Well, now that the weather has finally turned and the hay is up I'm back working on my house again (it's been virtually on hold since spring hit and underway now for almost two years). Started laying the hardwood floors in the bedrooms this weekend - 3/4 red oak random widths (4"-6") with long runs. I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out. Once it's down I can get back to finishing the window and door casings and a few other odds and ends but I might be in the bedrooms and laundry room by late winter. These rooms were a total gut as the roof had been leaking for years in this part of the house when I got it. I've done most of the work with my dad and a few other helping hands. Subbed out some of the electrical rough-in and plumbing rough-in and had a guy mud and tape the drywall but otherwise I've ended up biting the bullet and just paying for the material and doing the work myself.


Everyone is telling me to get the floor professionally finished. I like that idea as it's a pretty important feature with which I have no experience, although I haven't gotten numbers yet so I'm not sure. Anyone done their own finishing and liked the final product? thoughts on this?

Here are a few pics...before and now:

That looks Awesome! You have a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in a project like that, but a lot of pride also. I have never had hardwood floors that were refinished so I'm no help there. I did the same time to our old house (with carpet) so I know what you went through. Good job, keep the pics coming.

Lot of work, but its always worth it when you look back. What kind of house, I see the brick in there, old farmhouse ?

I worked for a local hardwood floor guy while in high school, they did new installations but I was on the refinishing side of it.

I don't recall what they did on new installations, but on refinish jobs, we took the old finish off, some was paint, all kinds of different floors we did, mostly old varnish or polyurethane. Once stripped, we worked our way back up in sandpaper grit size to the real fine grit paper. I did mostly edging, (fun LOL !) but once it was sanded completely, and ready for the first coat, they would apply it, leave some windows open a bit, (no rain forecast or weather problems) then they would go back with the buffer and buff that coat, clean up, apply the next coat, I think this was done 3 times. The finish was a nice clear high gloss.

I know one thing, before buffing, you have to make sure everything is clean, one piece of grit under that buffer, small stone or what have you, will make marks that will stand out. The other thing is keeping the buffer moving, can't stay in one spot long. Maybe there are more modern tools/equipment different methods now. I remember doing a house years later with a friend, and the care used while stripping and so on was great, yu can make mistakes that will be seen quite easily, so finishing a new one has to be easier, but like you have been told, professionally done may be worth the extra cost. Like all trades, there methods, tricks, job experience or what have you, so sometimes the money is well spent, well unless you have a grasp on how its done, and can get the right equipment, tools etc. Hardwood floors always look sharp when done right.

Been there, done that, after laying the floor, lots of sanding with a large floor sander and edger, then a buffer with different screens, days of staining, buffing w/steel wool and putting on polyurethane, looks great when you're done. My advice though, buy a high quality prefinished and you're done after it is laid. The factory finish is far superior to what you can put on, plus the cost is not that much more than unfinished. I have 200 sq ft of it waiting to be laid right now. I unboxed it and it's acclimating to the humidity in the house. Here's a good link to NWFA
National Wood Flooring Association

Jamo.

I'm not an expert on installing and finishing hardwood flooring, but I have actually done quite a bit of it over the years.

If a person has no experience finishing it, I would strongly recommend having a professional do it. You can watch and learn a great deal so that on future projects you can do it yourself.

There are four different sanders that are used in the process.

1. A drum sander for the initial leveling of the wood.

2. A disk sander for doing the edges of the room that the drum sander can't access.

3. A finish sander to get to the corners that are inacessible with the drum and edge sanders.

4. A large buffer type sander for finishing the wood in preparation of staining (if desired), and applying the finish coats, usually polyurethane.

You can really mess up a floor if you don't select the right sandpaper grits and use the sanders properly.

If I were you, I'd find someone with experience to do the work or to show you how to do it.

Tom in TN

Jamo58,
I did about 1000 sq ft last winter/spring. Same product: 3/4" unfinished oak, only I had the narrower widths, 2.25 Select. I finished it myself in 1 weekend. This was a 3 br house with living room, dining room and hallway. Started sanding with a square pad sander I rented (much better than the old style orbital) on Saturday AM. Think I got done with 2 passes (80 grit, 120 grit, IIRC) late afternoon. Vacuumed it good, put down 1st coat Saturday PM/nite. Came in Sunday AM, put down the 2nd coat. let it dry a week w/o any traffic. Came out great.

Should you do it yourself? Depends on how perfect you want it and whether you can live with your mistakes. I laid 900 sq. ft. of red oak 3" t&g in my house, then sanded and finished it. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it.

I also this spring re-finished about 700 ft. of red oak block flooring. I'm also happy with that result.

Just go thru all the steps, use the proper sanding machines as Tom below listed, and don't get in a hurry.

it"s actually an old rowhouse (1880s) in Pittsburgh. If you"ve ever watched a steeler"s game on TV it"s about 3/4 of a mile from the stadium. My family"s farm is about 50 minutes south so it lets me get back and forth between the two relatively quickly.

-Jameson

I worked for a flooring company for about 2 years. On new floors you should sand, 80 grit and 100 grit first, then start screening down to about 180 grit screen. After that you should stain to desired shade or use neutral stain. The stain seals the grain so the varnish doesn't raise the grain. We had good results with a product called Polo Plaz applied with a lambs wool squeegee. Screen between coats and apply until the grain in the wood is filled up. Ellis

Real nice: Wood and workmanship.