questions about redoing your floors

princessdniez

Hey everyone
My husband and I are thinking about doing our floors. We just bought our house and it looks like there was carpet but it was pulled before we bought the house so now the hard wood floors are exposed but they look old. We priced how much it would be to get them sanded and polished (and its expensive), then we also thought about our kids and two dogs and how they would mess the finish up. So our next thought was just replacing the floors. I have never done anything handy in my life and the only step that I know would be to measure the area of the room. I would ask my husband but right now he is a bit busy with work, his unit is getting ready to deploy so I just need something to keep me busy and my mind off of him leaving. thanks for the advice

Daniel Holzman

I am a bit confused. Are you thinking about replacing the old hardwood with new hardwood? That would cost you considerably more than refinishing what you have. Refinishing is a moderately difficult job, in the past we have refinished a few floors, and it has not turned out as well as we would have liked. In the future, hardwood refinishing at our house will be left to the pros, there is more to it than it appears.

However, I have installed a fair amount of hardwood flooring and it has worked out OK. Actually easier than refinishing. Hard work though.

Floorwizard

if you bought cheap lam, then maybe that would reduce the cost a bit.
only if you installed it yourself.
cheap lam to replace hardwood is a shame, however the wood will still be there if you decide otherwise later.

Shamus

Kids and two dogs....... you might want to reconsider carpeting.

However, if it were my floor I'd refinish. If there is a small room that you could use as your test area that would be the place to start. Read as much as you can about the different way floors are refinished. What the wood thickness of the existing floor should be before you start sanding so you don't take off to much. What type of finish for the use you will put the floor through, etc, etc. It is a challenge but if you have the time and a lot of patience you'll be rewarded.

Just my ol 2¢

__________________
Shamus

pinwheel45

Hire a professional to refinish them. I'm not telling you this because it's how I make my living, but because I've refinished a lot of floors the homeowner done themselves. Unless you've got a great skill set, you won't be happy with the outcome of doing it yourself. Expensive? Yes, but only 1/3 the cost of installing new sand on site hardwood floors. The expense will see at least a 100% return in equity when you sell your home with professionally refinished hardwood.

As for dogs & kids. With an oil based poly floor, scratches can be touched up relatively easy & if they get too bad, a sand screening & another coat of poly will bring them back to refinished condition with little time or expense invested.