We might replace our wood floor with new....

9 years ago

I have 20yr old hardwood floor in our foyer. It is bruce sterling strip (white oak and
red oak mixed) in auburn. I have a love/hate relationship with the
color. Love the look, hate the dust it shows and the fine scratches.

It's past time to do something but it's only 165 sf. I have been told that
it will be around $2sf to screen and coat, but due to the small size it might be 4-500 to screen coat it. . It has several faded areas, and has lost much of its shine,
except for under the area rug where it is dark and shiny. It looks all right after I clean it with Bona wood cleaner. It is faded in areas due to sunlight, but some individual boards look
lighter too in areas further away from the sun, maybe it's just the red and white oak aging differently? The more I think about it, I don't know if any boards under the area rug are faded, so maybe its just exposure to air and normal light in some areas.

Cost to refinish it entirely would be ??? I was told $4 sf, but due to
small area there would be a minimum. It's hard around here to get
anybody out for less than $500 for a day, and refinishing even a small
area would take several days due to drying time right? This foyer has my front door and the door to the garage so it would be quite a pain for us, and very hard to keep my small dog off of.

We are considering doing a horrible thing. Taking it out and getting
new maple wood in a lighter color. I have this maple in my hallway
upstairs which has never held up to any carpet, but so far my two boys
in their 20's haven't hurt it. (Appalachian brand toffee maple). The
price would be 5.50 for just the wood, or 8.50 installed. One day, no
mess. We would also extend it to a small adjoining area and the powder
room if we replace it. THe new floor would be lighter in color so would show the dust less. (that might be bad because I might not clean it as often like I should!)

Any advice? I'm in NJ. Also, since I'm considering replacing it, is
there any product I can try on it (without sanding) that might gloss it
back up for a while? If it looks ok then maybe I would get the screen
coat done. I'm hesitant to screen it because I might still not be satisfied due to the fading. I certainly can't take off the area rug at this point unless we get it re-stained or replaced. I am considering skipping the rug (about 8 x 10) if I get the new maple floors as the floors seems pretty tough. Maybe its the more modern finish they use? I would get bigger and better entry rugs for just inside the doors. Mr sand less was suggested by a friend for refinishing. Another person noted
that a new prefinished floor finish would probably hold up longer than a
refinishing, and have a warranty.

One more question....best vacuum for hardwood? I have Kenmore progressive canister. I like it except for the occasions when I pull it and it bangs into the wall. I don't want the vacuum itself to hurt the floor, but I think the Kenmore is the best bet. I have half carpet and half hardwood in the house, maybe more carpet. Advice?

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Comments (4)

gregmills_gw
9 years ago
The buff n coat will only take care of any surface scratches in the finish and bring back the desired sheen you want. Not a bad option, but with it being a pre-finished floor, you are going to need to make sure that the guy who does it, does it correctly to ensure proper adhesion of the new coat.

Also the buff n coat wont do anything about the fading areas, after the coat is dried, the fading will still be there.

Refinishing is another idea, and it will take care of the fading, allow you to choose a different color if so desired. the reason most guys have a minimum amount, is because its at least a 3 day process with the sanding and finishing. You could try to find someone on Craigslist, but im not recommending that. infact I would probably advised against it.

Ripping up the floor and adding something else is not a bad idea either. its probably going to cost the most, but like you said with a pre-finish floor, install it and you're done. no dry times, no fumes. not a bad option.

boils down to what you want to spend and if you can manage the hassle of being off the floor during drytimes (if you decide to refinish)

as far as vacuums, find something that has soft bristles. but I find a dry dust mop works best, and its faster then digging out a vacuum.
User
9 years ago
I too had oak in my foyer. When I installed about 900 sq ft of hardwood in the living room and kitchen I had to decide whether to keep the oak or tear it out. It killed me to think i was going to remove perfectly good hardwood but i also disliked the color. I remember my contractor saying "why would you keep a little space of Harwood you don't like when already replacing 900 sq ft" - you guessed it - I ripped it out and don't regret it one bit.

If you have maple elsewhere in the house then I would buy the same stuff. No offense but one of my pet peeves is when homes have different hardwoods, especially when they touch. If you like the maple, I would install that.

I have the cordless little Dyson I use on my hardwoods. It doesn't scratch the wood and it sucks up the dog hair & dust really good.
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katzmom
9 years ago
Can't advise you on replacing the wood with maple (although having all maple sounds like a good thing, imho), but I can recommend a great vacuum. I have antique heart pine floors throughout my 1927 bungalow and use an Oreck upright on my handmade oriental rugs and the Oreck handheld vacuum on the hardwood floors. However, I substituted a floor brush attachment with very soft bristles that I bought at a local vacuum store for the one that came with the handheld vac. It's great for pet hair and gets into the little gaps in the old flooring.
cindywhitall
Original Author
9 years ago
@katzmom, I never considered getting a different brush. I have a Kenmore progressive canister that I basically like and I'm sure it's fine, but I saw the Dyson spiel on HSN and it got me wanting a new vacuum, for no real reason! The brush is old, so maybe a new brush for the new floor. I have the Bona dustmop and microfiber cleaning pad as well. I think mopping or pulling a vacuum across a piece of gravel is a common bad thing for the floor. At least my kids are grown, so no backpacks being dragged across anymore! Or coat zippers.

We might replace our wood floor with new....

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We might replace our wood floor with new....

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