House Project #1

Re-buffed, Re-sanded and Re-jected

Well, first up for the many tasks I hope to accomplish with the new house was to refinish the wood floors in the two bedrooms, living/dining area, and the kitchen. I did my share of research on the subject, got some insightful advice from many, and decided I was pretty confident this was something I could accomplish.

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Some before pics ...

Everyone I spoke to that has refinished their floors said they did it once ... wouldn't ever do it again ... but they did get it done, once. Well, I learned my lesson...

First up, I rented an oscillating sander that was supposed to be more user friendly than it's bigger brother the belt sander. If you ever find yourself in a place where you might want to refinish your own floors, I can tell you ... go with the belt sander. I must have gone over that living/dining area 8-10 times and still didn't seem to get all of the old finish off.

I was warned not to leave that sander stationary or it would gouge a groove right into the floor. I tell you, I could have left that sander running, gone out for an iced cream, and come back and that thing would still be sitting there shaking in the same spot.

Next up was the edges and corners with the handheld sander. Not much to say about that thing except the whole thing is a misnomer.

The cleaning/staining went much better and I was encouraged with the progress at the end of many hard days work - that everything might turn out pretty good.

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Sorry about the spots. I think my camera was still dusty from the sanding ...

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I waited the appropriate drying time and set to apply the water-based polyurethine finish. That was somewhat tricky to make sure to overlap the finish and apply all areas evenly. The next day, I was disappointed to see that the impressive stain had lightened quite a bit and all the flaws that concerned me were there plain as day. I followed thru and applied the other coats, but the end product just hasn't turned out as I hoped.

Well, after the big move, I was so disappointed with the floors that I decided to try lightly sanding once more and applying one more coat of the finish. I was pleased with the results, as this coat seemed to go on much more smoothly and after it dried, I would say the end result was 90% better than before. Moms seem to have all the answers and mine suggested that maybe I was applying the finish when it was too cold outside. I think she was right. Well, I am relieved.

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