Anyone here ever refinish hardwoods themselves?

[FreshTressa]

Are we foolish for even thinking about it??

We have 1500sq feet of 40 year old oak floors that are still in really good shape, just need a new finish.

 

[Mercy]

We just recently HAD our floors refinished. I really didn't want to tackle the job myself.

However, I have a co-worker who had an older home and "she" refinished her floors all by herself. She went and rented the equipment at Home Depot and bought the poly finish and did them one weekend. She said it was a lot of work but she was very happy with the results. She kept telling me that I/we (DH and myself) could do it, but I was scared. I don't regret my decision. I think we paid about $800 for our LR/DR and a short set of stairs. They look gorgeous!

 

[MzDiz]

We did it. No, you're not foolish. Ambitious yes, not foolish. Our floors are forty five years old and they were in horrible shape. Here's a before - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/mysterychicken/DSCN2298.jpg and this is after the stain, before the polyurethane - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/mysterychicken/DSCN2323.jpg

They look much nicer now that they've cured for six months. Make sure it's hot and dry outside when you do it though. This is what cool and humid will get you - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v200/mysterychicken/DSCN2381.jpg

It was a pain, but so worth it.

 

[snappy]

Wow, those look great!!!

Very pricey here to have them refinished. My neighbor just had hers don, living room and foyer only. $1500. I thought that was robbery!!!

 

[FreshTressa]

What I hate is that they are only in bad shape in spots...most of them still look great.

We are going to start with one of the kids bedrooms and see how it turns out.