Thursday morning I got a bee in my bonnet and decided to get a head-start on sanding the floors. I’ve had refinishing them on my to-do list for over a year now, but it is a very not-fun, messy job and I’ve been putting it off and delaying and procrastinating. I’ve been on a mission of late to get things in the house finished, so it’s time to tackle the floors. I want to get them done before Thanksgiving, so after I can just enjoy decorating the house for Christmas without it looming over me.
We’re refinishing the floors in four rooms in the front of the house (dining room, living room, home office & Jeff’s office), plus a small hallway. These are the original oak floors of our 1940’s house. My plan was to sand the perimeter of the rooms and then rent a floor sander to finish the center of the rooms all at one time. Well, after clearing everything out, taping and pastic-ing off two rooms, sanding the edges, cleaning them up and removing the plastic…I realized this was a colossally stupid idea. (I tend to have lapses in DIY smarts when it comes to refinishing floors. Click HERE for evidence of that) Okay, maybe this isn’t stupidity on colossal scale, but it was a waste of time and meant I would have to clear out, tape off and clean up each room twice…
…which is not something you want to have to do twice.
So, Jeff rented a floor sander today and we’ll work room by room over the weekend and into Monday, so we don’t have to stress about getting everything done in one day.
A nice thing that came out of my bad idea was I’ve had a chance to see what the floors will look like sanded and live with them for a couple of days. I’m getting a little glimpse of how different they will make the space…
I’m not sure how I’m going to finish them yet, so the plan is to just sand them and wait until I’m 100% sure. I’ll probably end up just using Hemp Oil on the floors, but I may apply some stain first, just not as dark as they currently are.
I put a little dab of Hemp Oil on the threshold (to the right) just to see what it did to the wood.
I think it’s pretty and natural, but I don’t want the floors to look too orange. Or too yellow or too light or too dark. So, I have to figure out what’s going to be just right. Especially since I am never, ever refinishing these floors ever again.
I’ll take some pictures of the process and share all about how we chose to tackle sanding.
Before I sign off for the night, I wanted to share a peek at a couple of Christmas projects I made this week…
I can’t wait to decorate.
Once the dust settles. Literally.
37 Responses
Are your floors white oak? Kind of looked like it from here. I have had red and white oak. Of course the red oak can look orangey or yellow. My stain was a medium “special walnut” which knocked out the Orange. I am sure you know all of this and more, since you can work wonders with wood! Excited to see what you decide! Thanks for years of eye candy!
I love old wood floors, they have so much character. I will be worth it! When we picked out our wood floor I was shocked by the range of color in wood flooring. We went with a medium oak (it was on sale) with a strip of dark around the room. If we ever get it done it will be beautiful. Happy sanding!
hi Marian
why don’t you buy a vacuum to connect to your sander. it will literally change your life for around $800. (probably less in the USA as everything is cheaper there than Australia). Anyway i have one and i can strip a table top and not get a speck or dust anywhere. It will save you taping everything up and getting all dirty and you will be able to use in on your furniture also..
good luck with it all
cheers Fiona
Hi Marion- my husband has built an addition to the house and did virtually all the work by himself, including the cedar siding, the electricity, the plumbing, he even went as far as making the gutters with a machine our neighbor, who is a builder, lent him. He redid the kitchen and added a new bathroom..he built a garage..but the one thing he’ll never do on his own is to sand and stain and finish the floors..
Now, how to convince him it’s not the world’s worst, least satisfying job? Maybe I’ll have to show him your finished floors..I know they’ll be beautiful!
I have sanded and refinished the floor in my on-site manager’s house TWICE. Nightmare!!! Can’t imagine doing it with furniture IN the house! I would almost suggest renting a “pod” and moving everything out until the chore is done…except that may not be reasonable while living there!
I would not suggest just oiling the floors…only because many finishes tend to “yellow” or “gray” over time and if you “clear coat” natural oak, it will eventually yellow. If you insist on going natural, research finishes that will not yellow.. I am a HUGE proponent of oils finishes over natural woods…but usually mahogany and walnut…both tend to have “natural” colors in the wood itself that will mask “yellowing” or getting “muddy looking” over time. I have no doubt you have probably already researched this, but just in case….
Floors get A LOT more wear and use than any furniture or knick knack…and as you have learned, it is not a project you want to make an “oops” on…just too hard to go back!
I admire your schedule…I am literally sitting on my hands trying to get over my desire to paint my kitchen before the holidays…hoping this grinding urge passes entirely…and SOON! lol!
OOOOh while everyone is debating the floors, I want to know and see more of the Merry Christmas garland and what you will do with it when the dust settles……..
We had our original wood floors in our 1939 cape cod house refinished professionally about 10 years ago for $1500 bucks, ouch. I can only imagine what it will cost when we do it again in a year. Anyhow, they removed all of the quarter round. I see you left yours are you sure it should be left down? Might be easier to sand because the gap behind will allow for sanding much closer to the wall.
