Hard Wood Floors?

The floors in our house are from the early 1950s and we have plans to refinish them in the next 6 mos. We plan to apply a stain similar to the original and then seal them.

We'll probably rent a sander due to the size of our rooms and the scratches that are in the wood. Home Depot on Secor has a good tool rental supply.

Refinishing depends on lots of things: what kind of traffic the floor gets, how you use the room(s) and whether or not you want a more glossy or more flat finish.

This is a video of a product I saw on HGTV for doing 'sandless' refinishing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8etJ8K45kw

Here is a DIY link I also saved:

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-liquid-refinish-hardwood-floors/index.html

I save a bunch of other instructions for traditional refinishing from the DIYnetwork as well.

Be advised that sanding and refinishing is incredibly dusty and messy, regardless of what you've heard.

Most pros won't use a chemical stripper, as it leaves residue in the wood that is very diffucult to get out and can affect finishes.

Call Eddie's Hardwood Floors. It is VERY easy to extensively damage your floors if you've never done this kind of work before.

Has anyone here ever hired one of the firms that offer sandless refinishing? I know a few companies around here advertise it, but I've always wondered if it works well. Anyone?

Excuse me, I should have mentioned that I did not want to do actual sanding.

So is Eddie's a good place? Where are they?

I have used Buckley's Hardwood floors. They did nice work.

So what kind of cost would we be looking at to have a living room and dining room refinished (sand, stain, sealed)? Hundreds? Thousands?

"Excuse me, I should have mentioned that I did not want to do actual sanding."

Yeah, I refinished the floors of my loft in brooklyn a decade ago. NOT FUN. The only reason I did it myself is because several of the other people in my building had done it DIY and I thought I was just as capable... and I was. BUT SO NOT FUN. Never again.

&
gamegrrl, I'd say hundreds... get some quotes!

If you do go with a drum sander, they have a bag to catch the dust. BUT, its only gonna get like 50% of said dust. You can, however, hook up a vacuum (dirt devil? What are those called?) Where the bag would be. Bro-in-law did this, said it was much better than bag.

I highly doubt any chemical is going to come close to actually sanding the floor.

I would also add that if you do rent, you should use a local shop like A & E on Lewis Ave. Or A-Z on Dorr St.

This is union-town USA anyway, you can't go to Home Despot!

Instead of stripping, chemical or otherwise, I think I am just going to get some cleaner and some rejuvenate. It really does not look that bad as is. Thanks for the input!

I used Eddies do do my front foyer area that extends back to my kitchen and includes a 1/2 bath. The cost was 450.00, they did a good job and will put up plastic to keep the dust to a minimal area. If you try to DIY sand as I did in my old house it is very difficult if you aren't good with the sander. You can end up with a lot of dips in your floor.