A family down the street moved out and had the floors refinished for the new owners as part of the sale. I asked that company to come over for a looksee on our 15 year old solid oak floors. I learned that such a job means
1. All hardwood area furniture and wall coverings stored away
2. Refrigerator relocated to carpeted area
3. Stove moved out and gas line properly disconnected
4. Occupants out of home for one week
5. Dust everywhere

It just seems a bit overwhelming. Living in a hotel for a week could cost $1000. Dust everywhere means either the dust will affect the walls being painted later, or if the walls are painted first, dust all over the new paint. Drapes, windows, etc. would have to be cleansed.

There must be a Sigforum-grade floor resurfacing method...one that traps 100% of the dust. And, there must be floor coatings that rival the CCR firearms finish for durability and great looks.

How would you all approach this long-overdue home renovation? I can think of four options:
a. do nothing until we sell the home in five years
b. in really badly worn areas, attempt to sand and refinish to make the home more presentable
c. replace with roll linoleum from the 1970s.
d. git r done

Have installed real oak hardwood flooring, as well as having refinished the same.

Unless your hardwood is really badly damaged that sounds like a lot of overkill to me.

You can rent floor sanders and sand the floors yourself. Not all that hard to do. There are at least 2 types of sanders.

One is a rotating drum which we used only to do the initial sanding on a newly installed floor.

The second is a rotating disk that is easy to use. We used it for the final finishing prior to putting on the finish.

Any number of finishes available. 2 coats of a good finish should be all that is required.

The key to a good finish is to make sure you have removed all the dust from sanding!

In total we have 4 houses, all with oak flooring, and all have been refinished with excellent results.

I pick choice "a".

Well you don't "have" to move everything. Only where you want to have refinished

A week seems excessive. How many sq. ft. are we talking?

As for dust, yes there will be lots. The sander should have a dust collector, but there will still be dust. You can mask off areas that won't be refinished, and running a fan or two in windows can draw a lot of it out.

My inlaws just had their floors sanded and refinished. They live in a large home (over 100 years old) with all wood floors.

Wasn't a dusty process and they didn't have to leave their home for longer than a day.

Same people are coming to do our floors in two weeks.


I'd suggest finding someone else to do your floors.

There was dust everywhere when I had mine done, I mean everywhere. They sealed off everything yet I ended up with dust in the basement where I don't even have hardwoods. I bought a lot of swiffer dusters.

One pro tip I learned is don't paint two weeks prior to refinishing. They removed the quarter round and replaced it all. In the process they messed up all the trim paint.

Did wonders for my 50 year old floors, it was a major improvement. I say option "d" if feasible (I stayed at girlfriends house), if not just wait til you sell.

Whatever you do don't do option "e". My neighbors house flipper just put tons of high gloss finish over the unsanded/unstained floor. All the highly worn areas are now different colors than the low traffic areas. It looks like a super shiny pile of doo doo.

I am a floor guy. If that is what the re finisher told you I suggest you get another estimate. A pro that has the best equipment contains almost all of the dust. If your floors are not damaged I suggest a scuff and recoat. If you can get to the bedrooms without walking on the floor you would not need to leave, the best chemicals are water based and low odor. Yes everything needs to be removed. You do not have to refinish or recoat under the stove or refrigerator if the workers are careful and get real close. I have seen it done this way lots of times. You will get lots of comments telling you do it different ways. keep us posted

I would choose option A if you're going to be selling in a few years. Thats enough time to have more scuffs/scratches/general wear and tear start to show pretty good that might turn off buyers or have them request you re-finish them again for the sale.

As far as the scope of work, that sounds about right. I've worked in reconstruction/repairs as a PM for several years and that is about what we tell people to expect. Even though it typically only takes 3-4 days to do the job (oil-based), we plan for a week to allow time for finish to harden and allow odor to dissipate.

Even with "dustless" sanders, there will still be dust. Not as much, but definitely some.

As someone mentioned, if you can still reach your bedrooms, you don't have to leave. Also, if you use a water-based finish, that has some benefits as it would be a lower odor and could allow them to do multiple coats in a single day. Oil based I definitely wouldn't stay in the house (if you're able) as the odor would be really strong.

Personal preference, but I would go with the oil-based finish. Most every job I've been called back to for finish complaints have been with water-based products. But again, that is personal preference.

quote:

Originally posted by Uppster:
I am a floor guy. If that is what the re finisher told you I suggest you get another estimate. A pro that has the best equipment contains almost all of the dust. If your floors are not damaged I suggest a scuff and recoat. If you can get to the bedrooms without walking on the floor you would not need to leave, the best chemicals are water based and low odor. Yes everything needs to be removed. You do not have to refinish or recoat under the stove or refrigerator if the workers are careful and get real close. I have seen it done this way lots of times. You will get lots of comments telling you do it different ways. keep us posted

^^^ Heed this ^^^ or take option "a".

We had our hardwoods done with traditional Swedish finish. Very durable. You can not go in the house for a couple days after treatment. Fumes are too toxic, as they breath out. . But you can then move in carefully and not drag furniture around for a week or so. Need to let the finish harden. But I think you should only be out for maybe 2 days after the re-finish? Now it could be another day for power sanding before the treatment etc.

Get a bottle of Rejuvenate floor restorer from home depot. The stuff does wonders and could very well get you though the next few years. I used it in an old house and it brought life back to the floors.

Got the quote from the first contractor. $4K. They want $450 for a week of pod storage which I know would cost me $165 for a month from PODS. $4K! To sand and lay three coats of sealant.

If the two man crew actually doing the work was paid $30 an hour labor would be $2400 for the week.

$4K!

Does that $4k include them packing everything up in your house and moving it to said Pod?

Back in Kentucky my guy would charge me around $2.25-2.50 a square foot. I would bill out around $4 a square foot depending on some variables. Not sure what it is here in SC as I'm not on that side anymore thankfully.

The quote does not include any work required before the refinish. I have to move the oven, the refrigerator, the dining room table, six chairs, buffet, cabinet, all the family pictures off the walls, etc. All of it has to be either in another room (where?) or in a pod outside. They (perfect strangers) get to wander around in my house for a week. I have to live in a hotel, and find a place for my dog.

I've had our kitchen redone. We put heavy plastic flaps on entries to kitchen to minimize dust. Yes, frig and stove were moved. Only had to be 48 hours, nothing heavy for a week. We did it in summer where we could go to "cabin/boat/camp" if we wanted. Water based as well. First time we did it ourselves, last time I had a pro do it. I liked my way better (I was more thorough).. ymmv

It's been a while but from what I remember when I did it for a while.

Prices vary, but figure $2-3 a sq/ft for a sand and refinish. We plastic off the cabinets, other rooms etc. the homeowner moved the furniture and baseboard or were charged a handsomely for it. Floor guys aren't movers and don't want the responsibility. I don't recall ever moving a stove and did floors that it was obvious nobody else did either. Sanded and pulled plastic and vacuumed about three times around the cabinets etc. Vacuums on the sanders and I think we tried to use a cross flow fan. In the front door and out the back of it lined up right.

I prefer the water base easier and safer. The glitsa, might be a trade name or brand, was alcohol based and needed a respirator for application but was harder and lasted longer. 3 coats either way, most houses we were in and out in three days. Sock feet for the owners, dogs off for a week. Very carefully using blankets and Masonite to put furniture and fridge back. Small scuffs can be smoothed and touched up, like a paint repair.

Every one that we did, the owner was able to put the items in spare rooms or garage. I think we covered the pictures on the wall with plastic and blue painters tape depending on the owners wishes. I don't remember ever feeling the need for a mask, it was pretty clean overall.