# new wood flooring



## What have I done

We originally had laminate flooring on the main level of our home. It was still in decent shape but it was 10 years old. It is waranted for 15 years so we had discussed taking out some carpet in the living room and replacing that and all the laminate with red oak. We got a good deal on 3/4" x 2 1/4" solid red oak. We also decided to do some details around an area rug in the living room and around the dining room table. Well here it is in progress! My wife, myself, 14 yr old son, and a couple brothers have been working on this part time. Living room and a couple halls are installed. Dining room, kitchen and breakfast nook are started. All in All we will be installing about 1100 sq ft. Staining and 4 coats of Poly to finish it all off.
Keep IN MIND we have never done anything crazy like this before. :no:


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## gma2rjc

That is beautiful! You're all doing a great job and what a great experience for a 14-year-old. Thanks for posting the pics.


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## What have I done

oops forgot to give credit also to my 11 yr old daughter for helping sort the boards and doing some stapling. Truly a family project!


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## gma2rjc

Well, I can see in picture #2 that she did a very good job. You're lucky to have such a great helper.


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## shumakerscott

*Great Job*

You are doing fantastic work! When you get this done don't stop there, you have talent. Keep it up. Dorf Dude...


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## What have I done

well the borders and designs looked good. We stained with EARLY AMERICAN then stained the rest of the floor with a NATURAL Stain. To our surprise the border and design disappeared with the application of the natural stain.

Scuffed the whole floor and re-taped off the border and deign areas and Stained a Darker color.

Tomorrow everything gets a good buffing and Vacuuming. 1st coat of poly hopefully will tie everything together.

hopefully by this weekend I can post some pics of some nice shiny floors


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## gma2rjc

It's looking very nice. Looking forward to seeing it finished. I'm sure you're looking forward to seeing it finished even more. lol


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## What have I done

i cant believe how sore this project has made me. Getting up/down constantly and swinging the mallet to sanding the floors has my old bones screeming "WTF are you doing!"

The end of this project is coming closer though my family has been a huge help. With the floors and putting up with me. IT cant be EASY????


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## gma2rjc

Makes you want to let the kids do all the work. :no:


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## What have I done

1st of 4 coats of Ploy-Urethene just put on.


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## gma2rjc

It looks great!


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## jackie treehorn

That looks awesome!


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## What have I done

4th coat of poly is now on!  Now just have some painting and baseboards to go!


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## drtbk4ever

Very nice work.


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## What have I done

we slowed down a bit. I turned 40 last week and I didnt want the house back together for the wife to get a wild idea to throw a surprise party.

So nowthat that is over I am finishing up the baseboard. Here are some pics with the 4th coat of poly on and things getting back in order


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## gma2rjc

It looks beautiful. I like the pic with the dog peaking around the corner. 

Happy birthday. Got any big projects planned for your 50th? LOL


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## ConstantChange

It looks great!


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## Quadfam4

all I can say is WOW!!!! so very beautiful. great job!


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## Knucklez

wow, that's a smooth finish. 

i wonder if it would have been easier to stain your design boards before install? 

anyway, the ends justifies the means. great job!

Knucklez


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## What have I done

yeah i thought about prestaining the design boards before install, but with the unfinished flooring it is off a little bit and needs to be sanded smooth after install.
Now that we have done for a few weeks it wasnt bad!:thumbup:

I do remember a Sunday morning laying on the floor disconnecting the dishwasher and just wanting to DIE. The previous couple of days of nailing, squatting, getting up/down wore my ass out.

But I rebounded and we are very happy with the outcome.


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## DeFex

What an amazing job. something to see every day and be proud of.


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## schlitzi

The only drawback of doing such a nice job is that your wife will think of other things for you to do.


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## Scuba_Dave

That's a great job :thumbsup:
I really like the accent pieces/stain
At 1st I thought you did the accent with just stain


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## What have I done

nope they are the real maccoy... 16 lil pieces to each corner Design. I used all red oak. In hindsight I will probably use a different species in the future to make it stand out with out having to stain the design darker. Maybe Cherry or Elm to go with the red oak.

it was a lot of work but we love them. thanks for commenting. I have been watching your work and posts and am very impressed with your projects!

Oh by the way..Schiltz- that was the wifes IDEA. she has some doozies. Here is another one. what started as a plain white wall in the kitchen. She decided we could cut into it and make a pantry for canned goods. It turned out to be a very good idea.. bad thing we ddint take many pictures before and during...But I am learning


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## sbmfj

super nice work!


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## roxksears

I'm resurfacing my hardwood floors and am wondering what brand stain and polyurethane you used. I'll be using oil based poly but am unsure which brand will be best.

I don't have much experience with stains or polyurethanes. The only ones I've used are Minwax, but I've read unfavorable comments on Minwax so I'm open to anyones opinions here. 

After doing all the hard laborous work I sure want it to look the very best it can after the stain & poly is on!

I can relate with 'just wanting to die'. that was yesterday. Today I can move again, ever so slowly however. Tomorrow I'll have to go back at it. I keep forgetting that I'm getting older and my body doesn't like doing all I put it through. Oh well, this old granny has LOTS more projects to do. No time to whine!:laughing:


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## Lazy_Jake

Amazing.....


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## What have I done

roxksears I used Min-wax, stain and Minwax Poly-urethene. When I do floors I always use GLOSS for the 1st couple coats. I dont know if it is true or not, but I was told the gloss has more Polymers and fills better.
I usually do 2 coats of gloss then the final coat, semi gloss or Satin. On these floors at my house I did 4 coats of all gloss. Figured with the dogs it would hold up better.

