Refinishing hardwood floors, how to get marks/stains out? Help!

[rturbo 930]

Hey guys, my dad is refinishing the floors in my grandmother's house before we put it up for sale, and we've got a bit of a problem. when the floors were only finished about 3ft around the perimeter because the rest would be covered with a rug, but even after sanding, there's still a very clear border around the room. It looks like shit, and we're out of ideas on how to fix it. Anyone have any suggestions? Or are we kinda fucked?

Here's some pics, you can see the problem pretty clearly. Doesn't look like the floor was done very well when it was last refinished, either, since there's a lot of sander marks, too.

[structured]

Looks like someone ran the sander in the wrong direction. The only way I know of to fix that it to sand more and do it in the right direction until the floor is smooth and consistent. There is obviously a limit to how much you can do that though so you may be screwed.

[rturbo 930]

There's a lot of marks, especially in the hallway, where looks like someone left the sander in one spot for too long, but what makes you say the sander was run in the wrong direction? I don't know anything about woodwork, so I'm just curious. Although I wouldn't be surprised if someone ran it in the wrong direction since I think the floor was last done when my grandfather's mind was starting to go.

I'm just a little surprised that there's so many marks left after sanding. There's what looks like a water stain in another bedroom that won't come out, but honestly that's the least of my worries right now. I was under the impression that sanding took out any stains, but apparently not!

[FredK]

The last picture shows someone sanded cross-grain. Do you think the old finish was an oil? I think that's extremely common if it was finished a long time ago.

[TimeMachinE30]

Against the grain... That is the wrong way. See in your bottom photo the marks are perpendicular to the grain.

YouTube how to use a floor sander. They can be tricky. But you could learn .. It's all been done before.

Those appear to be solid wood floors. You can get pretty rough with them and still have enough meat leftover to stain and enjoy a solid floor.

It is possible some of those imperfections will not come out. That is best left alone and coined as character.

[rturbo 930]

My dad sanded with the grain, and generally knows what he's doing, at least as far as I can tell. It's just a matter of undoing someone's past mistakes.

As far as I know the floors are solid. The house was built in 1941.

I'm not sure what the finish was, I'm gonna take a guess and say they were done maybe 25-30 years ago? I'll ask my dad in a bit and get back to you.

If we can't get the marks out, I figure the new owner will just put an area rug down. The other rooms aren't as bad, thank god, but there's still some noticeable issues, just not as glaringly obvious.

Thanks for the responses, guys.

[mrsleeve]

if it were me.

Rent a sander, and hit them lightly and try to get as much of that cross grain marking out as much as you can with out killing the floor. See what you have left in the area's that are stained as is and find something that is close to that and go to town on all it....

Personally I really like a lot of charter in hardwood flooring. I love rough sawed floors that still have the saw marks in them

[rturbo 930]

Alright guys, just went and spoke with my dad a bit. The finish that was on there was waterlox. The darker portions that you see within a few feet of the edge looks to be leftover stain that wasn't sanded all the way off, and he's working on that right now. I told him what you all said about the floor being sanded cross-grain, although he says it wasn't. He just sanded the entire second floor a few days ago, going with the grain, so honestly I don't know what to think here, although I do see why you guys are saying that, it does look like someone sanded it across the grain in the last picture. Honestly, I can't really explain those marks. He sanded the shit out of that 'band' between the two lighter lines, and nothing happened. It seems like that stain goes DEEP into the wood.

Anyways, according to him, the two parallel lighter colored lines are from the carpet that was in the room. Gonna see if I have a pic of the room with the carpet still in it to confirm that. The line in pic #2 is from using the sander wrong.

The floor is 3/4" wood and it's been sanded down before, so he's pretty hesitant to sand it much further since he's afraid it'll end up too thin. He's also getting older, and getting pretty tired of working all the time, and the sander is like a hundred fucking pounds. So I don't think sanding the floor further is an option. But we'll see what we can do.

Sleeve, I'm with you man. Not so much saw marks for me, at least for floors, but I like a natural looking floor, like you'd find in much older homes, with wide plank floor boards. And hand hewn or rough sawn beams. I really have a soft spot for old world construction.

[mrsleeve]

I am so with you man, someday maybe if I am really lucky I will get build my house out of an old reclaimed barn wood with hand hewed beams and old wide plank gray weathered siding for my kitchen cabinets and trim......


for shits and giggles rough sawn floors

[mbonder]

If you're worried about the floor getting too thin after sanding you should just try to match the portions that still have stain on them and then stain the whole thing. You'll still see some variation, but it shouldn't be too noticeable. Stage the house when you go to sell with a couple cheap area rugs or some pieces of furniture to make it less obvious. You'd be surprised what people overlook.

[dlmrun2002]

You need to get down to the bare wood and re-stain and topcoat. Do some stain testing in an area not in the room, like th attic. Also you would be better of with a floor stain that has a lot of pigment in it. The can will say how much or testing it out will show how much color you get. I used Sherwin Williams stain that had much pigment and on the top coat I used Fabulon polyurethane. Fabulon is the best. It's what they use on bowling lanes. I did my floors over (circa 1849) with a belt sander, edge trimmer and non-caustic stripper. Tons of elbow grease but it came out awesome.
hth

dlm ny country

[rturbo 930]

Wow dlm, your floors look fantastic. I love old homes like yours.

I'll look into a stain with more pigment, but beyond that, I think we'll probably take the lazy way out. As I said earlier, my dad is getting tired, and he has waaayy too much still on his to do list after this is done.

mbonder, my dad and I had thought of doing something like that with some darker stain, but we figured it might look too obvious, but I guess we could try it. I mentioned staging the house to him, but it really depends what it'll cost.

Edit: Just went and looked, he's been sanding it some more, and it looks a lot better now that all the stain is gone. Still not great though. We'll see how it goes.

[F34R]

I do this for a living(17 years experience), you will need to pick up a large sander that uses the huge pads. Here is a kitchen that I remodeled in our family 3 man crew; floor had two layers then tar paper, took nearly a week to scrape the floor clean. Home was built in 1914 and the tar dates back to the 30s.

This was a complete kitchen remodel, we blew out the wall and made recessed shelving wired for appliances. If you have ANY home remodeling questions feel free to message here or PM me, I'll be happy to make sure you get it done right the first time :)







Start with a 40 or 60 grit paper then sand till the floor is level and even in color, move up to a 220 or 240 grit and remove the rough surface from the rough grit.








Make sure you sweep, vac and mop the floor at least twice, then let it dry for a few days(DO NOT WALK ON IT!) then use a satin or gloss clear coat finish.

[tim88325is]

I highly recommend looking into BONA flooring finishes, check out Bona Mega.

Pro-quality and water based so nearly no fumes, water clean-up, and fast drying - hours instead of days. Some big HD stores have it, or find a real flooring supply store.

[TimeMachinE30]

Wow. Good work on that kitchen. Any final photos to show off your work?