Author Topic: resurfacing hard wood floor  (Read 4041 times)

AlanStache

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resurfacing hard wood floor
« on: July 06, 2015, 07:29:29 AM »
Am looking at buying a new home with hardwood floors in a larger living room/dining room and would want to resurface them before moving in, does anyone have any idea on what it would cost to hire someone for this (500$ or 5000$)?  Is it worth doing myself?  Floors are not in bad shape just typical 40 years worth of dings and scratches.  Thanks



math-ya

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Re: resurfacing hard wood floor
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2015, 07:37:12 AM »
Professionals in my area (Midwest) charge around $1.50 per square foot to sand and 2x poly coat. That should give you a ballpark

TrulyStashin

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Re: resurfacing hard wood floor
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2015, 08:25:46 AM »
I DIY'ed this job last year.  My son (17) and his gf (17) helped me.  I rented an orbital sander (piece of cake to operate) and stripped the finish down to the wood before re-coating with three coats of Minwax poly.   Several people here have done that job so if you search you should find my post about it and others. 

It took me about 4 days total, most of it over a weekend and cost me about $500.00 for 1,000 sq. feet (total).  More details in my post here http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/what-i-did-this-past-weekend-refinished-my-wood-floors!/msg361926/#msg361926

You can absolutely DIY this and the cost savings is HUGE.
« Last Edit: July 06, 2015, 08:56:48 AM by TrulyStashin »

Manguy888

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Re: resurfacing hard wood floor
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2015, 09:38:12 AM »
I resurfaced all my wood floors using a rented drum sander and smaller orbital. It's doable, but I think if I were to do it again I would hire it out. My floors have a lot of small 'chatter marks', and the surfaces aren't as smooth as a professional job. The process was very drawn out as well:

1. Sand with low grit sandpaper
2. use smaller orbital sander to get corners and tight spaces
3. let dust settle
4. vacuum room
5. repeat 1-4 with finer and finer sandpaper grains
6. once done, use tac cloth to get every spec of dust you can
7. Apply polyurethane to floor with lamb wool applicator
8. let dry
9. wood grains have now raised a bit, resand with very fine sandpaper
10. vacuum and tac cloth for dust
11. more polyurethane

it hurt just typing those steps out. I'm very DIY oriented but I didn't feel the results were good enough for how much work it was and how relatively inexpensive it is to hire out. YMMV, and maybe I just didn't do a good job.

TrulyStashin

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Re: resurfacing hard wood floor
« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2015, 09:41:12 AM »
^^   This might be attributable to use of the drum sander.  Those things are beasts!    I'm a big fan or the orbital sander  -- easy to use and great results.  Just my 2 cents.

AlanStache

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Re: resurfacing hard wood floor
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2015, 10:44:12 AM »
^^   This might be attributable to use of the drum sander.  Those things are beasts!    I'm a big fan or the orbital sander  -- easy to use and great results.  Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the info, one more thing to consider.  I expected it to be work but the sand/wait for dust to settle cycle was something I did not think of.  Guess this would be the same if I did it or the pros, ie it will take several days no matter what.  I probably wont have a rush to move pressure so that may not be a factor other than making myself go do it after work each night for a week.

Manguy888

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Re: resurfacing hard wood floor
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2015, 11:07:55 AM »
"waiting for the dust to settle" - not just a clever phrase ;)

Spork

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Re: resurfacing hard wood floor
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2015, 07:08:29 PM »
^^   This might be attributable to use of the drum sander.  Those things are beasts!    I'm a big fan or the orbital sander  -- easy to use and great results.  Just my 2 cents.

It isn't just the drum sander... it's the rental drum sanders.  They just are not heavy enough.   And if they're the type that has a flat piece of sandpaper that is bolted in a circle... it's really easy to get those bolted in a way that is slightly asymmetrical.   (Some of them are an actual belt that slides over the drum and the drum expands.

That said: sometimes you need a drum.  If your floors are terribly uneven, the orbital sanders are not aggressive enough.   I did my first pass with a drum and followed up with orbital.  Yes, I had some amount of chatter... but there is no way I could have flattened it with an orbital.

Dee18

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Re: resurfacing hard wood floor
« Reply #8 on: July 06, 2015, 07:16:41 PM »
I had my floors done 5 years ago before moving in. Approximately 1500 sq feet total, including one 13x15 foot room that had to have all new wood installed.  Total cost was $ 3500 including an extra coat of poly because I wanted them to last a long time.  They still look great.

Manguy888

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Re: resurfacing hard wood floor
« Reply #9 on: July 07, 2015, 06:04:44 AM »

  And if they're the type that has a flat piece of sandpaper that is bolted in a circle... it's really easy to get those bolted in a way that is slightly asymmetrical. 

That's exactly the kind I rented. My floors had a 1/8" of gunk from an old carpet plus paint, so I needed something rough to get the job done. I didn't know about orbitals, sounds like I should have followed up with that.

AlanStache

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Re: resurfacing hard wood floor
« Reply #10 on: July 07, 2015, 07:13:16 AM »
Lot of great info here, have yet to make an offer on the place but many (most?) homes around here have old hardwood floors.  Think I am leaning towards doing the work myself if I get a place that needs it. 

Spork

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Re: resurfacing hard wood floor
« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2015, 08:15:42 AM »

  And if they're the type that has a flat piece of sandpaper that is bolted in a circle... it's really easy to get those bolted in a way that is slightly asymmetrical. 

That's exactly the kind I rented. My floors had a 1/8" of gunk from an old carpet plus paint, so I needed something rough to get the job done. I didn't know about orbitals, sounds like I should have followed up with that.

One other complaint (boy do I sound like a whiner!) about the rental machines -- and I mean both the drum and the random orbit:  None of the places around here had paper that was aggressive enough.  The lowest grit I found was in the low 20's.   I needed something in the mid teens.  It took A LOT of passes with 24 grit to even out my recycled floors.