# my floor refurbish project



## Knucklez

first i rented the square vibrator type sander.. that was a mistake. this machine is for refinishing floors.. i.e. to scrape off polyurethane and then to apply new stain..

however, this machine happened to work great for taking off the old linseed oil stain that was on the floor (dark brown floor in picture above). this stuff is really nasty.. it gums up when heated rather than just sanding off.. so your sand paper gets nickle size blotches of gummy hard oil stuff.. 

what reallys sux is that sand paper is expensive, and within 5 minutes one paper is no good because of the gummed up linseed oil! so.. i had one person using a chisel picking off the gummed tar stuff so that the paper could be re-used. 

took a bit of effort.. but with 2 people we had a good rhythm going.


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## Knucklez

once all the linseed oil was removed...

what i needed was a heavy duty bad-boy capable of really grinding the floor...

this is the drum sander.. it uses circular sand paper..


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## Knucklez

here is a picture after the first pass with 20 grit sand paper. 

now here is some advice.. when that drum sander hits the floor with 20 grit, it will take off like a rocket!! i wasn't prepared for this and almost lost my grip on the machine.

scary...


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## Knucklez

i put wax paper over all the recepticals because the dust was excessive. 

then i did 40 grit, 60grit.. 80 grit.. 

here is a picture after 80 grit


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## Knucklez

after 100 grit, i thought it was pretty good.

i also snapped a picture of my best friend during this project... see? right there in the middle of the pic :laughing:


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## Knucklez

before the stain goes on, we use minwax "pre-stain" stuff.. it says its ideal for pine beacuse pine absorbs stain really good and so you get a blotchy floor, as absorption rate may differ board to board.. 

so to stabilize this effect we pre-stain with well.. pre-stain.

i also tested a bit in the corner, and then some without the pre-stain and noticed a big difference. also its not that expensive, i think like $30 in prestain and i did the entire 2nd floor.


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## Knucklez

now it is time to stain.. we wanted a kind of mid range darkness type stain.. not too light, not too dark.

we tested "ipswitch" colour, and it came out DARK DARK DARK! wow.. tested it on the new board (see previous pictures) and it came out colour of ipswitch.. 

interesting... on 100 year old pine floor, the colour comes out WAY darker than on fresh cut pine.

time for plan B


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## Knucklez

tried some lighter tones.. the lightest is "natural" which is basically no stain at all. .. we ended up with the 3rd lightest stain choice there is. also a minwax product.

here's a pic of my lovely wife hand rubbing some stain


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## Knucklez

we also used a lamb wool lint free rag(s) to wipe away the excess and to help blend the colour so it doesn't look "streaky". 

when we were satisfied with the stain, moved on to minwax polyurethane sealer - high gloss. we chose the "professional" blend only because it says you don't need to sand in between coats.


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## Knucklez

did 3 coats of the polyurethane.

in retrospect,.. should have sanded with 220 grit "pole sander" in between .. but that's what you get for following directions. this floor did not have "glass surface" that i thought we would get because of non-sanding. but its still look'n awesome!


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## Knucklez

getting a good brush was well worth it. picking brush hair out of the floor during the polyurethane coating would have been a pain.. glad we spend the extra bucks...

total:
- pain brush, $15
- stain applicators $ 5
- non lint rags $5
- rental of square sander for the day $50
- rental of drum sander for the day $50
- sand paper $150 (went through a lot of it!)
- pre stain $ 30
- stain $50
- polyurethane $75
- misc.

Total: $500

- skills learned priceless! 





in fact.. we went on to do our main floor refinishing ourselves too (they are drying as i type this). this was oak strips, 2" wide. came out amazing, glass like surface, similar story as above but with far less work since we were only refinishing.


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## mark942

:thumbsup:


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## kc5oh

Very nice!

Your floor turned out much better than mine. The stain I used stopped wiping up after awhile no matter how much I stirred and wiped.


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## Knucklez

thx for the comments 

i know what you mean by not wiping up that well. i noticed an improvment in "wipe ability" by the use of the pre-stain. i think that stuff keeps the stain mostly on the surface which means you can hand rub it or wipe it more easily.


