Refinishing Hardwood Floors

[sap483]

Have any of you refinished your hardwood floors? We are considering refinishing ours, but can''t decide whether to take it on as a DIY project or just hire someone. We''re fairly handy, but I''ve heard horror stories about people trying to do it themselves. Any recommendations?

 

[Loves2Laugh]

Hi Sap! DH and I bought our home almost 2 years ago and refinished our floors of our entire house (excpet the kitchen) 3 bedrooms and the main living room and I''ll be honest, it was HARD WORK! Once we were done though, it was totally worth it. I''m actually an office mgr for one of the big home improvement stores so I was all about us doing it ourselves and I must admit at times I thought we bit off more then we could chew. I look at them every day now and I''m so proud we did it ourselves. If you walk into any rental place that rents out the sander they should have paperwork that tells you in depth how the process works. I brought that home and we read and re-read it several times and finally dove in. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Hope that helps some...

 

[moremoremore]

There are certain things in life where you need to hire a professional...and I believe this is one of them unless you're Bob Vila or L2L.....

We had the co refinish the light country stained red oak floors in our new house and also patch new areas where walls were removed. It looks awesome...But I have to say that you can't just stop in one area .... you will be able to tell....even the professionals will tell you this....you have to do the entire area...it's one day of staining and poly, then at least 2 more poly coats...so you can't have your stuff in there or walk on it those days....

BUT, totally worth it and adds value! I heart my floors! best of luck!

 

[appletini]

Do you have a friend that is a general contractor? If so he probably knows someone who can do it for a good price. We are not DIY-types so for us it was not an option. Our house was built in the 50s and has the standard red oak floors. The previous owners had rugs all over so we didnt see how bad the scrathes were until the day of our closing (had we known sooner would have definitely asked for an allowance).

Anyway I called a company and they quoted us $3/square foot, well DH has a GC "buddy" in our neighborhood, so he said his guy could do it for ~$1.60/square foot. So we of course went that route and our floors are stained a beautiful honey color.

Definitely ask around and get a bunch of quotes. Since we had the time before moving into our house, it was great, but wow all the dust ends up everywhere (even clogged up our A/C unit).

 

[sap483]

Lovestolaugh- That''s a good idea, I think I will go and get some literature so that I can make a better decision. If it seems overly complicated and the cost savings aren''t that great than it''s a no brainer to hire a professional. What was the most difficult part for you?

moremoremore- Well not exactly Bob Villa, but FI and I completely renovated a three family rental property we own. We didn''t get any experience refinishing hardwoods though. I am positive that we could handle it and finish it on our own, however I''m not certain I want to, if that makes sense. Our hardwoods are really old and the previous owners dogs left some nasty stains in a few spots, so I''m also thinking that a professional might be able to do a better job of getting them out.

appletini- Well actually we weren''t even considering hiring a professional until I found out through friends who just got theirs done that there are several people in the area that charge about $1 a square foot. That seemed very reasonable to me, and from what you''re saying that sounds like an excellent deal now. (I live in Northeast).

 

[Loves2Laugh]

Hi Sap... There were a few things that I considered challenges at various points throughout the process. The sanding was very tedious and a long process. DH did the bigger areas with the big sander and I was stuck doing the endging in each room with a hand sander. You go through the 3-4 different grits of sandpaper to get a nice finish. I still can see (only when I''m on my hands and knees) a few spots of little circles where the more harsh grit paper didn''t get fully smoothed out. We also had 2 spots of stains where the previous owner''s dear little puppy peed through the carpet that was laid and you could tell it just sat there. Luckily, they were in areas where I knew the large area rug was going to cover. I researched it and did try to bleach the spots out. They are much better then they were but they still aren''t like new. They almost have a burnt look to them. I don''t think a professional would have gotten them out because they went through the planks of oak. I was told the wood would have to be patched with new planks. If you''re determined and it saves your big $$$, by all means have at it. It was a fun learning process for us. But if you can find a deal from a reputable contractor it will save you some headaches. BTW, the dust is crazy!! LOL Tape everything off you can and try to vacuum as much as possible. I still need to have our ducts cleaned out that''s how bad it was. I dust a room and a day later I can see a thin coat on the surface.