Please help me with my hardwood floors?

Question

I rent an older apartment with hardwood floors. They were not in great shape to begin with. But now after housebreaking a puppy and a sloppy boyfriend the floors area mess. I have cloudy spots where the dog has peed and wet shoes were left. Plus there are some spots where the coat of whatever has been worn off. How should I go about fixing this prob? How do I determine if the floor is waxed, varnish, or what? Plus how can I restore this? I need to know for the sake of my deposit. I plan on living in the apartment for quiet some time. I love it. Please don't tell me to hire a professional I need info I can do. Thanks everything is appreciated.

The dogs pee I am not concerned about now. She is housebroke. It happened when she was much younger. She would have an accident and by the time I got the papertowels(immediately) the floor finish would be bubbled and then would flake off.

Answer 1

Cut past all the expensive and time-consuming stuff. Go to your local antiques mall or woodworking center and find a product called "Howards Restore-a-finish". It's used by professional restorers for all kinds of water damage. What it basically does is penetrate the finish and return it to a non-cloudy, non-marred finish. It's also very inexpensive and easy to use.

Answer 2

This would take you a long time. Not just one weekend or something. It will take working every day on it and all weekends till "you" can get it done. First, you have to remove everything from the room. Then sand, sand, sand! Use a very rough grit at first. Get the kind that looks like it has little stones on it at first. This is the paper that is rough enough to take everything, like the finish and the stains off. (The marks from water and pee, thoses are going to be HARD to remove! Just to let you know. You may even warp the floor alittle sanding that just to get down far enough to remove the stain.) Then, you are going to have to use a fine sand paper after the rough one. Because the rough one is going to leave little marks all over the place, that will stick out like a sore thumb when you apply the stain or finish. But you have to use it to get all the stuff off the floor first. This is going to be VERY dusty. You should open all windows and have a fan blowing out to suck the dust out. Then sweep or vaccume ALL the dust from the floor. Then apply the stain. You may want a second coat. Depends on if you like the first coat color. Then apply the varnish, or finish. The more coats of the finish you apply, the sturdier your floor will be. It will also be much shiney-er than usual. And nothing will get through again to stain the floor and all you will need to clean it is plain water. Like I said, this is a long job. The hardest part will be gettin all the old stuff off. If your not used to it, it is going to seem really hard. You can do it though. It will just take a long time, so don't think you'll knock it out in a weekend. I stain and sand cabinets for a living and it's not hard, just a long process. Good luck.

Answer 3

Don't attempt to refinish the floor's yourself...First you RENT that apartment...don't damage the floor any more than you have! Your landlord will be mighty mad about the mess that is already there, and your legally responsible for it and any other damage in that apartment.
Since you have no clue at all what the original finish is, to further mess with it...can only cause you serious money trouble down the road.
Wash it good...Johnson's One Step Floor Wash...is just for neglected, wax build up, dirty floors...Hot water, and do it section by section..till the water you rinse from that mop is clean!!!
Then..Johnson's One Step floor Wax...follow the directions on the can...this has saved even seriously abused floors...again follow the directions on the can...and open the windows this is strong smelling wax...it will get rid of the white spots, and the discolorations..and put a satin finish back on the floor. In the future...this wax is self cleaning...so, you will not have to wash the floor again, except to sweep and vacuum good...and re wax.
Which with a messy boyfriend and a dog...you should do weekly.

Answer 4

From the way you asked the question, you know little about refinishing a floor. I'm not insulting you, just telling you it's a long hard process and, not for the uninitiated or, the new be.

If your willing to try. Your going to need warm weather to air the place out as you go. You'll need to make sure you turn everything off that could cause a fire. You'll have a lot of dust and a mess in general around for awhile.

You'll need to borrow or rent a edger and, a sander. I prefer to use a sander for everything, but being new, an edger will help. Lot's of sand paper.
Use dust masks, your going to be at this for awhile. Then you'll have to seal the floor when finished to your specs. Once sealed you'll have to decide what type of finish you want and what to use. There's a variety of finishes to use.
I would suggest going to Home Depot and speak with the men in the paint department, see what they come up with. They can always give you good tips also.

This is going to consist of a lot more then what I can tell you here, Home Depot will be your biggest helper, get to know them well.

Answer 5

Refinishing hardwood floors isn't as hard as people make it out to be; it just takes time and effort!

First, sand the floors with a low grit sandpaper. Wipe up with a dry-damp cloth. If the floors can take another sanding, go ahead and give them another full sanding, and wipe up again.

Once the floors are dry, you can stain them with a wood stain that is a close match to the existing colour (for the sake of your deposit). A quality paint store can help you get the right tools for this.

After the stain has dried, use a brand name varnish to finish them. I like Diamond the best. Do at least three coats of varnish, allowing each coat to dry between applications.

Doing it yourself will take anywhere from 2 to 5 days (depending the square footage) and will save you a lot of money. Not to mention the pride of having done such a beautiful job by yourself - invite your family and friends over to show them what a lovely job you have done once it's finished!

