refinishing hardwood floors
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refinishing hardwood floors Frequently Asked Questions
Refinishing hardwood floors or put carpet over?
I have a little bit of a dilemma. I am in an apartment and the carpets were very old, so the landlord let us pull them up. There is hardwood floors underneath, but they are not in the best condition. Our landlord gave us the option to:
1. Refinish the floors ourselves and take some money off of our rent. This would involve someone else sanding them down. Then we would have to stain and finish them. From reading on the internet, it sounds like this would take a few days...which would kinda be a huge deal because we would have very little space to live in.
2. We can have new carpets put in (no cost to us).
We also have two dogs who we have to leave home alone all day. One of them likes to chew on carpet. I have another room I can put them in, but its my study room and is kinda small. I would love to leave them in the house.
Does any one have any advice? Has anyone re-finished hardwood floors and can give me some tips or tell me how it went/how much work it is?
to me the inconvience of a few days is nothing compared to the inconvience of having to deal with the stains that will inevitably happen, chewing from dogs, and the general wear and tear that happens to carpet. i have animals and kids, hardwood is the way to go! easy maintenance, clean-up, and it looks sooo much nicer. not to mention when carpet is installed vapors and toxins rise out of it for up to a year. not very healthy. hope this helps!!!
Best way to match new hardwood floors with old one?
I'm thinking about buying a house. The house has hardwood floors in most places, but I would want to put new hardwoods in the dining room and master bedroom where there is currently carpet (about 250 sq. ft.). If I got the same kind of wood, sandedand refinished the old floors, and then stained them all the same, would they match up pretty well?
To save money on the new floors, can I buy unfinished hardwoods? They could then be sanded and stained with the old ones, right? Lumber liquidators has unfinished oak floors for only $0.89 per sq. ft.!!!
Lastly, anyone have any idea how much a contractor would charge to do all of this? They'd be re-finishing about 700 sq ft and laying and finishing the 250 sq ft of new flooring. Thanks in advance!!
Yeah we checked under the carpet and there is just sub floor. The dining room and bedroom were an add on--therefore no luck there
First, I would do as someone else suggested and look under the carpet to see if there is an existing wood floor. People in the 1970s and 80s loved wall-to-wall carpeting and many people just installed it over their beautiful wood floors. Now that wood floors are more popular, people with somewhat older houses may find that the whole house was done in wood.
If it turns out there is no wood under the carpet, you now have to consider how thick the existing wood floor is. If it's old and has been refinished a couple times, it may be significantly thinner than its original thickness. And, whether it's been sanded down or not, what was the original thickness? If it was originally 5/8-inch and it's been finished a couple times, it's now about 1/2 inch. If you then get new flooring, you would have to get something around 1/2 inch for it to be flush.
Regarding installation of unfinished flooring, I would definitely recommend that for a couple of reasons: First, you can get approximately the same kind of wood as the existing (ask a flooring installer or refinisher what kind of wood it is, if you don't already know). Then, when you stain it, it will come out the same color.
Second, if there is a height difference between the two flooring surfaces, you can have that sanded out to make a smooth transition. Otherwise, you're looking at having to install a reducer (like a threshold strip) between the two surfaces to make the step transition.
Finally, when you install finished floor planks, there will always be small gaps between the slats (even through they're tongue-and-groove, water can seep down to the unfinished part of the wood). If you install unfinished wood, then sand and seal it, the sealant gets into the cracks and better protects the flooring from water damage.
I would be wary about flooring from Lumber Liquidators. I have a friend who owns a flooring and window treatment retail business and he won't go near the place. Also, for that 89 cents a square foot, you're probably looking at thin, prefinished, engineered wood (not thick, solid planks). And, this type of flooring does not have much of a wear layer to it (it can only be refinished once or twice before it has to be replaced - a 3/4-inch plank can be refinished 4 or 5 times over its life).
Anyway, installation is about $2 to $2.50 a square foot (this should include about a 30-pound tar paper under the slats for a moisture barrier). Refinishing is about $4 a square foot, more if you have additional layers of finish coat applied (usually about 50 cents per square foot for each additional layer).
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Refinishing Hardwood Floors
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