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5HTSynaptrip
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Refinishing Hardwood Floors
#14254389 - 04/07/11 05:13 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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I got a new house and am redoing the entire thing. I just finished sanding the 3rd coat with 220, vacuumed, and tack clothed it. Using Minwax water base poly and am hoping this next coat is my last b/c my back and knees are about shot. Should I do a sand with 1500 after it cures?
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batman returns
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: 5HTSynaptrip]
#14309677 - 04/17/11 11:27 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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yes, just sand by hand, no machine. you'll get a very find powder, and pop all the bubbles that formed. then wipe with a wet cloth, and viola! you're finally done. brutal, isn't it? i worked on 70 year old maple in my home last year....
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5HTSynaptrip
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I finished it last Thursday with the 5th coat. Man it came out fucking beautiful! Due to time constraints I couldn't do everything I wanted to, and I still spent wayyyyy too much time on these floors, but even with semi-gloss they absolutely incredible.
This is the first home I've had with all hardwood floors in the entire place but the bathroom nd kitchen. We've moved in a third of our stuff and have been staying here a few days and it's so damn loud every time there is a noise. I'm really hoping that when we get the rest of our stuff and some rugs that it won't be quite as bad because a mouse fart is like someone firing off a damn shotgun.
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Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. - My hero, who will be forever remembered, Carl Sagan.
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Trippy_Smurf
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: 5HTSynaptrip]
#14321945 - 04/20/11 08:31 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Back saving tip... instead of tack cloth, us a swiffer wet jet, but instead of spraying the cleaner, mist the pad lightly with a water bottle.
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5HTSynaptrip
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: Trippy_Smurf]
#14330728 - 04/21/11 11:20 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Tack cloth was the easy part for me. I was very meticulous when it came to sanding with 220 grit between coats and then vacuuming up the dust. The shit left behind from the fine grit doesn't move unless you have an insanely powerful shop vac and the brush adapter to loosen up the dust and get it pulled up. My tack cloths were virtually clean after doing the entire first floor due to my vacuuming.
Sanding wasn't bad though because my orbital died after the first coat so I bought a Craftsman orbital and it attached to my shopvac and did a really nice job cleaning up its own shit.
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Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. - My hero, who will be forever remembered, Carl Sagan.
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Prisoner#1
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: 5HTSynaptrip]
#14335214 - 04/22/11 08:31 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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I recently refinished a floor for a professor at one of the local colleges, I didnt contract the job and the guy I was working with wouldnt listen to my advice so he gouged the floor, "halo'd" the room and left a 'parting' line in the middle because of the overlap, he bought 2 grits of paper for a drum sander, a 40 and a 100 grit, sanding floors requires stepping up 2 grits at a time and finishing the sanding with a 120 or 160 grit, and sanding between coats with the 220 as you did, overlap the passes on everything
I spent 5 hours fixing his major screw ups before we could apply the first coat, you could see the sanding marks in most of the floor from the drum sander and there was a scratch that would have shown through so his bright idea was to use his belt sander with an 80 grit and all he did was grind out along the scratch with it leaving a big nasty gouge about 4 feet long, honestly, the scratch would have been better
unfortunately I couldnt fix all the stuff I wanted to but I got all the major stuff and talked him into letting me sand between the 2nd and 3rd coat because it really looked like ass but I couldnt talk him into letting me buff the final product... this jackass think that just because he wants things done cheaply that everyone else wants those short cuts. I have a hard time playing that game.
you can see the sanding marks in the lower right but I was told to ignore it, near the baseboards and all the rires you can still see where I couldnt remove all the gouging he did. they showed through a little in the finished floor, I'm just glad we didnt have to stain it because it really would have shown

the finished floor wasnt my quality of work and I bitched the whole way but the home owner was pleased because it wasnt carpet
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5HTSynaptrip
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: Prisoner#1]
#14339348 - 04/23/11 04:28 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Yea, my floors are very old and the morons that put down carpeting used a million staples. They were so old that 75% of them were rusted and corroded to the point that pulling on them to remove them just broke them and it took forever removing the straight parts embedded in the wood. This left a lot of holes and I didn't have time to fill them with putty, and I've never done that before and didn't want it to take the poly differently and show the putty spots. So there is a rough and rustic look to it but I don't mind.
Sadly, the last time these floors were redone the morons who did it completely fucked up using the drum sander and there are tons of valleys sanded in the wood at the edge of the floor near the walls (where someone stopped or somehow applied pressure to the front edge of the sander).
We first tried using a Varathane EZV sander that has 3 7" diameter heads and all are random orbital (vacuum as well). It's a foolproof sander and impossible to fuck up the wood with it, but due to the complete unevenness of the floor the 36 grit pads would not hit wood over low spots then when hitting wood again the grit was getting tore off very quickly and they cost $7 for each set of 3 pieces!! Fucking ripoff! The sander didn't hit any low spots so I had to rent a drum and that worked amazingly... I was worried about it for nothing. The first three coats were applied using a long handle, but it left a lot of imperfections as I couldn't see them that far away. So after sanding with 220 in between I did the last two coats by hand using the foam sponge/thin synthetic bristle applicator pad that is 10" wide. Doing it by hand took forever since it was the entire house.
This is after 220 grit on the 4th coat.