Answer 6

before you sand try these

cleaning wood floors:

brew 5 tea bags in 1 gallon of warm water, then add 1/2 cup of cider vinegar. dip a soft cloth or sponge in the mixture and wring out well, and wipe down the floor. afterward buff with a dry soft cloth.

determine what finish you have:

if it is wax you will have to sand it all down before applying a new finish. if its polyurethane you should only have to apply a new coat. you can tell by either taking a coin and scratching the floor, in a place not seen to easily, if the finish flakes it is probably wax. another way is to drop a couple drops of water on the floor. wait 10 minutes. if there is white spots where the water was then you have aw ax finish.

here are a couple do it yourself wax strippers

1/2 cup ammonia
1 cup laundry detergent
1 gallon of warm water

or

1/2 cup washing soda (detergent section of grocery)
1 gallon of warm water

in either one apply some of the solution and scrub with a stiff brush, electric scrubber, or extra fine steel wool (000) pads to loosen the old wax. work on small areas at a time and mop up solution after the wax has been soften. repeat until entire floor has been stripped of wax. clean entire area after with a cup of vinegar in 1 gallon of warm water. after floor has dried completely apply a new coat of wax.

hope this helps

Answer 7

you have to figure out what kinda finish thats on it you can clean the floor with vinagar is it varathane wash the floor with vinagar if that dont work your lover needs to take there shoes off at the door i wouldnt refinish the whole floor cause you would be making it a gift but when your dog is breathing in your ear while you sleep you need to take them outside and when they sniff the ground that means number 2 is on the way and quit rushing your dog when they have to go and if there jumping on the door they might be trying to tell you something how much do you walk your dog im not picking up bms the rain is hitting them my buddie said they saw the funnyest thing a lady was waiting for the number 2 under the dogs tail with a bag hope some of this helps you could try putting down newspaper and the dog may contain them self to that area

Answer 8

In my opinion, you first need to determine what type of finish is on the floor. There are some easy ways to do that:

1. Apply a few drops of alcohol to an inconspicuous spot. If the finish becomes soft and sticky within seconds, it is shellac. If it doesn't the finish isn't shellac.

2. Next apply a few drops of lacquer thinner. If the finish becomes soft and sticky within seconds, it is shellac, lacquer or water base. If you tested with alcohol first, then you've already ruled out shellac, so the finish has to be either lacquer or water base. Since water base was rarely used prior to 1990, the age may give you a clue as to which one it is.

3. To determine more definitely between lacquer and water base, put a few drops of toluene or xylene (doesn't everyone have some in a utility closet?). If the finish softens, it's water base, not lacquer.

4. If none of these solvents dissolves the finish, it's one of two types known as reactive finishes. Exact one rarely makes any difference. The finish either cures using oxygen or when a chemical catalyst is introduced (kind of like expoxy glue).

Determining the exact finish might be important, and I'll comment more further on. For now, you can try to remove the water rings and spots. Water spots occur when moisture gets into the finsih, eliminating the film's transparency. The film appears cloudy or white. Finishes that have aged develop minute cracks and are therefore more susceptable to moisture penetration. Alcohol can also cause water rings or spots by taking moisture along with it as it penetrates into a finish.

You can remove these spots in a couple of ways: apply an oily substance, such as furniture polish, petroleum jelly or mayonnaise, to the damaged area and allow it to remain over-night. The oil has a greater affinity to the finish than water and will sometimes replace the water if the damage isn't too bad. Also, you can dampen a cloth with any commonly available alcohol (denatured is best) and wipe it gently over the damaged area. Since alcohol will dissolve shellac and damage lacquer and water base (and can also create water spots itself)begin with a very slight dampening and add more alcohol if necessary. Don't dampen the cloth too much, it should leave the appearance of a comet's tail trailing as you wipe. The tail being created by the alcohol evaporating; don't rub hard. Alcohol works in most cases. Finally, you can cut through the damage by rubbing with a mild abrasive; stuff like cigarette ashes, mixed with water or oil to make a paste, or even use toothpaste. But if the alcohol didn't work, these abrasives probably won't either. Perhaps a pumice stone, in combination with a light oil, such as mineral oil or even furniture polish will be more effective. If you use fine steel wool with a light oil, it may work, but more apt to scratach the surface more, so you should use steel wool only as a last resort.
If you satisfactorily remove the water damage, this leaves having to deal with the other worn areas. Basically, you now need to treat the floor as a whole, improving the entire floor area. This is where you need to know what type of finish currently exists on your floor. You can usually correct superficial damage by applying another coat of the same finish.

You may be able to get away with (1) only applying a coat of paste wax or oil/varnish blend to the surface and wipe off the excess. (2) rub the surface of a film finish with steel wool or rubbing compounds to cut throught the damage or dullness and expose unaffected finish below (really depends on condition of the floor). (3) Also, you could apply another coat of the original finish to repair the problem. There are details to each one of these:

(1) Applying paste wax or oil/varnish blend to the fiinish is the easiest of all repairs. It's effective in treating superficial wear and raising the sheen of dull surfaces. Both paste wax and oil/varnish blend will have the same effect, but oil/varnish will be permanenet while paste wax can be removed by furniture polish or soap and water. You can apply this over any finish as long as the surface is clean. Remove any excess of either product or avoid stickiness and smudges. Oil/varnish blend cures soft, so don't apply it more than about once per year over a hard finish. Paste wax doesn't build, so it doesn't matter how often you apply, as long as you remove excess.

(2) If the finish is thick enough, you can cut it back to expose a better surface. It's a long shot on floors because they usually too worn. You basically rub "out" the finish using steel wool or rubbing compounds. The problem is you don't know how thick the finish is that you're working with, unless you finished the floor yourself.

(3) You can also correct damage to the finish by applying another coat of the same finish. You can sand or rub the surface with steel wool to smooth it before applying the new coat, similar to how you might do normally between coats. The important thing here is to do the tests I described earlier to determine what type of finish to use.

Hope this helps you and good luck

Answer 9

Before you do anything else clean and dry the floor, then try using Laquer Retarder, put some on a rag and wipe the area. If that does not work, Refinish the Floor.

Answer 10

Sounds like it is time to refinish- but here is a quick fix idea. Try Old English scratch cover. It is available in the furniture polish section of local stores and comes in dark and light wood colors. It is a liquid that you apply with a rag. Works great. Happy polishing!