Can I sand and refinish an oak floor by myself?
I have a huge oak floor to do– 800sq ft and have never tried this. It is very expensive to hire done at .90 a sq foot. I am fairly strong and can operate a rototiller for example.
How do I keep from gauging it? Im planning on staining it with 2 coats of verathane finish.
I do this type of work for a living and am always honest. if you’ve seen floors that someone has had done by a professional and then done by just the home owner…then just decide which look you like best. I’ve sanded floors that people have tried to sand they’re self and some that some one went and rented the sanders and not done it as a profession. if you rent a light weight machine there’s no way you can get the same results as some one that does it all the time. yes you can get dips in the floor when you come to a wall and stop but if the person doing them is truly a professional they’re won’t be any dips in that area when they are done. different people use different methods for sanding floor sanding by that i mean some take pride and go the extra steps to really make the floors beautiful. then some just sand them and coat them and that’s it…get the money….you need to use wood filler the color of the floor…i always make my own to get the right match…..i k now refinishing floors is a bit costly but you have something in your home that could last you for your lifetime…why take a chance on destroying it???? GOOD LUCK !!!
I think you can handle it.
Rent a sander with a vacuum. Get 2 or 3 grades of sandpaper. Even with a vacuum equiped sander, you should wear a HEPA filter. Without the vacuum, cleaning up the mess is a bigger job than the sanding.
I did it several years ago…same size…it was an exhausting job. But…I probably shoud have educated myself better first. Go to Home Depot or a similar store..they often give free classes on projects like this. With proper instruction, it might be eaisier to do.
You can do it your self. have faith in yourself. read a book or 2 on the subject and have a go at it.
Not only can you do it, Lowes will guide you thru it…it just takes caution with the sander and thats done by not letting it sit in one place…keep it moving at all times
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Improve/RefinishHardwdFlr.html&rn=RightNavFiles/rightNavHowTo
good luck
Of course you can sand and refinish an oak floor by yourself; but, I wouldn’t suggest you do so. Yes, it may seem expensive to hire a professional at $2.90 a square foot; but, it would be much more expensive if you attempted the job yourself, damaged the floor, and had to replace it. Have the sanding done professionally, and then decide if you want to do the staining.
By the way, I thought "rototiller" was a method of cleaning out sewers.
if i could vote i would vote for Kurtis G’s answer. I think you can do it with the floor sander with attached vaccuum. the only thing i would add is practice applying stain and finish in the closets to get the hang of it, or buy a small square of wood floor to practice on.
I am actually in the process. Mine is, I believe, a maple floor. I used a paint scraper to scrape the old poly or whatever it is. I sanded with an orbital sander. I am just applying clear semigloss poly. It looks great on my maples floors. I am right now waiting for my second coat of poly to dry and will finish up tomorrow with the last coat.
of course you can do it yourself,however,no matter what anyone else here tells you it’s hard to correctly handle the floor sander,you will get start and stop marks in the floor,even the pros leave a few behind and you’ll probably leave several,have a pro sand it atleast,staining is simple enough,when you go to varnish you need to ask the paint store for a special pad they use as pros don’t roll or brush the varnish on floors,finally they also use a huge spinning sander between coats for the best job,good luck,there’s a reason they charge so much
not to be rude but I bleive the standard it three coats of Polyeurathane for floors, so you may see the need for a third coat after you second coat dries.
You need to ask yourself…"Self, do I have a lot of time to devote to this project?" If you do, then you can do it yourself, and that does not guarantee it will be cheaper for you to do it. In fact, your only savings may be on a portion of the labor. But then the trade-off is the fact it will take you longer to complete than a professional.
Is there a finish on it now, if so you’ll begin by sanding that off with an 80 grit sandpaper … you can go a tad lower if you desire – - this is the stage designed to rip the finish up so larger grains are ok here.
Once that is removed it is time to go over that floor entirely and fill in hole and gouges with " Wood Filler" and "Wood Putty," on the larger ones.
After that dries….
Using a 150 grit sandpaper, you will sand the entire floor – - the idea here is to get the "Entire" surface flat and even.
Once completed ….
If you intend to stain the floor this is the point where you will do that.
Once completed….
You should go over the entire floor one time and only in one direction ( with the grain) using a #0000 steel wool to knock down any raised wood fibers caused by the stain.
Once completed….
Sand with 220 grit sandpaper until really smooth…
once completed….
Apply finish..in this case Polyeurathane finish.
You may require a third coat, as stated above, but you may very well get away with only the two coats. Just remember a third coat will indeed, make it that much harder and resistant.
Also remember you "Have To" get up all of the dust after sanding; otherwise, it will show in the final finish. Furthermore, you should lightly sand between coats ( after they dry) and remove all of that dust before apply the next coat. Do not sand the final coat.
Some people do not stain the wood, and some people do not go as far as the 220 grit sandpaper for floors, and they still have a very acceptable floor. My preference is to go one step further, and that is described above.