When we moved into our house about 10 years ago, the kitchen and dining area had white vinyl. Can you think of anything worse for a house with small children? So we ripped it out and got a fairly dark laminate by Pergo installed. I really like it. It has held up very well and doesn't show much dirt at all. I like it much better than the real wood flooring we had in a previous house that scratched way too easily. I loved how it looked but being paranoid about your floor when you have children is no way to live.
But when we discovered real wood flooring hiding under the carpet in our toy room, we decided to rip out the carpet even though the floor needed refinishing pretty badly. My plan was to get it refinished eventually. I made an attempt to find somebody who would do it but nobody would come out and give me a bid, probably because it was a small job.
So ten years later...we finally refinished it! With everything going on, it just never happened until now.
First, there was a lot of sanding that needed to be done. I rented a rotary sander, but after several hours of sanding, we decided something more aggressive was needed (the floor was pretty uneven) so I went out and rented a drum sander. That was a little too aggressive and a few dips in the floor had to be sanded out. So more hours were spent. Here's after spending about 8 hours sanding:
After thoroughly vacuuming up the sawdust and using a tack cloth, the next step was to stain it. I picked a golden oak color to stain it. After that dried, we started applying the water-based polyurethane. I use the term "we" liberally here. I did the renting and shopping; my son and husband did the real work.
My husband applied three coats of polyurethane and then we let the last coat harden for a week. We bought some wider baseboards, painted them white and then my husband installed them. Here's the finished floor:
I don't know how much money it saved us because renting all those sanders and buying the sandpaper (not cheap), polyurethane, etc. still cost a couple hundred dollars for a room that's 10x14. But it's done and I really like it. It looks so much better!
But when we discovered real wood flooring hiding under the carpet in our toy room, we decided to rip out the carpet even though the floor needed refinishing pretty badly. My plan was to get it refinished eventually. I made an attempt to find somebody who would do it but nobody would come out and give me a bid, probably because it was a small job.
So ten years later...we finally refinished it! With everything going on, it just never happened until now.
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| You can't really see how bad it was, but trust me, it needed help. |
First, there was a lot of sanding that needed to be done. I rented a rotary sander, but after several hours of sanding, we decided something more aggressive was needed (the floor was pretty uneven) so I went out and rented a drum sander. That was a little too aggressive and a few dips in the floor had to be sanded out. So more hours were spent. Here's after spending about 8 hours sanding:
After thoroughly vacuuming up the sawdust and using a tack cloth, the next step was to stain it. I picked a golden oak color to stain it. After that dried, we started applying the water-based polyurethane. I use the term "we" liberally here. I did the renting and shopping; my son and husband did the real work.
My husband applied three coats of polyurethane and then we let the last coat harden for a week. We bought some wider baseboards, painted them white and then my husband installed them. Here's the finished floor:
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| This picture has the digial piano in it because I was so sick of having it in the living room that we moved it back in before the baseboards got installed. |
I don't know how much money it saved us because renting all those sanders and buying the sandpaper (not cheap), polyurethane, etc. still cost a couple hundred dollars for a room that's 10x14. But it's done and I really like it. It looks so much better!
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