This is after the 5th and final coat. Semi-gloss!
 Today I hung blinds throughout the bedrooms and living room. The dollar store by me had them buy one get one free for $5 a set! They aren't the best but they're much better than the paper pieces of adhesive shit I was about to buy from Lowe's.
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Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. - My hero, who will be forever remembered, Carl Sagan.
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LunarEclipse
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: Prisoner#1]
#14339442 - 04/23/11 04:46 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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I did my own sanding twice which is why I went with a pro this last go around. What a pain in the butt job that is! Besides if you screw it up it's pretty hard to repair.
Anyway, this recent job is an old house with douglas fir and needed several boards replaced due to damage. The fir is soft and predicably the high traffic entry way places were the worst. We found about 300 s.f. at a big rebuild it center at $0.35 per lineal foot. Interesting how many different widths there are and it's critical to match it up. Paid him $3 a s.f. to sand and refinish plus extra to do repairs. Went satin rather than semi-gloss. They have lots of character and it's very cool to restore old stuff.
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Prisoner#1
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: LunarEclipse]
#14341206 - 04/23/11 11:06 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
5HTSynaptrip said: This is after 220 grit on the 4th coat.

wow, you can see where that floor was thirsty, sucked up a bunch of finish, I typically do a 5-7 coat floor, the jackass I did the professors with only wanted 3... I just cant handle halfassing things
Quote:
LunarEclipse said: Anyway, this recent job is an old house with douglas fir and needed several boards replaced due to damage. The fir is soft and predicably the high traffic entry way places were the worst. We found about 300 s.f. at a big rebuild it center at $0.35 per lineal foot. Interesting how many different widths there are and it's critical to match it up. Paid him $3 a s.f. to sand and refinish plus extra to do repairs. Went satin rather than semi-gloss. They have lots of character and it's very cool to restore old stuff.
on most jobs I buy from a couple of sources that carry anything I want, for restorations I often do the millwork myself, a table saw, a few router bits and a planter are all that's typically required. if I'm willing to pay the extra they'll mill it for me... I really love restoration work because it always presents a challenge
the secrets to sanding are to keep the tool moving and each pass needs to stop in a different place, if not you'll have a line across the middle of the floor, I prefer belt sanders for edging but getting one that hits corners and gets close to the wall can be daunting. black&decker got wise to this and developed a sander for my needs
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Trippy_Smurf
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: 5HTSynaptrip]
#14342384 - 04/24/11 07:19 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
5HTSynaptrip said: Yea, my floors are very old and the morons that put down carpeting used a million staples. They were so old that 75% of them were rusted and corroded to the point that pulling on them to remove them just broke them and it took forever removing the straight parts embedded in the wood. This left a lot of holes and I didn't have time to fill them with putty, and I've never done that before and didn't want it to take the poly differently and show the putty spots. So there is a rough and rustic look to it but I don't mind.
My livingroom and diningroom floors were previously carpeted and now are in desperate need of finishing and have rusty staples every few inches. Instead of trying to pull them all out, which I figure would do more damage to the floors, I was going to just push them in further.
Any reason not to go this route? How did you get them out?
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Prisoner#1
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: Trippy_Smurf]
#14346344 - 04/24/11 10:45 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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I use a floor scraper and it removed most staples pretty well,just slide it back and forth along the grain, dont put pressure on it, let the tool do the work. any that dont come out just pull with pliers or sand down, I've rarely had them cut the paper when sanding but leaving them behind usually leaves shinny spots everywhere a staple was
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5HTSynaptrip
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: Prisoner#1]
#14347688 - 04/25/11 06:41 AM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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If you don't get them out and sand, you will invariably remove wood and if the sander hits metal it will get ripped to shreds. 
Ya Pris, the floor was thirsty but I put down very thick coats and that pic is deceiving as it's scuffed from sanding. It had a thick coat already down.
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Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. - My hero, who will be forever remembered, Carl Sagan.
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anonjon
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: 5HTSynaptrip]
#14367237 - 04/28/11 02:19 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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er..you guys saying you sand the final coat or just between coats? Last coat u just leave alone, no?
-------------------- The above post is fictional, hypothetical, or downright nonsensical.
Edited by anonjon (04/28/11 02:20 PM)
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Trippy_Smurf
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: anonjon]
#14369756 - 04/28/11 09:42 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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Last coat should be buffed/polished or left alone... not sanded.
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anonjon
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: Trippy_Smurf]
#14370086 - 04/28/11 10:38 PM (12 years, 9 months ago) |
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polished?
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5HTSynaptrip
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: anonjon]
#14382081 - 05/01/11 11:08 AM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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You can sand the last coat on a hardwood floor, but it's some tedious shit. I briefly looked around at some information on it and unless it was a new house with a perfect floor, it seems like an incredible waste of time.
Some people do stages from 1000 grit to 1500 grit. I believe you have to wet sand it at that point. Fuck that.
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Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. - My hero, who will be forever remembered, Carl Sagan.
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Prisoner#1
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Re: Refinishing Hardwood Floors [Re: 5HTSynaptrip]
#14384148 - 05/01/11 06:18 PM (12 years, 8 months ago) |
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the lightest I've ever gone was to an 800 grit wet sanding and waxing afterward, the floor had about 12 coats of poly on it
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