roxksears

A friend recently resurfaced his wood floors. He did not sand his floors at all, just cleaned them, then mixed 1 quart of stain with 1 gal of polyurethane and applied it to his floors. The finished result looked super -- until his dog's nails found the floor. Where the nails scratched you can see the lighter floor color underneath.

This got me thinking about doing my oak floors. I do not want to use his method as it seems to be more of a 'topical cosmetic' fix. At this time I don't want to hire the floors out. I don't have any animals, kids, etc and this is a formal, lesser used room so it will not receive abuse. The floor isn't in bad shape overall, however I'd like the floor a darker color and it could use a new seal coat. I'm pretty handy, have tools and am willing to do the work so here's what I'm thinking about doing:

I'll sand my hardwood floors with higher grit sandpaper to take off the seal coat, then apply a coat of darker stain and the appropriate number of coats of polyurethane following manufacturer's suggestion, sanding in between coats (I'm assuming I'll need to sand in between like I do when I'm refinishing wood furniture, etc -- right?).

The floor (original to the home 1957) now is a light honey color on what I think is red oak wood. I want a darker color, but not super dark so I'm thinking an English Chestnut would be a good choice. I realize oak is a tight grain and won't absorb the color like soft woods do.

I realize there are water based and oil based Polyurethanes and have read about each. Any opinions about which to use, and what brand you think is best? I'm in Michigan and our weather is cooling off so can't keep windows open to air out the smell much. Sleeping in the car doesn't appeal to me, but I can be tolerant of the smell for a bit. Any idea how long the strong smell would stay in the home?

Has anyone done this? I have many different sanders - which would you use? I'm thinking 120 grit to start since the wood is in decent shape. I realize this method will not compare to a professional floor refinishing but am up for the ole give it a try. Any comments? Suggestions? Thanks for your feedback! Rox