anyone ever refinished a hardwood floor?

[biffbacon]

i was thinking about refinishing my hardwood floors. has anyone done this? how hard is it? ive read a few online guides, and it sounds pretty simple...

 

[mugs]

On a related note, anyone know how to remove wax from an old hardwood floor other than sanding?

 

[marmasatt]

Actually did my entire first floor of my house. My wife's grandma literally had wall to wall carpet. So we ripped it up and low and behold, ..... nice, shiny, protected hardwoods on every room downstairs w/ exception of the kitchen.

Now, my wife and I are by no means to thrifty, but we decided to take on this project by ourselves. We were very satisfied w/ the outcome and very happy with the price, obviously . Basically, it is a series of 3 steps. You sand down the surface, then you take a moist towel/industrial sponge and then you lacquer (sp?) it up. Then you sand again, wipe again, and lacquer it up again. You can do two or three coats depending on how it looks and your general preference. I did the sanding and the towel and my wife did the lacquer. Just do one or two rooms at a time. You can do it. It's really pretty simple. Did ours in about 2 weekends. When one room is finished, you take all the furniture and put it in there and go on to the next room. When that is finised you put the furniture back and go on to another..... HTH

Oliver

 

[Supertastic Fool]

I dont have time to read the other posts because im in a hurry, but i am a remodeler and figured i could help out a little bit. Make sure you sand it evenly, there are sanders made for floors use them. Also make sure that the varnish you use matches all the others you use or you will be very sorry. Also make sure you apply them evenly as well as the glaze.

These are just a few tips but if you want a more in depth right up hit me up in the PM system, but for now im out.

peace

 

[psiu]

My dad did the floors in our house growing up. They were in bad shape, and it was accomplished with his belt sander. NOT RECOMMENDED.

Rent the big floor sander for a day or two.

 

[tranceport]

I wouldn't varnish the floor. Just put a clear coat of urethane.

You can rent the flood sanders from your local hardware and paint stores. They are about 75 a day plus you have to pay for the sand papers for them.
Usually you can rent the sander on a saturday morning or friday after 4pm and since you rent it for one day and they usually arn't open on sundays you don't have to return till monday morning. They will let you keep it for one full day. This is what I did.

So sand the floors evenly just until it is nice pretty wood. Not too far as the panels are only about 1/2" or so thick. I didn't stain my floors at all. I did 2 rooms and a hallway in 1 weekend. 1 day sanding 1 day painting with urethane. It's not very difficult but does take a little bit of time.

It's a fun experience. Get to it!

 

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: mugs
On a related note, anyone know how to remove wax from an old hardwood floor other than sanding?

A power buffer with a stripper pad will do it without chemicals. If you don't mind chemicals then there are plenty of wax stripper products available at your local janitorial shop. Home Despot probably has it too...