We are in the middle of a kitchen remodel project. The kitchen came with some ugly linoleum floor which we pulled up. To our surprise, what looks like the original hardwood floor has been under the linoleum all these years. The boards are in fair condition and date back to the 1920s when the house was constructed. We were throwing around the idea of tile in the kitchen, but with this recently discovered free floor, we decided to refinish the floors instead.
The linoleum was glued to the hardwood with what looks like roofing tar paper, we scraped off as much as possible and then I rented a floor belt sander.
Check out these pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/115736731636406090285/albums/5866700865606242161 One pic is of the floor in progress, the black tar paper and the original dark stained wood can be seen. In other pics is the floor sanded to 100 grit, ready for any stain and poly.
1. The floor has numerous small holes. We are using a stainable wood sealer that you rub into the holes and after 15 minutes of drying, sand away with some light grit. It does a great job. There was a row of staples in the floor that once we removed, made that section of the floor look like machine gun fire. However, there are larger gaps in the floor that are presumably there from the shrinking of the floorboards. I guess we could fill it up with the wood sealer, but what do people here recommend for filling up large gaps in the floor that run the entire length of a floorboard? (some of these gaps can be seen in the pics)
Deciding on a color. The floor looks white/light tan and bright. We do not want to stain the floor with a dark color since there is an abundance of heavyset dark stain oak trim, molding and wainscoting all over the house. We think the light floor offers a nice contrast to the dark wood present in the rest of the house. We can either poly the floor as is and we think the floor will acquire a golden hue to it. Or if we stain, we'd decide on a lighter color stain and then poly which should give it a light to medium color. Suggestions?
***Update*** 4/21/2013
Ok the floor is done! 1 Mishap though. We put the first and second coat on. 15 minutes after the second coat was applied, I opened the kitchen door to show off the gleaming new floor to our neighbor. As I'm elaborating about what we did and how hard it was, the damn cat rushes inside and WALKS ACROSS the freshly polyed floor. Paw prints everywhere. The cat wouldn't come back to me and sat down in the middle of the floor curiously examining his paws. It had to be done, no amount of coaxing would get the cat to walk back to us so I flung off my shoes and walked barefoot across the floor and retrieved the cat. The floor now has paw prints and my barefoot prints in it. Rushing, I grabbed the lambswool applicator and tried to smooth out the spots but to no avail, it had already begun to set. Wearily we took the cat to the bathroom where he protested loudly to being washed with mineral spirits while we tried to loosen the hardening poly from between his paws and fur. We then had to wash him AGAIN multiple times with soap and water to get the spirits off.
Next morning, we took a depressing look at the once beautiful floor and the paw and footprints were permanently in there. Additionally, by trying to smooth out the floor, it was already in the drying stage and all I succeeded in doing was roughing the finish so it dried rough and not smooth. Sanding seemed like our only option. Got out the random orbit sander with 220 grit and made a few light passes, to our surprise the footprints reduced! They didnt come out entirely but good enough and we hoped that the next coat of poly would fill in the reduced foot prints. We vacuumed it up followed by a tack cloth and then the last coat of poly. After letting it dry for approximately 20 hours, here is the floor as of this morning: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/...lbums/5866700865606242161/5869351365406740898 and here too: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/...lbums/5866700865606242161/5869353063433743090. Here is the floor as the first coat is going on: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/...lbums/5866700865606242161/5869352516421441362 What do you guys think? Does it need a 4th coat? This is satin finish poly with no stain underneath.
The linoleum was glued to the hardwood with what looks like roofing tar paper, we scraped off as much as possible and then I rented a floor belt sander.
Check out these pics: https://plus.google.com/photos/115736731636406090285/albums/5866700865606242161 One pic is of the floor in progress, the black tar paper and the original dark stained wood can be seen. In other pics is the floor sanded to 100 grit, ready for any stain and poly.
1. The floor has numerous small holes. We are using a stainable wood sealer that you rub into the holes and after 15 minutes of drying, sand away with some light grit. It does a great job. There was a row of staples in the floor that once we removed, made that section of the floor look like machine gun fire. However, there are larger gaps in the floor that are presumably there from the shrinking of the floorboards. I guess we could fill it up with the wood sealer, but what do people here recommend for filling up large gaps in the floor that run the entire length of a floorboard? (some of these gaps can be seen in the pics)
Deciding on a color. The floor looks white/light tan and bright. We do not want to stain the floor with a dark color since there is an abundance of heavyset dark stain oak trim, molding and wainscoting all over the house. We think the light floor offers a nice contrast to the dark wood present in the rest of the house. We can either poly the floor as is and we think the floor will acquire a golden hue to it. Or if we stain, we'd decide on a lighter color stain and then poly which should give it a light to medium color. Suggestions?
***Update*** 4/21/2013
Ok the floor is done! 1 Mishap though. We put the first and second coat on. 15 minutes after the second coat was applied, I opened the kitchen door to show off the gleaming new floor to our neighbor. As I'm elaborating about what we did and how hard it was, the damn cat rushes inside and WALKS ACROSS the freshly polyed floor. Paw prints everywhere. The cat wouldn't come back to me and sat down in the middle of the floor curiously examining his paws. It had to be done, no amount of coaxing would get the cat to walk back to us so I flung off my shoes and walked barefoot across the floor and retrieved the cat. The floor now has paw prints and my barefoot prints in it. Rushing, I grabbed the lambswool applicator and tried to smooth out the spots but to no avail, it had already begun to set. Wearily we took the cat to the bathroom where he protested loudly to being washed with mineral spirits while we tried to loosen the hardening poly from between his paws and fur. We then had to wash him AGAIN multiple times with soap and water to get the spirits off.
Next morning, we took a depressing look at the once beautiful floor and the paw and footprints were permanently in there. Additionally, by trying to smooth out the floor, it was already in the drying stage and all I succeeded in doing was roughing the finish so it dried rough and not smooth. Sanding seemed like our only option. Got out the random orbit sander with 220 grit and made a few light passes, to our surprise the footprints reduced! They didnt come out entirely but good enough and we hoped that the next coat of poly would fill in the reduced foot prints. We vacuumed it up followed by a tack cloth and then the last coat of poly. After letting it dry for approximately 20 hours, here is the floor as of this morning: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/...lbums/5866700865606242161/5869351365406740898 and here too: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/...lbums/5866700865606242161/5869353063433743090. Here is the floor as the first coat is going on: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/...lbums/5866700865606242161/5869352516421441362 What do you guys think? Does it need a 4th coat? This is satin finish poly with no stain underneath.
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