Marion, I’ve refinished all the floors in our 2000+ square foot house, and the only regret I have is being too conservative in the sanding. In my efforts to preserve the floor I didn’t take them down far enough, and the old finish still remained in the grain in some places. Make sure you go through ALL the grits of paper, change the paper often, and get a good, smooth finish on the floorboards with fine paper before saying ‘done’. For the extra time, effort, and cost in sandpaper, you’ll be a lot happier in the long run. Good luck!
I have to admire you for taking on this job yourselves! When you first mentioned having your floors done I assumed you were bringing in a professional. Silly me!! Just keep a firm grip on that belt sander. Someone else mentioned getting a vacuum that attaches to the sander. I believe on one of the episodes of “Rehab Addict” I saw one of those and it would help eliminate some of the dust if you could rent one.
We had hardwood floors installed about six years ago and decided to go with a pre-finished engineered hardwood floor to eliminate the dust. We have been very happy with them and the nice part is that they can still be refinished when needed. Cant wait to see your floor reveal!!
Am I the only one having this problem? I kept on having a pop up while I was trying to read the post that asked me if I’d ever been arrested? About 25 times! I don’t know what to do. And for the record, the answer is NO. Help!
Oh my! I’m so sorry about that. I am pretty conservative with my ad settings and I shouldn’t have any pop-up ads, but sometimes a rogue one comes through.
Elleen, it could be worse…I would suggest clearing your browsing “history”….you will have to make sure you remember all your passwords because when you do that it will clean out all your passwords and you will have to re-login to sites. I did that recently and almost couldn’t get back onto Facebook…gasp! LOL! I don’t get popups but I have an Apple…as much as it pained me to “relearn” after 15 years on a PC, it has sure been worth it when I don’t have to see that garbage!
BTW, if you have a PC, make sure you clean out all the “cookies” and anything else you can “close” or clean out. It has been so long I don’t remember everything you could scrub, but I do remember I had to tell it to delete all the cookies.
If other PC users are having this issue on this site, it might be something imbedded in something here…but Marian would have to check into it.
PC users?
I so get your angst on this..I am remodeling and just sanded my floors in my 1956 home. I have been singing “Should I stain or should I not” to the tune of “should I stay or should I go” for a month! I finally pulled the trigger and got waterlox. Hoping it won’t yellow my floors and be awesome forever…I am never, ever sanding those floors again 😉
I had fir floors refinished after pulling awful linoleum off them. The refinishers put on a polyurethane finish which I can still clean and wax with Bona stuff. I know you think you so not want a plastic finish, but they sure do hold up better. The fir is so soft that it needed protecting. just sayin’……arden
I recently did a hand rail with Danish Oil, in “Dark Walnut” wow was that an easy process! Just enough color (it is hemlock and I am trying to match white oak floors with a medium stain) and so easy to put on… wipe and let dry. The wood was so thirsty I didn’t have to remove any excess. We have a very lo/no sheen finish on our new floors, and some original fir that was poorly refinished at one point in the original part of the house. A very thin coat of poly was put on, and with kid traffic, it scratches to no end. We looked at a type of floor that is simply oiled, and you have to re-oil it every few years. Beautiful texture! But, the concern with that is it is not sealed, so the wood is still porous and can soak up wine, kids spills etc. I am so thankful we went with a hard wood, that looks great but will wear well with 3 kids!
Good plan to live with it for a while 🙂 I do the same thing, until my husband helps to bring me to a point of decision. Ha!
Have you considered tung oil? It’s an oil, like hemp oil but forms a more protective finish than hemp oil when it’s cured. It takes a while to apply and you have to thin the oil and wait between coats, but it provides a nice, matte, and durable finish. The best thing: you can reapply as needed, where needed without needing to sand again! We used tung oil in the bedroom and like it!
Good luck!
An $800 vac for floors you won’t redo again? Let’s hope it’s cheaper in the States!
No matter – whatever YOU (and Jeff) decide, I can’t wait to see the results. On to the holiday decorating, I say!
Why do this during the holiday season? Best for that bee to stay in that hive (and out of your bonnet) until you have open window weather! You’re putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on yourself, husband and even the kids. Santa’s not even going to notice what the floors look like, he’s too busy to care. Don’t hate me, I also put too much tension on myself so that’s where I’m coming from. As a for instance, I just rescued a 10 tear old Maltese with rotten teeth I could have lived without both the dog and the mounting bills and like a proposed $1500 for her dental work.
Wouldn’t miss a day of your post, I look for it each day and I could be your grandma…or even great grandma.
We have fir floors from the 1920s, and currently the majority of the floors in our house are painted, but I have been considering stripping the paint and uncovering that old wood. I know I want to keep the floors light, but I’m not sure what I want to do with them yet. In our previous house, we had white washed pine plank flooring and I loved that, so whitewashing the fir floors is still an option for me. But there are just so many options out there, it is really hard to decide.
I can’t wait to see what you decide to do and how they turn out.
