floor refinishing

[mdickmann]

Hi,
I have a carpeted hardwood bedroom floor.  I want to strip off some or all of the carpet.  
Before I dive in to the project, I would like to know what to expect in the area of refinishing.
Can anyone suggest a reliable resource that I could look over to prepare myself for refinishing, etc.

Thanks,
Mark

[EatenByLimestone]

Strip the carpet first. You may find that you don’t need to refinish, or you may find the carpet was glued down, which is a mess.

[tomsteve]

I say have no expectations. its hard to say what is involved until the carpet is pulled. you could need anywhere from  a good cleaning to complete replacement

[mdickmann]

Hi,
Enclosed is a picture of the floor that I want to refinish.  I was hoping to do something that made the floor look good without doing a lot of work, like sanding the whole thing down to bare wood.  Most of the floor looks OK.  
Do I need to sand this down to bare wood or can I just do the worst sections?  The job does not need to be perfect, just good enough that it won't scare people. 

Should I use a polyurethane finish?  Stain?  

Thanks,
Mark

[ajkoontz]

Reliable resource? Not to state the obvious, but YouTube has thousands of floor refinishing videos. I understand you have to separate the good from the bad but spend some time looking over there and it becomes pretty clear who knows what they're talking about and who doesn't.

If you decide to go all the way, refinishing a floor is not -that- bad if you rent good equipment. To clarify- it's a lot of work, but very possible for a DIY to get professional looking results.

Since that's not really what you want to do...... Based on the photo your floors aren't that bad. In your shoes I would probably rent an orbital sander and scuff sand everything and apply a new top coat. I'd go waterbased as the new WB products seem to have caught up/ overtaken the oil based polys based on performance. Bona makes a WB floor finish that get great reviews, but I don't have personal experience with any of the WB top coats. There are plenty of other WB floor finishes to choose from and in a seldom used room I don't think it would matter that much. There are also some 2 part finishes that look to be extremely durable, but probably overkill if I'm correct that this is not going to see a lot of use. I'd take off the baseboards if it were me. Weekend or two level of effort.

Option 2, you could try a floor polisher and just give them a quick re-fresh. One day level of effort.

So I'd find a couple YouTube videos and see which one seems most applicable for how much you want to put into this project.

[branchacctg]

Make sure you get all of the carpet tacks/nails out of the wood. Took me four times before I got all of mine out. Each time I thought I had them all, and then found some more when sanding and getting ready to apply a polyurethane finish. Probably still missed one or two. Don't know who put the carpet down, but they sure loved those tacks/nails.

[Dave Crow]

It sounds like you might be able to get away with a restore type product. If this was my floor before going the refinish route I would try Scott's.

 https://www.amazon.com/Scotts-Liquid-Gol...ast_sto_dp

[Gary G™]

Hi,
Enclosed is a picture of the floor that I want to refinish.  …
Should I use a polyurethane finish?  Stain?  

Thanks,
Mark

Is this a 3-1/2” wide oak strip floor?
What are the spots on the wood? Is the surface sticky, smooth or mixed?
Is it solid wood or veneer?
What use will the room have and what type of traffic do you expect?

[MstrCarpenter]

Looks like standard 2-1/4" red oak to me. I'd start by wiping/cleaning with mineral spirits; That'll also remove wax. The way it looks when wet with the mineral spirits is how it will look if you just touch it up with wiping poly. If you do a little spot sanding, seal with shellac. It's easier to then some add tinted shellac if needed to match the surrounding area. Also easier to remove if you tint too much. You can do a thin coat of poly or varnish with a lambs wool applicator to spruce up the entire floor. A few pointers things though. The existing finish cannot be glossy so a quick pass with 120 grit open coat on a random orbit may be in order. This verses a chemical deglosser that stinks (really stinks!) and softens the finish. Also, the surface must be wax free. "Wax sticks to everything. Nothing sticks to wax."

[Petertaylor]

You might post your floor question in the Finishing Forum of this site. Those folks might have expert answers or suggestions.