What is the best way to refinish a wood floor?

Question

I did not want to go through sanding and restaining I just wanted to remove 12 years of wax and wear the best way possible.......thanks

Answer 1

Rent a commercial style buffer, and several steel wool pads of various grades. Work courses grade to remove old wax, and finer grade wool to prep for finish. Don't forget to clean all residue before finishing.

Answer 2

I've seen it done, and those floor sanders are a beast to operate...(Een for a man, unless he knows what he is doing). You get your floor sander and you start in the corner and work its way down each row. You cant be quick about it, because your sanding off years of varnish and other paints, but, you cant also be slow,or you will start sanding wood too... (It takes practise and a lot of patience to do this). Once you have done a room, you will see that it will take approx 4+ hours to do one room. 15X15 approxiimate time. Then you have to wipe the floor down with a tack cloth, (dont use a sweeper, or it will just put the dirt into the air, and suspend it, and it will eventually fall back on the varnnish or poly that your going to put down!). I like polyurethane on my floors, though, its not as a hard finish as varnish. But, it brings out the "natural beauty" of the wood. I would recommend that you put down 6 coats of anything that you are going to put down on a sanded bare floor. Starting with a wood sealer first. (Remember, the more coats, the darker it gets, so pick something light, or medium and it will age over time and darken). You lightly sand with a screen, between coats and tack cloth the entire floor. (also, it may be good to do the walls to, as the dust may fall off them and go back onto the floor) You should spend a few days per room. As for the "lines" well, if you paint the flooring, all the same color, and bring it down the same way, you should have just a little discoloration, (no two floors will be the same, exactly as foot traffic and all that, in each room), but, you will get "almost" an exact match... (The big thing is, not to "overlap" the paint too much, until the last coat, {put some painters tape down to show where to start and stop}, so that you can feather it between the doors as you disc for the last time... Now, if you have "pine flooring", (most older houses that are 100+ do have), then watch with the "high heels" or it could dent the flooring, as pine is soft). Those that are putting in new "pergo" flooring are having problems with people with high heels, as it "dents" the floor and if its down, the only way to repair it, is take it all up! These are just my opinions.. I dont know your skills, so, any thing else would just be depending on your ability, and how much effort you put into this project...Its a labor of love! I wish you well... Jesse

Answer 3

There are companies that use a "dustless" method for re-finishing wood floors. Basically, they do a kind of chemical peel and etch on the existing wood and then re-apply a durable finish. As long as you just want to re-finish and NOT re-stain your floor these companies will do the trick.

There are some local ones where I live but you didn't say what area you live in.

Answer 4

Check with Tool Rental places. You may be able to rent a machine that has a pad designed for removing build-up but not wood. Same machine would have polishing pads available.