Tore up carpeting, floor underneath is gross, not sure what to do next.

[elf]

Hi all,

Our carpeting was old so I wanted to tear up and sand and polyurethane the wood floors underneath.

It's a split level house and I only tore up the 5 steps going up and the hall to the bedrooms.

They are wood floors but they are stained all over. It looks like someone painted without a dropcloth. But there are also large darkened spots or stains throughout.
Does sanding get out stains? I thought I could do this on our own, not so sure now.

Should I recarpet?

Have no clue which is cheaper.
Anyone else have any ideas of the cheapest way out?

 

[LJSquishy]

If you do all of the refinishing work yourself, it would be less expensive than recarpeting. If you end up hiring out anything related to the hardwoods, it could end up being more expensive than replacing the carpet depending on how much work is needed.

Paint drips can be sanded, but the dark spots you are referring to will most likely always be there. The darkness is probably not just on the top grain of the wood unfortunately. The darkened area are most likely from old liquid stains that went through the carpet & padding and are now part of the "character" of hardwoods.

 

[Hannathy]

Not all wood floors are equal. Not all wood floors were ever finished to begin with. Just because it is wood doesn't mean it is the type of wood that can be finished nicely for a "hardwood" floor from a showroom.

 

[Jill in Chicago]

I can't remember the cost, so sorry about that, but we had an entire first floor re-done and the cost was not bad at all. Not only that they had to re-piece portions in the kitchen because we changed the configuration of the kitchen during the remodel.

So call around and find out costs. If you have a good remodeler in your area call them for recommendations. You never know they might have someone they use all the time.

Even with the stains, I would always go hardwood over carpeting. Always.

 

[kacaju]

This is why I refuse to rip up my old carpets..I am so afraid to see the hardwood under it.

 

[Goofygirl17]

You can also have the floors sanded and stained a darker color before being polyurethaned to hide the stains. My mother did that before she sold her house and the floors looked beautiful.

 

[csharpwv]

My advice is to sand a small corner, and a stain - see what it looks like, wipe it with a wet cloth and the wet wood will give you an idea what the floor will look like with a clear poly coat, knowing that with multiple layers of poly it will darken slightly.

IF you do not like what you see, I highly suggest sanding the floors yourself just to smooth the surface out - and paint the floors!

Depending on your style and the style of your home you could even stencil a border, do a design, or even paint a rug or runner on the floor.

One way to do this is paint one color, and then paint over the first layer so when the floor starts to wear a little you will get a nice color to show through.

You could paint the floor a deep red, then paint black over it and you will get a great look over time!

There are so many things you can do!

Including a hidden mickey here and there!

 

[elf]

This is why I refuse to rip up my old carpets..I am so afraid to see the hardwood under it

I was so shocked, it looks terrible. I think it's a good quality wood floor because one of the bedrooms was done before we moved in and it looks good.

Will sanding get these stains out? God I hope it's not seeped all the way through the wood. I guess we will sand. If still stained I like the suggestion of staining wood a bit darker and put a nice runner carpet down the hall.
Thanks!

 

[kirstenb1]

You couldn't pay me to refinish my own, or anyone else's hardwood floors!!! The sanders are huge, and the potential for error is huge. DH and I have tackled virtually every other home improvement ourselves, but we've always paid someone to install and finish hardwoods, whenever we've added onto the house. Seriously; we've done drywall, electrical, plumbing, siding, painting etc, but you can really screw up floors doing it yourself.

Having said that, if I were you, I'd bite the bullet, and have someone who refinishes floors give me an estimate. He/she will tell you if the stains you're talking about have permeated too deeply. If so, as someone else suggested, you could always do a very dark stain overall to cover it. If it's a split level, you're probably talking a seventies or even sixties home. The floors could be real hardwood, and really worth it to have finished.

 

[Ragnrok23]

Try brushing OJ over the stains- when i bought my house I had a couple of stains from a cat, I brushed OJ over it every day for like a week before I had the floors refinished. You can still see the spots, but they are much less noticable now, most people don't even realize they are there