Refinishing Hardwood Floors

[jocon]

My wife and I are renovating our home and want to refinish some hardwood floors. Some was under carpet and some exposed. I am installing hardwood in the kitchen as well that will need to be finished. Have any of you done this yourself? How was the experience? We are not staying in the house right now, so the job will be a little easier.

 

[preshi]

Dh refinished ours before we moved in (sanded, stained and sealed)... I say next time we have a professional do it.

Our staining job isn't wonderful (some of the floors are darker than others) and I don't think we put enough Verathane on.

Do lots of research before you get yourself into it. Our will have to be redone again.

 

[ckmommy]

In our old house, we had the downstairs floors professionally refinished and decided to tackle the upstairs floors ourselves. Boy, was it a lot of work--but some great bonding (and fighting )time also. We had to strip the floors first. We used something that you would buy in the hardware store that bubbles the varish off. We had to then scrape it clean. Then had to sand the rest of the varish off. We rented a orbital sander and finshed sanding all of the floors in a weekend. We had to clean the dust up and off the floor. We did not stain the floor, but just put eyrothane (sp) on them. I think we did three coats. All in all, it took us three months of weekends to do about 800 sq. feet. I would more than likely pay someone to do the job again. Even when we moved out of that house (5 years later), we were still finding sanding dust from the floors!

It is definatly a do-able job, but it really it time consuming and a LOT of work.

Good luck!

 

[PamOKW]

I'm curious about what it costs to have a professional do the job? I know where you are located effects the pricing but I'd like to get a rough idea -- I haven't a clue what it would run.

 

[ckmommy]

In 1996, to finsh 3 rooms --approx. 800 sq. ft., it cost us $2500. That was in Wisconsin. Not sure of the $$ today???

 

[hockeymom7691]

I was curious of the price too. I am pulling out my carpet in the living room within the next couple of weeks. I know there is hardwood floors underneath, just not sure what condition they are in.

Maybe I'll end up getting carpeting again if it's that expensive.

 

[FINFAN]

NOt sure of pricing, but I would reccomend "dustless" sanding by a proffessional. It really cuts down on the mess that finds its way into EVERYTHING...no matter how well you tape off with plastic etc. Sanding can be pretty tricky and if you have not had much experience your floor can be left with ruts or swail type dips that you may not see until the stain or urethane finish is on, and then it is too late. We have a co. here called APEX FLOORING, they do the sndless finishing...maybe you can do a search and see if a similar service is offered near you to get some quotes. Good luck!


Pam