[Username10]

I did a “refinish” word search in flooring and there’s a glitch because after the third page of results it wouldn’t let me see any more results so I’m posting this question.

I need to know how much “meat” should be in an existing thickness of a standard oak floor for it to be “OK” to sand without running into problems. My house was built in the 30’s and we’ve lived here for 20 years with carpet. I’ve seen the floors but i haven’t tried measuring them.

 

[mark sr]

Hard to say other than you don't want to sand down to the tongue and groove.

 

[SeniorSitizen]

After measuring and it's determined they are 0.750" thick and if the tongue and groove is (1/4") 0.250" thick that will leave you with (1/4") 0.250" of "meat" to sand off before reaching the tongue and groove. In my experience with sanding you'll be so tired and or frustrated of sanding you'll quit long before you've removed (1/64") 0.015625 to (1/32") 0.03125 of meat.

 

[Old Thomas]

Hardwood flooring often has the tongue and groove offset toward the bottom, making more wood available for sanding. Mine was sanded 4 times that I know of.

 

[Username10]

Okay so if there’s 1/4” of meat for refinishing AND since it was said that you get approximately 4 sands out of one floor, I’m going to assume we remove about 1/16” (from stripped clear coat to fine finish) for each refinish project?

 

[mark sr]

It's hard to say how much wood gets removed. If there is any cupping - more wood gets removed. Some folks will sand deeper than others.