Hardwood Floor Refresh Question

[Terry Teadtke]

This might be more of a “would you or wouldn’t you” type of question. I have hardwood floors exposed in 2 rooms, actually a room with fir and another with oak, and they’re looking a little warn in places (they were refinished about 15 years ago). Here’s my dilemma; I’m looking at my floors and I really don’t want go out and rent a sander and go through the whole refinishing thing and I wouldn’t dream of using a floor sander on fir (too soft), the finish is only worn through in two small places but there are scratches in the finish, I have a gallon of floor finish in my basement, and I have a stack of 150 grit sandpaper for my 5” random orbiting sander. I’m not looking for or anticipating the look of a professionally refinished floor but I’m thinking I could spend a few hours sanding the surface removing as many scratches as possible, putting on the finish, and I would have a pretty good looking but not perfect floor. Any ideas one way or another?

Terry

[Matt Ocel]

5" sander and a couple of hours? I think you miscalculated.
5" sander and a couple of years is more like it.
It doesn't cost that much to rent a sander. Most borgs have them, and you can rent the sander that has 4 - 5" discs. Very easy to handle and finish product is very nice.

Once again - IMHO.

[Chris Ricker]

Terry, I have done exactly what you are thinking several years ago and had very good results,
I have 3 bedrooms in my home with oak t&g floors, house built in the 50's and the floors have not been refinished but were covered by carpet for a couple of years (about 10, I would guess)
I took my ROS and 150 grit paper and hit the rough spots and the stained spots (spilled perfume does nasty things to oak floors) then sanded the whole floor. I thoroughly cleaned the whole floor with naphtha and mineral spirits to remove any wax or other stuff stuck in there. I had a few light spots where I sanded heavy so I LIGHTLY stained those spots to come close to the rest of the floor after that I wiped the floor with the staining rag, let dry then finished.
The floors turned out beautifully, while not perfect they have a fresh look about them and that warm "broken in" look. There are still dark and light areas and deep scratches in spots but they look great to me.
If you decide this route is for you I would recommend not sanding too hard the first pass, you not trying to make a new floor just freshen up the old. Cleaning is very important, there is a lot of build up gunk in there so be thorough. and lastly make sure you have a top quality finish. I used a product called Fabulon which I was very impressed with but make sure that the new finish is compatible with the old.

Good luck with this and I hope you have fun:)

[Tom Godley]

Normally when you just re-coat a floor you use what looks like a big steel-wool pad under a large orbital floor buffer. It removes any shine and smoothes things out. If the floor is really dirty or I think that it has wax/ polish on it I clean it off first. I have hand sanded floors between coats of finish - but this was just to remove any shine or dust. I think by using a small sander you risk cutting through to the bare floor

I have fixed floors that have spot damage -- like a few large scratches - by using the same stain in the scratch and then re-coating the whole floor. This works quite well -- but fixing a wear mark is more difficult and would require more skill to blend. But without seeing the floor it is hard to tell what will work. I would play with the damaged area as little as possible.

The scratches in the floor finish that do not go through to the wood will be mostly gone when it is top coated. I have had great results re-coating old floors that have only top finish damage.

I have also done pine floors with great results using a large pad sander that 'Varathane' (sp) rents - it is not as aggressive as the belt units.

[Terry Teadtke]

Thanks guys!

I just wanted to make sure I didn't get myself into one of those "I really shouldn't have done this" deals half way throught the project. The finish is a clear water based finish so I don't have to worry about matching a stain and I figure with a good scuff and cleaning I should be OK.

Terry

[Josiah Bartlett]

Do you have a closet you could try it out in before you do the whole floor? Then if it fails you can punt and go the sander route without being out much time or material.

[Neal Clayton]

you might also go to a finish for the last coat that can be blended/repaired next time. waterlox is a good example.

[Rob Blaustein]

Terry,
I think the feasibility of this approach depends on how big the rooms are and how much you need to sand off. I recently refinished an oak floor in a small room (around 90 sq ft). The floor was in rough shape and I had to remove all of the old stain and also level it a bit. I started out trying to use my 6" ROS with 36 grit paper and quickly realized that it would take me way too long (I used a Festool 150/3 with a vac--if I had a Rotex this might have been doable). I ended up renting a U-sand from Home Depot. It's the one Matt was referring to--it is essentially 4 random orbit sanders with 6" pads. I started with 40 grit and it was much faster. Maybe mine was unique, but I wouldn't say it was really easy to handle, though likely easier than a drum sander. I did however use my ROS for some intermediate grits just to see how things would go, and it did fine once I got most of the aggressive grits done with the U-sand. I also used it between coats of finish with a much finer grit (a 400 Abranet screen).

So if all you need to do is remove scuff marks, and you have good knee pads, you might be able to do this. Testing a small section would be ideal, as pointed out.

If you have a ROS that hooks up to a shopvac you'll be in better shape dust wise. If not, try to wall things off and consider having a fan exhaust out a window if possible. Good luck!

--Rob