anyone done it? experiences? how-tos? advice?

i think im gonna use a drum sander from home depot and water based poly

thoughts?

5/9/2008 12:37:54 AM

ridiculous amounts of dust... WAY more work than you are expecting... Theres a reason it's so absurdly expensive to have it done professionally...

5/9/2008 1:35:12 AM

yea, i just had my house done. ~1200SF = $1500

i'd say a good estimate to have it done professionally is $1.25/SF

i wouldn't suggest doing it yourself... in all seriousness, you'll screw it up.

the professionals did it in about a day, even had one coat done. came back 24 hours later to do 2nd coat. allow 24 hours to dry each coat.

[Edited on May 9, 2008 at 1:42 AM. Reason : .]

5/9/2008 1:42:12 AM

anyone got any good people to use to have hardwood installed, and the cost?

5/9/2008 2:13:59 AM

From what I understand, you could really screw up your hardwood if you don't know what you're doing.....leave yourself with an undulating surface. They say it can be a little tricky to get the proper finish as well, not too glossy but not 100% dull. I'd pay someone if you've never done it.

5/9/2008 9:05:42 AM

^^^I was looking into it a few months ago and the lowest I found was $2.50/squareft. It may be because I only wanted one room (12x20) done, though.

5/9/2008 9:37:40 AM

hmn, what else? ive got about 6 people to help me

what about patching holes? imperfections? larger-than-normal gaps between boards?

5/13/2008 1:00:29 AM

I talked to several people who have done it themselves when I was needing some hardwood refinishing...They all said it came out looking really well, but nowhere near the quality that they would expect from a professional. The biggest complaint seemed to be in how quickly a commercial floor sander (the type you push around like a lawnmower) can wear down the floor. They all said you pretty much need to have that thing moving before you even turn it on. If it sits for a second it will create a dip in the floor.

I'd think that someone who has done it just 5 or 10 times can probably do a much better job with much less wear to the wood than you can do. That's just something to consider.

I have a good referral if you need one. I've never used him, but I know a guy who has used him on quite a few houses and says he does good work.

5/13/2008 1:22:08 AM

Yeah, I'd definitely agree that you should pay somebody to do this.

Way too easy to mess up while you're doing it. Way too expensive to fix after you mess up.

Much faster to just pay somebody with the tools and the will to do it proper.

5/13/2008 2:19:15 AM

I do a LOT of my own work around the house, but this is something I would pay someone to do. A simple mistake can cost you the entire floor.

I can also promise you that you wont make that mistake in the corner of the room, youll do it right in the center. Its just the way life works.

5/13/2008 6:48:56 AM

I agree with others... get it done professionally if you don't have experience with this. For most things I would be the first to say do it yourself. But You could seriously mess up your floors, and that would be a very costly mistake.

If you are set on doing it yourself, my advice is to pick the smallest room in the house... do it from start to finish. You'll get a little bit of experience and an idea of how it will turn out. Then decide on the rest of the house from there.

Do you know what kind of wood it is?

5/13/2008 7:57:26 AM

Quote :

"anyone got any good people to use to have hardwood installed, and the cost?"

Kuszmaul Construction
919-422-9274 (Craig's cell)

He's an NC State guy. Not sure on price, but it'll be reasonable and well done.

5/13/2008 8:01:56 AM

Quote :

"ridiculous amounts of dust... WAY more work than you are expecting... "

5/13/2008 9:15:46 AM

I do all my own work, including laying tile and carpet, but I wouldn't touch hardwood floors with a ten foot pole. I may be wrong, it may be easier than I think, but the potential is there to absolutely ruin your floor with that sander.

5/13/2008 9:49:28 AM

I would pull out and install new hardwoods before i would try to refinish hardwoods myself. and if you have prefinished planks, it's even more of a pain to sand.

definitely call someone.

5/13/2008 11:07:25 AM

Yes you can do it yourself.

No, it will not look perfect, but neither will a professional job and if you are careful it will not look horrible.

Yes, you will save a crap ton of money compared to going with a professional.


Just make sure you sand the poly between coats, and talk to the guys in the floor finishing department at lowe's or home depot - they have a lot of good advice.

My gf did it with some help from an experienced cousin. It looks amazing, and only cost about $500 bucks for a 1,200 sq.ft house.


It's a big project and if you expect professional results by all means go with a professional but you can do it yourself.

5/13/2008 3:59:06 PM

I work for a custom home builder and we use Floor-to-Ceiling in Fuquay (but they do work all over the triangle) for our hardwoods. They do an awesome job, but I couldn't tell you how much they charge. 557-5787 ask for John Henderson

[Edited on May 13, 2008 at 4:47 PM. Reason : .]

5/13/2008 4:47:19 PM

i have put in several hardwood floors and always have the pros come to sand

its just too easy to mess up a few weekends worth of prep and work and they will take care of the dust

5/14/2008 9:42:47 AM

http://www.lowes.com/projects/build-and-remodel/refinish-a-hardwood-floor/project

Seems easy enough...

6/21/2016 11:56:30 PM

lots of hopes and dreams squashed in this thread.

6/22/2016 9:00:22 AM

I did it on 100 year old oak.

What worked well:

I rented the belt sander that allowed you to lift the drum up and down. This makes digging into the hardwood easy to avoid. I ended up sanding the floor with the drum sander 4 or 5 times through the various grits. That part of the sanding was professional quality. It looked perfect.

Staining the floor was easy. I actually brushed on the stain, board by board, and wiped off the stain on a repeatable basis. My staining was professional quality.

The Poly was easy. Again, I did not take the easy way out, and I hand brushed on 4 coats of poly in a day. In between each coat, I lightly sanding with a 220 grit, then wiped dry with a towel lightly coated in mineral spirits. Again, the quality was professional (better actually than the last job I had professionally done because I applied more coats)

What didn't:

The part that turned out like a dog's ass was sanding around the baseboards... All those areas that aren't covered by a drum sander. I rented one of those high speed edgers and proceeded to mess up parts of my floor. It shows, and looks very mediocre around the edge. If I were to do it again, I would forgo the high speed edger and use a palm sander that I could easily control and I wouldnt have those issues.

I have also found that if you have hardwood floors that still have good stain, but a scratched finish, you will get the floors back to new my lightly sanding the surface and thoroughly cleaning it (heavy mineral spirits), then re-applying poly. I did it upstairs, and it looks amazing. Just waiting for the time to do it downstairs.

Spend the extra and use Bona floor finish. Uber expensive, but it will pay dividends.

[Edited on June 22, 2016 at 4:13 PM. Reason : .]

6/22/2016 4:11:54 PM

Quote :

"I have also found that if you have hardwood floors that still have good stain, but a scratched finish, you will get the floors back to new my lightly sanding the surface and thoroughly cleaning it (heavy mineral spirits), then re-applying poly. I did it upstairs, and it looks amazing. Just waiting for the time to do it downstairs."

So you are saying sand scratches and reapply poly? Any suggestions of sand paper? I have a few scratches that my wife put on my floors and they are eye sores. I just don't want to sand the whole floor to fix something that is 6 inches long.

6/23/2016 2:56:57 PM

you can do local touchup to hardwoods. sand, clean with mineral spirits, putty if deep, sand, seal. a flooring company wouldn't charge much for a small repair if you don't trust yourself

6/23/2016 3:42:25 PM

^thanks

6/24/2016 9:56:54 AM