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## Knucklez

so we took our new found mad skillz.. and refinished main floor living room. they were in much better condition to start with.


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## Knucklez

but, you could see the nails starting to show through so i think i can not sand anymore. so wife just lightly pole sand with 100 grit, then 150grit, then 220grit.

also.. i would normally take off the quarter-round trim. but i was afraid i would crack it with removal. my house had a "sale on nails" when it was built and everything is put together using way too many nails of monstrous size.


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## Knucklez

then vacuumed the floor with mighty shop vac. and it was ready to go for staining.

no pre-stain this time as the floors are hardwood, oak, and don't need it.

wife did the stain with dark walnut colour, varathane brand. did two full coats. then, assessed the floor when dried. we wanted the look of an old general store floor. 

so on the third coat, i just did selective areas to give it "character". least that was the theory :whistling2:


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## Knucklez

again, used high gloss pro grade polyurethane. two coats of this.

NOTE: don't stire the polyurethane too aggressively or you'll create air bubbles.

we were both very pleased with the outcome. and we get the feeling that the floors might actually last another 10 more years.. hopefully more if we can re-apply the poly ever few years. 

i don't think this room cost more than $50 to do. so was well worth it. notice the new reflection shine on the floor compared to the "before" picture!


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## ACobra289

Wow, those floors turned out great! :thumbsup:

Refinishing floors is one thing I don't think I would want to tackle.


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## evane

Wow those came out simply amazing did you use Natural stain on the downstairs as well?

I am been trying to establish if my downstairs hardwood is Oak or Pine pretty sure it is pine. I know my upstairs is pine.

I really want to refinish my whole house.


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## AndyH

Great job. Just redid all my hardwood floors. 60 sq ft. The most backbreaking work i Ever did. I I used the square sander that you had the first time. Most of our floors were covered in carpet so they werent that bad. I also put down 4 coats of poly, no stain.


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## Knucklez

the stain on the main floor was walnut. 

AndyH, they also sell "natural" colour stain. there might be some reason why you don't put poly direct on the wood without stain.. if so (i have no idea) then you can use natural.

we didn't find it too back breaking. but we did find it a bit tedious. 

Knucklez


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## Knucklez

note... take the 1/4 round trim off the floor before you refinish hardwood floors. 

Knucklez


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## clintb

Knucklez said:


> note... take the 1/4 round trim off the floor before you refinish hardwood floors.
> 
> Knucklez


... and base, if your hardwood goes under it as well. I've learned, from refinishing close to 1000 sq ft, that previous people didn't remove base and it shows because the wood is now higher at the room edges. Basically, the sander has made everything higher. Do it, it'll be a much higher quality job, and you'll get a chance to strip the base to make it look new.


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## HautingLu

Didn't have time to read the whole thread, but I'll definitely be going back and re-reading carefully. My 100-yr old farm house has hardwoods throughout the house, but it has been under a nasty carpet for the past 25-yrs. Once everything else is fixed, floors will be next in line.

Thanks for the thread.


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## epson

Knucklez I have been reading your threads on your projects and I have to say you are really tackling some nice projects and with all your detailed pic’s and step by step instructions it takes the guess work out of most of the questions a do it yourselfer would ask. Keep up the good work from one Canadian to another…:thumbsup:


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## Knucklez

thx man, i really appreciate that. i have so many projects concurrent it is mind boggling and get's me down with overload stress... 

then i read a nice post like this and i feel better. 

i always try to post EXACTLY what happened during the reno and how i solved it - for better or worse - because i think like a typical DIY'er. i leave it to the pros on this website to correct the mistakes. then the next person that comes along will get both sides of the story and hopefully do it a little better than i did.

Knucklez


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## epson

Hey just keep doing what your doing. We all fumble and tumble, then we get up wipe the dirt off and start all over again. There is also the fun and gratification which plays a big part of something that you did yourself. If you ever need a hand just give me a ring. As you mentioned Dufferin Tile in one of your treads I know you’re in my area. 

Epson…


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