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How much does it cost to refinish hardwood floors?

E

Entity

Lifer
We just found out that underneath the 30-year old carpet in the house we're renting (nice house, except for this carpet), there appear to be old oak floors. We're considering (w/the landlord's permission) ripping the flooring out and refinishing the hardwood; anyone know how much this is likely to cost? The labor could likely be handled by my girlfriend's dad, but we're wondering what this usually takes in terms of labor, etc. I'm guessing it would be to sand the floors, buff them, and refinish them, right?

Any ideas? We're talking about ~600sqft of carpet.

Rob
 
I just had about 300sq feet done. Think it was about $450. Originally I thought I could do it with help from an uncle. But both of us only have experience with wood furniture, no hardwood flooring....and if you're not careful with the sander, you can very easily create uneveness in the surface.

Also, the flooring was classified as a fairly low quality surface, with blemishes. I liked the character of the wood so we preserved the orignal floor rather than getting new wood. The process basically involves mechanical sanding down to the bare surface, staining, then acrylic or polyurethane top coat. Sand some more, then final coat. No waxing necessary on modern finishes.

Overall, should take about 2 days between the first and second coats.
 
I should also note (since my previous post was a bit unclear), that I had a professional do it, the prospect of uneven floors discouraged me from attempting it. The materials should be fairly cheap, and I'm sure you can rent a sander at the local hardware superstore.
 
I have (with a team) hand-sanded and hand-waxed a parkay wooden floor before. It is probably 30x20'. It took ten of us a whole day to do...and didn't cost any more than the supplies. However, it's a bitch to do, and I have no idea how much it costs without a supply of slave labor.
 
Thanks for the input, guys. Kate's dad (Kate is my g/f) has experience with this sort of stuff, so it'd be cool if all we had to do was pay for the stain, etc. That should cost, with the rental of a good sander & buffer, fairly cheap I'm guessing. Maybe set us back $200, but it'd be worth it. Might even be able to get the landlord to deduct it from rent. 🙂

Rob
 
sounds like taking advantage of your gf's dad's knowledge. You should build him a computer for as much work as that's going to be.
 
My dad and I redid our hardwood floors last summer in the living areas. Same situation, under carpet for 20+ years. Anyway, it took he and I a good 2 or 3 days to sand it down. We used an orbital sander so there's not much danger of creating uneveness or what not. I guess the square footage would have to be around ~350 maybe. Prolly more. We did 6 or 7 coats of clear varnish and it looks great. Well worth the effort.
 
Originally posted by: Pilsnerpete
sounds like taking advantage of your gf's dad's knowledge. You should build him a computer for as much work as that's going to be.
Click to expand...

I already have. 😉

He asks me computer questions all the time, and I've always been happy to answer them in the past -- helping him build machines, giving him spare parts, etc. It's created a nice trade relationship between us; he's coming over for dinner on Tuesday, so we'll ask him then.

Rob
 
Right on! Sounds like you won't have any trouble. It'll be a whole lot cheaper than replacing the carpet, btw. Looks nicer too, imo. Have you thought about putting carpet in just the bedrooms? That looks nice.🙂
 
My parents have redone all the floors in their house twice now by themselves. They rented a drum roller sander(don't know what its really called) for 2 or 3 days at around $50 a day. Then they put 6 coats of polyurethane on the floors. Waiting for it to dry in between coats took awhile. The first time they did it they did have some lines on the floor from the sander in it but they got the hang of it pretty quik. Think I will have them redo the floors in my house one of these days.
 
Don't skimp when it comes to the polyurethane.... buy the best you can get. (take it from experience... I spent several days sanding, only to have to repeat the process a couple years later because the urethane wore off quickly in the traffic areas.

If you have to sand it down a lot, it's a little more tricky to avoid ripples.... but if you're only taking off the old finish and lightly sanding it, then it's an easy job to tackle. Rental of a sander is around $50 around here.... plus the cost of the sandpaper that you'll go through. Watch out for nails! Use a nail set and carefully push any in that are in the path of the sander (or you'll find that you'll be buying a lot of sandpaper! The sandpaper just about explodes when it hits a nail at the speed it's running) 500 sq feet took me about 4 hours, starting with a really coarse sandpaper. The finish that I used didn't require sanding between coats, so long as I applied the 2nd (3rd and 4th) coats within 6 hours.

DO NOT SHAKE UP POLYURETHANE TO MIX IT!! STIR IT ONLY!! (or you'll be sanding the bubbles out of the finish)
 
Can you say suprise ?

There could be a reason why there is carpeting over the hardwood.
There is only one way to find out though.....

edit: About the refinishing. I would suggest an oil-based stain. There are some excellent oil-based finishes on the market now. People tend to rush towards varathene and other acrylic finishes for their durabilty. The only down side is that once they do get used and blemished they have to be stripped or sanded. An oil-based finish on the other hand while not as durable can usually just be washed with varsol or methyl hydrate and then re-apply another coat or two of the oil finish. It never peels or blisters . Hardwood is so much more beautiful when the natural lustre of the wood shines through unhampered by a coat of plastic.
 
Originally posted by: DrPizza
Don't skimp when it comes to the polyurethane.... buy the best you can get. (take it from experience... I spent several days sanding, only to have to repeat the process a couple years later because the urethane wore off quickly in the traffic areas.
Click to expand...

Thats a good point. Thats exactly why my parents ended up redoing their's again in about 3 years.

 
Another note, be prepared for more dust than you've ever seen in your life.

I remember when my parents did theirs, it seemed like there was an inch of dust on everything in the entire house. :Q
 
You may not need to strip/sand/refinish. Sometimes you can get great looking floors (or good enough considering your just renting) by buffing and polishing. Much easier and doable in a day for that size of area.
 
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