Help Reviving Hardwood Floors in Bad Shape

Creelove

I'm pulling up the tile in my 1940's house to get to the hardwood floors beneath. The floors are in pretty bad shape with possible water damage, light/dark spots, paint spatters, stick-on tile adhesive, painted surfaces, etc. Here are some pictures:





In the future (5 years), I plan to have the floor professionally refinished after I complete my additions. In the near-term, I would like to replace the damaged boards, patch any holes, strip and polyurethane the floor myself. Not looking for perfection, just need them to look acceptable.

Any recommendations for some strong chemical stripper that would get the floor back to bare wood? I can't hand-scrub all 1000 square feet and I don't need to worry about preserving the surface finish, so I'd like to use the most powerful stuff I can get.

Thanks!

canadaclub

Nothing I have seen on the market will get those floors looking 'acceptable' except sanding..and lots of it with ascending grits. If you are planning to refinish them in 5 years you can always lay down some laminate (pretty cheap nowadays for a nice looking floor) and take it up when the time comes.

sdsester

I cannot tell for sure from the pics put you have a lot happening in the photos you show if I see them correctly. I rescue antique floors to put in spaces at times. I run them through a planer to level them both sides. I nail them in place and then sand them. I would not waste my time on what I see of these. Too many burns, stains, and gaps.

Sorry.

If you want to try, pick a small room and rent an orbiting floor sander and buy some paper. See what you get. Do not waste your money on chemicals because even if they could work, they will not fix the surface. That one inch flooring looks like it has to come up for sure.

If the sander does not work, paint the floor and just plan on ripping it out at some point.

sdsester

Hey. I use tarps or lay down a peelable membrane on wood floors. What went on that there is so much stuff on these floors?

Chemicals like Krud Kutter will work at getting the paint off but specifically mentioned on the bottle is to not use them on hardwood flooring and so forth.

It will be much cheaper to rent an orbital sander and paper. I drum one will work too but they are not casual tools.

Hoquester

That floor can be revived easily, but the only way to do it is to fully resand the whole full thing, no short cuts!... trust me I've done it a few times

If you want to do it yourself, get on youtube and watch a few vids, its not easy if you haven't dont it before, but they can definately be revived.

DJBari

I too am trying to salvage the floors in this 100 yr old row home I just purchased. I'm determined. My floors are not stained so bad but are in rough shape. What I can't figure out is what to do with the nails so that I can sand them. It looks like masonary nails were used on a couples rooms. Can they be countersunk? In places that have been patched with misc. wood would I be able to pull up some pieces from inside the closets to use? Does that sound like an okay idea? I'm open for suggestions.

Hoquester

Nails aren't a problem if you know how to deal with them.

First you want to get a nail punch and knock as many as you can down, at least an 1/8", if you have a concrete base and cant punch them through, don't try and get them out, you'll make a mess of the wood, instead buy a good quality drill bit and drill them out.. not fully just about 1/8"... other wise you'll weaken the floor buy completely drilling them out... after you've punched the nails you see... rough cut the floor once to expose any nail heads you missed... once you dealt with the nails .. sand as normal.. keep your nail punch to hand and punch down any nail that appear as you go... nails will destroy your sand paper pretty quick... and if you have a concrete base then you may just have to drill all the nails.. but not too much remember.. plus if it's a concrete base the whole floor should have been glued down.

And if you're going for a natural finish and can replace the mismatched boards with the same wood that would be a good idea.. you won't notice once the floor has been finished.

Good luck