I never leave commenst, but after reading your post…about 15 years ago we were going to sand, stain, & seal the floors in our 120 year old farm house..A professional came out and said he would not advise it…when you go downstairs and look up that is it…the oak floor,,,no subfloor, no plywood with flooring over it…Yikes..He suggested we go over it..not to compromise the integrity of the floors…that is it 1/2 inch of flooring..I hated it, but room by room we have redone the floors, with engineered flooring…after all it is only flooring…and the support was more important then a redone floor…so I am hoping you have subflooring with tongue and groove over it…maybe in our home they cut corners,,,but in my daughters home….it was the same thing…tongue and groove being the only flooring..Maybe just a Midwestern thing.. but maybe worth checking into…love your energy…MM
That’s a great point! Actually our house does have wide-plank oak subfloors, so we’re good. I almost wish I could swap out the subfloors for the floors. I can see them on our basement ceiling and they are beautiful! 🙂
This from the “sure wish I’d known it sooner” file…be sure and change your HVAC filters after you do this. AND – according to my HVAC guy – once a month for the next 2 or 3 months. Apparently, the wood particles don’t just clog the filter while you’re sanding, but a bunch of it hangs invisibly in the air, for a time, continues to get into the filter and makes your system work harder to heat or cool. Who knew??? Depending on how you choose to seal the floor, doesn’t that usually take quite a while to dry/cure? Several folks I know have almost had to move out of the house for several days to allow time for a sealer to cure. Maybe it was their choice of sealer that required that. Bon chance!
The wood has come up fabulous, a project that I want to do throughout my house so I am very impressed with your achievement. It is the mess that puts me off but maybe one room at a time is the way to go. Does the dust go all over the walls as in you will have to re-decorate or does the sander suck up the dust as it goes?
Have you thought about white washing the wood so that the grain shows through but gives a blonded look? It will make a space look larger but also it can be a little bit cold if you have a lot of white walls.
I think your hemp oil may be the way to go.
Lee
Even with the bags on the sanders, it does make a mess and I had to vacuum the walls and every nook and cranny. I have a feeling I’ll be finding dust for weeks!
Yes, I have thought about white washing or using a liming wax, but I’m just not sure if that’s the route I want to go. We are planning to sell the house in a few years and I’m afraid that might not have broad appeal.
I am getting the same pop-ups asking if I have ever been arrested also! No! But it is very annoying!
No pop ups here.
A professional refinished my floors in a 1954 1200 sq foot bungalow in midwest for $1500. That’s a good price. Did it while house was empty before I moved in. Floors were pretty abused but they came out lovely. Even with professional equipment the dust is awful. Changed the filters often during reno. Also had to wash walls before painting.
OH Marian, I have to admit I really had a good chuckle about this one! We too are possibly undertaking a HUGE “project”. There is a foreign exchange student who is need of a new host family and we might be taking them in. If it does happen then I will have just a couple of days to clear out the “guest” room which is currently filled to the gills with fabric, craft stuff, and everything under the sun!! Did I mention if we get cleared they might be moving in before Thanksgiving? Umm yeah! So I’ll be thinking of you doing your floors while I am rearranging our house. 🙂
I will admit that looks like a major job. I prefer the dark stain because it looks rich and goes with so many styles. It also hides a lot of imperfections old hardwood seem to have because of wear. Best of luck with the process because I’ve had it done and it usually requires sanding between coats. You are BRAVE.
Hi Marian,
I’ve been following your blog for maybe a year, and wanted to let you know how much I look forward to your wring and photography, not to mention your creations! I’ve been meaning to share a tip I discovered a few years ago. If you take the bag off of your orbital sander, you can connect a shop vac hose to it with a bit of duct tape to keep it in place, turn on your sander and your vac at the same time, and eliminate most of your dust problem. I do this anytime I use the sanders. The orbital floor sander I rent has a built in vacuum, so sanding isn’t the dirty mess it once was. I have refinished the floors in my 100+ year old home. Because the floors were so old, I used a red oak stain that hid the problems, and two coats of poly; they have such a rich patina and have held up great. Keep up the great work! You’re amazing!
I just finished finishing my upstairs antique heartpine with a dark stain and dark button shellac. I know you do by usually use shellac on your projects, but if you want something you can touch up (NOT redo), shellac is a beautiful, historical, zero VOC finishing option. And it’s non-yellowing, so if you get the blond, it is a true clear coat. I got mine from shellac.net… good customer service, lots of information, and m so happy with the results! Did I mention zero VOCs??? And no lingering smells at all!
Oh I love the natural floors.I think it will look great with your decor.Kind of Restoration Hardware.Love the tree skirt.You have such talent.That banner should be in Anthropology.
My goodness you are productive! Any time management/organization tips that make the biggest difference in your productivity? Curious minds want to know. 🙂
Built our house 29 years ago and installed wide pine planks in the familyroom/kitchen. Had a
minwax/poly finish. Guess what? The minwax walked off in a path over time. Regrouped and had a Bruce oak floor installed. Guess what? It was not prepared correctly and in the summer
it warps………… So we are going back to the pine planks this winter with just a poly finish. The rest of the downstairs has the pine/poly finish so they will all match. Soooooooo what goes around comes around. lol Mary
Can’t wait to see the floors finished but I’m wondering how I never saw that fab chair before ?!?! Did I miss it in another post ? Luv luv luv !!!
I love them plain. Very Anthropologie! Good luck with your choice.