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    jas5991's Avatar
    jas5991 Posts: 1, Reputation: 1
    New Member
     
    #1

    Mar 4, 2007, 11:31 AM
    Hardwood Floors
    I currently have carpet installed in all of my rooms except the kitchen. I know that we have hardwood floors under the carpet. I would like to convert to hardwood floors. Could you tell me the procedure for sanding and refinishing hardwood floors? In addition, an area of my den floor is warped due to excessive water being spilled. What procedure must be followed to correct this deficiency.

    Is it expensive and time consuming to perform both tasks? Considering doing the work myself. Thanks, I would appreciate any advice that one can share.
    labman's Avatar
    labman Posts: 10,580, Reputation: 551
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    #2

    Mar 4, 2007, 12:26 PM
    I did that years ago, and am very happy with the results. Many people have complemented me on it. Once the carpet was gone, I rented a sander and sanded the floor. What I rented was a drum sander, very tricky to keep from leaving gouge marks. You might check around and see if you can find a belt sander. If you can find one, it might be a task to leave to a GOOD professional. I also rented a disk sander for touching up the edges and spent a big chunk of time removing the worst of the gouges the drum sander left. I wasn't fully satisfied with the job, but everybody that has seen it has raved about it.

    We then applied a moisture cure urethane finish. Don't confuse it with the tung oil based urethanes or latexes. This is a totally synthetic material and one of the toughest materials you can buy. It cures by drawing moisture out of the air and actually chemically bonds to the wood. The only source I know of for it is Rexthane from Sherwin Williams. Unfortunately, it only comes in an ultra high gloss. It is really meant for sealing concrete and carries a ''not for residential use''' label. It contains horrible smelling solvents, xylene and ether esters. They are not good for you. Use good ventilation. If something lists alcohol, it is an inferior material. It is an incredibly tough material. I first used it on wood toys I made for my kids. Then I used material I made while working as a chemist for Ashland Chemical.

    The stuff is very quick drying. You can put 2 coats on the same day and move the furniture back in the next. The weekend we did ours, our church was having a campout. We put a coat on Friday night before going. We came back Saturday morning for a second coat, and the house was tolerable by Sunday evening. We really wanted a finish that would take abuse.



    Since we applied the finish, we have housebroken the Shepherd and 8 Labs. Nothing touches it.
    faridas's Avatar
    faridas Posts: 10, Reputation: 2
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    #3

    Nov 5, 2007, 09:35 PM
    I just did my flrs via info everyone gave me on this site I strongly suggest renting a flr sander called silverline drum sander with a belt drive just be sure when you cut the machine on the belt is not on flr - starting in one direction lift handle and walk backwards note that if the sander doesn't get varnish off apply more pressure by lifting the handle upwards which applys pressure on flr I used 60 grit on mine I felt I should have used one step down in grade but didn't have - rent sander on sat and get sun free get several grades of sandpaper from rental place mine buys what I don't use back... I was to weak to use edger but I tried it is very powerful and remember 2 use same grade grit on flr sander and edger
    glavine's Avatar
    glavine Posts: 895, Reputation: 87
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    #4

    Nov 6, 2007, 08:40 PM
    Here it is a $1.50 to refinish hardwood floors. If you've never ran the floor sander, id just pay a flooring company to do it, you'd mess the floor up so fast you'd never know you did it till it was to late.
    faridas's Avatar
    faridas Posts: 10, Reputation: 2
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    #5

    Nov 6, 2007, 08:47 PM
    I'm confused what are you saying that I have wasted my time sanding my flrs?
    They are already sanded just need to stain them...
    glavine's Avatar
    glavine Posts: 895, Reputation: 87
    Senior Member
     
    #6

    Nov 7, 2007, 08:25 PM
    Sanding is the hard part, if you've done that your home free, get you a staining mop and use it to stain the floors and you can use the same thing to poly it also.

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