couple of floor refinishing questions

3 years ago

If we have someone refinish our hardwood floors do we need to remove the baseboards first?
Secondly, how long should we plan to stay off the floors?
Thanks!

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Comments (6)

Illie
3 years ago
Don’t make the mistake I did. Have them remove the baseboards. Our flooring refinishing company said the baseboards were fine and the machine went up to it. My new and nicely painted baseboards were scored, dented and stained after the refinish was over. They also had painters tape stuck all over them. my kitchen didnt have baseboards so the sander went to the wall and the new baseboards look so much nicer placed over the stained floors as opposed to the stain floors coming right up the baseboards.
kathyg_in_mi
3 years ago
My DD stayed off their floors 2 weeks. The whole house is hardwood floors. They are beautiful.
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Yes. I have sanded and finished subflooring for customers. Really no different from any other flooring finish work, except that you have to consider the fact that it happens to be a single construction floor system and, therefore, you have to take steps to protect what is below the floor when you sand and then apply stains and finishes. Anything you do above to the floor surface can easily find its way down to the space below...dust, stain and finish. You have to sink any top nails below the surface of the wood before you sand and continue to punch them below when necessary. You probably can never remove all tar paper lines and staining, but that is OK, as the floor will have a great look all by itself. I have finished these natural and stained a few. I also colored one green once at a customer's request. That one was unique and beautiful.
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The deep dark color will be gone, its one of those things thats hard to describe, or at least for me at the moment, i only have a few mins. Its still going to have the rich red, and brown tones with a natural finish, but just a shade lighter than what you have now. you will be able to see a tad more variation from board to board. If you are 100% sure you are going to refinish the exsisting, have the floor pro sand a small 3'x3' area and lay down some samples directly on the floor, so you can see just how much of a difference you are looking at. negatives to staining would just be getting more a uniform color, and thats if you consider that a negative. staining isnt going effect the performance of the floor, just coloing. a really light stain on BC you're probably not going to notice much difference from a natural oil base poly, the darker you go, the more you will notice a uniform color,
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Last year I bought a house built in 2003 with beautiful oak hardwood floors. My only problem is that there are many layers of some sort of shiny clear finish on this floor, and trapped within these layers is all kinds of actual dirt and assorted crap. The home was previously owned by an elderly woman who couldn’t see well. I am guessing she had a love affair with Mop-N-Glo, or something similar. As far as I can tell she just kept putting down more Mop-N-Glo (or whatever) on top of the dirt. The floors shine beautifully in the sunlight and if there wasn’t obvious crap also reflecting in the sunlight I’d be inclined to leave well enough alone. (She fancied herself an artist, and also loved glitter. Trapped within this clear coat of whatever is glitter. Everywhere. There are also paint splatters, and actual little mounds of actual dirt. It’s driving me crazy.) The floor itself is in great condition, so I was hoping a screen and top coat would work. I’m fine with the color of them. But as I was poking around on the internet, I saw something that said a screen/top-coat won’t work if it goes on top of a product like Mop-N-Glo…? If I have to do a full sanding…how bad is it, really? I have forced air heating and I have visions of dust coating everything in my house. It sound like between the dust, debris, and smells, I will have to move out of the house for a week or two, yes? I appreciate any thoughts on how to best deal with this, and thank you!
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When I hear someone recount something that makes no sense, I generally figure that someone misspoke or didn't hear correctly. Whenever I see huge variations (3x) in price quotes, I generally figure someone made a mistake. Maybe the third quote will clear things up. Whether wood can be refinished depends on the type of floor and condition. Since you're selling, and already having work done in the house, I'd be inclined to have all the floors redone unless the finisher can match it 90%. If there's any doubt, do it all. This assumes you know what prospective buyers are going to want. I usually recommend the opposite when people are living in the house. Colors and preferences here are all over the place. Usually it seems foolish to upend residents and spend their money when there's a good likelihood the next person won't like their choice, but your situation sounds different since you're already having work done. The only warnings I have about sanding painted floors are that you may find some cosmetic damage and you may end up with paint residual in some cracks.
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cat_ky
3 years ago
Definitely remove the baseboards. I might carefully remove them myself, if you are planning on reusing them. Sometimes others are not as careful.
millworkman
3 years ago
Water based poly or oil? Brand and type the floor finishes uses?
mpjchrbek
Original Author
3 years ago
Water based. Thanks for helping me clarify that. Bona is the brand, I’ll check to see if he specified type.
Timothy Winzell
3 years ago
1) No, it's not necessary to remove baseboards unless the floor has ben sanded a few times before and there's a raised portion of the floor visible under the base. Scraping off tape, doing minor repairs and repainting is far less work than replacement, which obviously requires caulking, spackling and repainting.

2) It depends on how much area you have and the finish you've selected. The person doing the work should give you an idea, though it's hard to be perfectly accurate until you start sanding and determine how heavy of a grit of sandpaper is required for the first cut.

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couple of floor refinishing questions

Comments (6)

Illie

kathyg_in_mi

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cat_ky

millworkman

mpjchrbek
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Timothy Winzell

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couple of floor refinishing questions

Comments (6)

Illie

kathyg_in_mi

Related Discussions

cat_ky

millworkman

mpjchrbekOriginal Author

Timothy Winzell

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

mpjchrbek
Original Author