Refinishing hardwood floors

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3 total messages Started by Geoff Leach Sun, 02 Feb 1986 18:53

#397

Author: Geoff Leach
Date: Sun, 02 Feb 1986 18:53

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Distribution:

I am about to embark on the refinishing of the floors in
a 40-year old ranch.  The flooring is oak and in reasonable
shape.  The finish - presumably original - is worn away in
high traffic areas.

My first thought was to sand and re-finish with urethane varnish.
However, an article in the old house journal has given me
second thoughts.  This suggested that a more natural look
could be obtained by stripping the varnish without sanding
and re-finishing with two applications of Watco Danish Oil.
The only negative mentioned was that the Watco was not
as durable as the varnish.

Comments?

-- 
Geoffrey Leach
Yet Another Software Company
(415)856-2535
{nsc,ucbvax}!tolerant!leach
Net access through the courtesy of Tolerant Systems

Re: Refinishing hardwood floors

#396

Author: sandel
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 1986 21:14

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I recently had my hardwood floors refinished.  I wanted a light-colored
finish, preferably with no stain.  I ended up having them resanded
and then stained with a clear matte-finish polyurethane.
No stain at all.  The polyurethane
added a little color and brought out the grain.  The floors are light
and natural-looking.  The brand, I believe, was Duraseal.
Also, even though its not strictly necessary to wax a floor with a
polyurethane finish, I have waxed mine with a paste wax (and polished
with an old floor polisher from my Mom!), and I am very pleased with the
results.  The wax gives them a smoother appearance, without adding
too much gloss.

There are drawbacks to polyurethane: mostly, you can't easily refinish
the floor at a later date without resanding it.  Danish oil is also less
critical in its application and more forgiving of mistakes.  You might
also try one of the oil/urethane mixes such as Varathane.  I used Varathane
on a mahogany front door since I wanted a hand-rubbed oil finish, but also
needed some water resistance.  Varathane applies and penetrates
the wood like oil, but contains some plastics to provide a tougher finish.

-- 
Charles Sandel	arpa: sandel@mcc.arpa
		uucp: *!ut-sally!im4u!milano!sandel (or *!ut-sally!charles)
		snail: MCC STP, 9430 Research Blvd., Austin, Tx, 78759
"Modern times: not much fun, but efficient..."

Re: Refinishing hardwood floors

#402

Author: Eric McRae
Date: Fri, 07 Feb 1986 16:58

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Just a hint...  After you get your hardwood floor finished or
refinished, be sure to apply glider buttons to the bottoms of all of
your chair and table legs.  The best ones I've seen are akin to nails
with overgrown teflon heads.  A cheap but workable substitute is a
piece of carpet glued to the leg bottom.  

Also, polished floors are very slippery underneath dry fabric rugs and
wet feet.  Make sure any throw rugs have rubber anti-slip coatings on
their bottoms.

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