Last month we pulled up the carpet and refinished hardwood floors in the girls room and master bedroom in partnership with The Home Depot. In case you missed it, last week we shared the beginning process, and today we’re sharing how we sanded and coated them for a nice finish. Want to see how it went?
We were lucky enough to find the floors to be in pretty good shape under the layer of carpet and padding. There was a good amount of residue from the carpet padding, particularly in the master bedroom. After soaking and scrubbing it, but there were still a lot of stains left behind.
Next, it was time to get serious with the refinishing. Our plan was to rent a drum floor sander, an edge sander, and then apply coats of polyurethane, a clear coat, to the floors.
This was also the point where we enlisted the help of my sister, Katrina, and my brother in law, Quinn. They had some experience using the professional sanders, and offered to help give us some guidance for the weekend. After watching my fair share of Youtube tutorials (some a bit terrifying), I knew it would make a big difference to have someone help out who had some experience using these big machines.
Quinn had used these machines before, and after showing us how to operate it, it wasn’t too hard at all-just a bit intimidating if we hadn’t had any guidance. The sanding could really do some damage to the floors if you aren’t careful. I’d recommend getting some instruction before tackling it completely on your own.
Afterwards, we added three coats of oil based Polyeurothane for a clear coat. This was applied with a pole and foam brush in the direction of the wood grain, and we waiting a few hours between each coat.
I took the kids out of the house for the day we did the clear coat. It was really stinky and even with the windows open it was a few days before we moved our beds back in and slept in our rooms.
First off, you’re brave, but it looks like it’s paid off!
I love to see hardwood refinished, and am wanting to apply the same type of refacing to my kitchen and bathroom cabinets (like so: https://www.nhance.com/centraljersey/photo-gallery/). This post, and #1, are helping me to build up my confidence and just go for it.
Thanks!
Wow that turned out awesome! We need to do this. Our house is over 100 years old. I’ve just been using throw rugs to cover up bad parts.
It was a lot of work but we’re so happy we did it! Now we just have the rest of the basement to think about refinishing…
They look great! Quick question–you said you used oil-based polyurethane but the link takes you to the water-based version. I’ve heard oil-based is pretty shiny but yours look like the right amount of shine. Did you use actually use oil-based or the water-based you linked to?
Thanks!
We used oil based- the one photographed here. I just linked to the wrong one!
What a big difference! Great job! It’s so interesting to see DIYs like this. 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com