What is an economical way to achieve a decent wooden floor? Sand existing boards or replace with new/laminate?

Answer 1

I would refinish it. We just refinished our floor in our 76 year old house. We were also having a hard time deciding if we should refinish it or put laminate on it and we are so happy that we decided to refinish rather than laminate.

You can do it yourself easily but it is time consuming.
1 -- Rent a sander. You don't have to use the old drum sanders, there is a rotary sander that is very user friendly and won't gouge your floor.

2. -- Get some instructions from a library book or online and they will tell you what grit of sandpaper to use and how many passes to make. You will probably end up using three different grits.

3 -- Vacuum and get up sawdust with tacky cloth.

4 -- Put a layer of sanding sealer on and wait for it to dry

5 -- Stain the floor if you are planning on staining. You can leave it natural if you want. If there are water stains on your floor that you couldn't get rid of by sanding, then you will probably want to put a stain on the floor to blend it in.

6 -- Put on 2-3 layers of polyurethane.

It is all easy to do but you will not be able to move your furniture back in the room for over a week. But when it is all done, it is much, much better than laminate.

Answer 2

Depends on the condition of the existing floor. If the house is old and there is a lot of damage it may be impractical to use the existing boards. But as a matter of preference would always - where practicable - sand and seal the existing boards. Use a belt sander and make sure the room is well ventilated. It is a very messy job but well worth it in the end. The laminates, while very good, don't give the feel of a real wooden floor with all its natural imperfections.

Answer 3

You didn't give details about the size of room you are speaking about. Also, the condition of the floor. But, here is my take on it; you can rent a professional floor sander for a certain amount per hour. You need to make sure you get a little coaching on how to use it, otherwise you can sand the floor down too much in one area and not enough in another. It is messy, dust, dust, everywhere! Then, you need to clean all of that up so you can put a few coats down and depending on what you use, may need buffing.

The laminate flooring is simple, you move your furniture, they rip the old floor out (a bit dusty--nothing like what I said above though) put down a barrier, the floor and vala! Get it on sale, you could save yourself time, money and headaches.

I would take some time to price both ways, think about how much time and energy you want to put into this and then get educated by finding the best products.

Answer 4

The correct answer depends on what the existing floor is. Do you have an older house with solid plank flooring? Or do you have a newer engineered plank flooring? How many times has the existing floor been sanded and refinished? If it has been sanded and refinished too many times, a fresh sand and refinish may not be possible. Laminate flooring (i.e. "pergo") looks OK, but does not have much longevity when it gets wet.

Answer 5

Hi if you got T&G boards make sure all the nails are tapped in below wood. Sand down by hand or with an electric sander, & with a cloth wipe on Linseed oil, do about 3 planks at a time & wipe off excess, then buff up. Its non slip & will bring a glow to the wood.
Cheers H

Answer 6

It does depend on the condition of your current boards. Real floor boards do look better than laminate unless you get the really expensive ones. However if your original boards are too bad, don't waste the time.

Answer 7

If the wood floor you have is not warped or cracked they you can sand with a special floor sander, but you need to be careful not to gouge the floor with the sander. Once carefully sanded they you need to refinish, again is not a hard job, but it does take time and some experience to do a good job. the quicker way is to put on one of the new floating floor overlays, that look like wood. so just depend on your skills and preferences.

Answer 8

SAND AND REFINISH if you do not have a lot of rot. Great, durable urethane finishes available today. Many are water based with no harmful fumes. In fact, if your floor is not in real bad shape, washing it with a paint prep solution may be all you need before applying stain & urethane. Real wood floors add more value to your house, even if not perfect. So, unless you are not interested in holding the value, I vote for refinishing.

Answer 9

Before doing anything to the floor make sure that all the electric sockets are in the correct positions. Its also correct for any plumbing alterations. Also a good time to get rid of the radiator under the window and place it behind the door where it is not possible to put furniture, and talking about doors, have you thought about reversing same, in many cases it can give you more room. HARRY seems to have got it in one.,

Answer 10

if the underlying wood is in decent condition, i would remove any flooring that cannot be refinished, then sand and stain the floor and then put a couple of coats of protectant on it.

no need to re-invent the wheel, or assume the large expenditure of a entirely new floor.

-eaglemyrick