I like min-wax, becasue if I am working after hours I can get more at the box-stores. I also like vare-thene brand, they carry that at Lowes and Menards.

Good luck take lots of pictures. Ones the body stops aching it is fun to look back at the b4 and after pics


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## roxksears

Thanks for the response What I Have Done!

I was looking at the Varethane at Lowe's. They said it was a much harder poly, therefore would hold up better. Who knows? Advertising/Marketing...

I had also heard that using High Gloss for the first coat or two would create better grain definition (visually).

I was advised to use a mohair short napped roller to apply the poly in a manageable size (say 3-4ft square), then use a natural bristle brush on it.

Yep, taking lots of pictures. Thanks again!


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## What have I done

I dont like the rollers. I have tried a couple times and ended up with bubbles. I hve the best luck with a flat 9" flat pad. unfortunately you have to crawl around on the floor to apply it. Just put a paint pan on a towel (makes it slide along with ya), and go to town. the 9" works good as you can do 3 rows of flooring with each pass with a little overlap.

I also like using lambswool pads, they sell them with the varethene displays. put the applicator on a broom handle, goes easier but I always need a second person to act as a "spotter" I tend to get it on too thick in areas and leave puddles. the spotter can stand back and see them easier and tell me to go over that area to drag the puddle out b4 it is out of reach!

I have used minwax for years for refinishing and dont have any issues with it. I do like varathene also, but it is a little more pricey. Plus the Varathene gives more of a amber/golden color, subtle but it is there. Nice look!


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## roxksears

What I Have Done, 

I stained the floor this morning so tomorrow will start on the Poly. I went with Minwax English Chestnet and am pleased with the nice medium brown tone. I'll be using the Varathane Oil Based Gloss on the first coat - maybe next one too and finalizing the top two coats with Clear Satin.

Question -- When you sanded in between Poly coats what grit did you use and how exactly did you sand it? What I mean is did you hand sand on your hands and knees? (Please tell me no -- this ole granny has 20 yrs on you and all this work on my hands/knees is doin' me in!) I have a pole sander, sandpaper as well as screen paper (like the wallpaper sanding stuff) and orbital and palm sanders. Seriously, I'll do the hands and knees if I have to to get a quality job:wink:

Is the purpose of sanding between coats just to abrate the surface so the next coat has some tooth to connect to? Or is it to get a perfectly smooth surface -- like you do when staining/sealing doors, furniture etc?

This is a lot of work so I sure don't want to screw anything up now. Thanks for your input!

Your floors are absolutely gorgeous! You MUST be beaming with pride! Reach around there and pat your back generously from me!:clap::thumbup::notworthy: Rox


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## What have I done

I forgot to mention and you can still do this. Minwax stain and Varathene are compatible one advantage of varathene is if the next coat is applied within 12 hours you dont have to sand between coats!

otherwise can a pole sander and use fine grit screen to go between coats and get any dust/burrs out.

I myself use a buffer with sanding screens. goes super fast.

Hope your taking pictures. I like the chestnut color. I have used it on pine floors

good luck


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## roxksears

WIHD, Thanks so much for the info! I applied the first coat of poly this morning - was a breeze! I was nervous after reading so many threads where people had problems, but this was easy-peasy! YAY! I used a pole and the Varathane lambswool applicator pad after first going 4" around the perimeter with a brush giving it a light coat. This floor is about 14x21 and it took one hour to do this. I followed instructions posted on this forum (THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!:notworthy to apply from one end to the other the width of the pad, then move over slightly overlapping and do it again being careful not to get too heavy with the overlap. 

The one thing that I didn't expect to be so strong was the STINK! It didn't hit me until after I finished and was admiring my work - then bang the headache and burning eyes and thinking I might loose my cookies! OMG I opened two windows, put a fan blowing outward in one window, changed my clothes and left Dodge! Six hours later I returned. It still stinks some, but not the headache, burning eyes, etc.

There were posts saying that even if the can said you didn't need to sand in between coats to do so anyways or you wouldn't get a good finish. Nervous Nellie here -- I've worked really hard and don't want to sacrifice a quality finish to save a little work so I'll go ahead and will pole sand using fine grit as I don't have a buffer. The can says to wait at least 12 hours for the poly to dry before reapplying and more if humidity level is high. We're on the verge of rain here and the humidity is higher so I think I should wait more than the 12 hours to be safe. Tomorrow morning it'll be about 22 hours and I'll sand then gently vacuum dust up and will tack off before applying the next coat. PLEASE - If I'm being TOO cautious here, don't hesitate to straighten me out! (I don't cry easily:laughing

I'm so geeked about my recent projects (Fireplace raised hearth removed and this floor refinishing)! I've had soooo many people tell me to not try it, to hire someone to do it, blah, blah, blah. I'm doing the yippee skippy dance at the money I've saved and the great results I'm seeing. I'm so glad I didn't listen to everyone.

By the way, the fireplace will be refaced after this floor has cured completely. Then I'll tile the hearth and 12" surrounding the firebox and will build the wood surround/mantle as well.


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## What have I done

wow--looking GOOD! before the next coat use your pole and the finest screen you have and just give it a light sanding. It will remove ans specs and give the surface a little grit for the next coat to adhere to.

Looking very nice. You will have to create a new post to get some traffic to your hard work. Nobody is gonna weed through my 3 pages to see your nice floor! keep up the good work!
your almost done.

Oh yeah the fumes are doozies!


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