Hardwood Floors
We have been renovating a limestone since August (thinking we’d be in by Christmas- think again) we have gone through several contractors and as we are finishing up we are thinking of the floors and the mess that has been made of them with drywall dust and paint drops etc. My questions are: 1. I…
We have been renovating a limestone since August (thinking we’d be in by Christmas- think again) we have gone through several contractors and as we are finishing up we are thinking of the floors and the mess that has been made of them with drywall dust and paint drops etc. My questions are: 1. I am assuming this should be the last thing done. 2. has anyone had a good and economical person do this for them? Recomendations? 3. Does anyone have any do-it-yourself reccomendations or cautions? We are not sure if this is something we want to try in our current state of distress- we just need to get in there already!! The guy laying our tile has said he would give it a try- but with 7 months of renovation trauma experience I’m not so sure thats a good idea. Opinions suggestions and experiences please!
Try calling 1-800WoodFloors, I’m a designer and have been using them for years, they have very competent contractors doing the work, and they stand behind their work …
If your floors do not have heavy scratches in them, or even if they do have heavy scratches that you can live with, but the floors are in generally good shape, you can screen them as opposed to sanding them off completely. By screening, I mean taking a buffing machine, put a red pad under the pad driver (as if you were going to buff a floor like they do in the supermarkets) and then put a screen under that. The screen is a round sheet of abrasive. Screen the finish; its fast (very fast; a few minutes to do a large room) and easy and will remove paint drops and some scratches and most of the old finish. Screening will not cut down to the wood and will not remove scratches in the wood. I used to maintain a gymnasium floor by screening it annually – I would start with a 60 grit screen and work my way to 120 grit and stop. By stopping at 120, you give the new poly that you will apply something to bite to – a mechanical bond.
After cleaning the dust (and tacking), apply two coats of poly (no more; you have not removed all of the old finish; if you put more poly on it be too thick and will chip).
This is something you can do yourself, though you have to rent a low speed buffing machine (and know how to use it; I am not going to go into that here – but there is a trick to guiding one of those things).
good luck.
Steve
http://www.thetinkerswagon.com
Thanks everyone! Brownstoner never leaves me hanging!!
Call Julio Bonete, from Bonete Renovation – he’ll do you good. Tell him Allan recommended you. You can find pictures of his work at http://www.boneterenovation.com
-allan
I would re-do them. It’s fairly inexpensive and it will just complete the new house look. If you have already redone them and hey just got dirty I would use a very strong vacuum cleaner to get the dust out between the wood planks and then use a damp (almost dry rag) with just water and it will pick up the rest of the dust. As for the pain drips, again if the floor is redone then take the time to take them off by scraping with something soft. They should come right off anyway. I wouldn’t use Murphy’s oil it takes off the finish.
Agree, you want someone experienced and you want to do the floors last. Assume you have hardwood, such as oak, not pine. If so, you can put on three coats of water-based semi-gloss, and they will come out a nice medium color with no staining necessary. If it’s pine, it’s more complicated. We paid about $1.50 per square foot, but ours included a sealer and stain and four coats of satin.
Depending on just how bad your floors are, you might try cleaning them up yourself before resorting to sanding and refinishing. Many parquet floors are so thin that they can only withstand one more sanding.
You could start with cleaning them, as per Vinca’s recommendations. I use Murphy’s Oil soap on my floors and have had good results, but several commenters here tell me I’m doing something terrible by using this product. IF the paint drips are small enough in number you could remove them with a plastic scraper. Follow up with paste wax and an electric waxer or an application of something like “Rejuvinate”. I really like the later, despite it’s “as seen on TV” label which would usually scare me away from a product. I personally would never bother with a waxer again. If this doesn’t work in one test room you could always do something more drastic.
Once did the floors myself… It may be tempting, but my advice is DON’T! It’s the best job to hire out.
We just sanded a room and didn’t polyuerethane. We used an oil and wax finish–non toxic and then you can re-do the finish yourself down the line. It’s more work and takes a few more days to do it that way. No plastic on your floors though!
1. Buy sweeping compound and spread liberally over dry dusty floors, then sweep.
2. Follow with damp (but not soaking) mop.
3. Do NOT have your floors done by someone who says they’ll “give it a try.”
4. Do your floors before you move in. You won’t want to move furniture afterward.
5. I recommend Stafford Elliott for reasonably priced, meticulous floor refinishing. Even if doing several rooms, shouldn’t take more than a week: 917-414-3516.