricey. A little less so if you count up all the materials, cost of renting the sander, and also possibly for the rescue if you manage to gouge the floor with the sander like one of my friends did...

Of course, you could have the same thing happen to you as friends of mine just had...they put in all new hardwood on both floors of the house, and then left on vacation for four days...while they were gone, we had a freeze, one of the pipes burst in the upstairs bath, and...they had to replace almost all of the new flooring. Aargh.

 

[TMulhern]

I agree with "mynameisCat". You must hire someone to solve this issue.

 

[Smart Red]

When I finished my red oak floors I didn't use Polyurethane or varnish, I just used carnauba wax. That's all I ever did other than dust, sweep, and damp mop.

We only lived there another three years, but the buyer still has nothing but good things to say about the house, so I suspect they had no problems with the floors either.