Step on It! PHASE 2 - Refinishing the Wood Floors
- Andrea Ridout
- Jun 9, 2017
- 3 min read
After removing all of the old carpeting and then repairing the subfloor in our little house on Washington St., we looked forward to fresh, new floors with great anticipation. Approximately half of the square footage was original 1 1/2" oak tongue-in-groove plank which we planned to refinish.
I reached out to several local floor refinishers and received estimates from $2,000 - $3,000 to sand, stain and varnish our approximately 1,000 square feet. Repairs and stain removal would be extra. Since I had some experience with refinishing floors in previous homes, I decided to try doing it – with a little help from my son, Frank.
With past homes, I had rented a floor sander from Home Depot and spent around $500 for a week of rental and supplies. On a whim one day, I looked on Craigslist.com to see if I could find a sander to purchase. I figured that the investment in our own equipment would pay for itself in just a few projects.
Luckily, a fellow who lived in the historic Lakewood district in Dallas was selling a sander that he had used to refurbish the floors in his 100-year-old home. We settled on $1,000 which included several boxes of sanding disks. So my son, Frank, and I were soon loading our slightly used Cherryhill® sander into the back of his Prius. The ride home was nearly silent as we excitedly dreamed about our "new" floors – or perhaps Frank just wouldn't talk to me because he knew that a huge job lay ahead of us!
The next day, we unpacked the sander and installed some 20-grit disks onto the 4 oscillating pads. We then switched on the machine and it slowly moved from one side of the middle bedroom to the other. The whirring pads began to magically expose a hidden treasure. In no time, the old finish literally melted away and fresh oak was exposed. Over the next few hours, we gradually switched to finer and finer grits of sanding disk, finishing up with 120 grit.
When we were done, the entire room looked amazing. Even Frank had to smile. In fact, he took over the sanding and ended up doing most of the rest of the house. In all of the tasks on this home, the floors have been the most pleasant surprise – easier and with better results than we could have ever expected.
Some areas of the floor presented additional challenges. A few windows had been broken for quite awhile and rain had leaked in here and there causing a handful of softened planks. We used an oscillating tool to cut away the old wood and then replaced them with some leftover boards from the master bedroom closet floor, which we chose to carpet.
We also were faced with some major spotting in various areas caused by a combination of foot traffic, pet stains and age. After the initial sanding with 20-grit paper to remove the old varnish, Oxylic acid helped to "bleach" the discoloration, borax in water helped to rinse off the acid and then we finished sanding those areas thoroughly. A bit of creative staining also helped to blend it all together.
After all repairs, sanding each room, vacuuming thoroughly and finally wiping all surfaces with a rag dampened slightly with paint thinner to pick up every last spec of dust, we were ready to apply the stain. We chose Minwax Dark Walnut Wood Finish to create a dramatic contrast against our light gray walls and white trim. Minwax stain is very easy to use. When applied with a brush, it will soak into dry areas, hydrating the wood and helping to even out the color. It also resists lap marks which is especially important on a large area like a floor.
Once we completed each room, we allowed the stain to dry overnight and then applied Minwax Ultimate Floor Finish. Note the stir stick in the can photo. We found that it helped to stir the can every five minutes or so to keep the product well-blended. Since it's a water-based finish, a second coat can be applied in just two hours which meant that we could complete the application in one afternoon.
Afterwards, we just stepped back and marveled at the results. Wow, what a difference from before and after. This is the middle bedroom which originally had broken windows, photo-finish paneled walls and old, worn-out carpeting. Now it has new, energy-efficient windows, freshly painted sheetrock walls and gorgeous original oak floors!
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