We got some exciting work done this weekend!
Wood floors: Firstly, I can’t believe I ever considered replacing the original floors, and here’s a thanks to those of you who openly considered my sanity. They turned out great! The floors had been refinished in the past and we liked the aged color and look. They had potential. Our goal was a super shiny, smooth floor that will stay that way - despite the canine parade. We came up with a process that worked and we love the way they turned out.
The first step is to clean and prepare the floors. We used the shop vac, brooms, swiffers, etc. You’ll also need to remove the baseboards - be careful if you want to keep and reuse them as they break easily. If you have nail heads popping up or loose boards, this is the time to fix that too.
Before:
After thoroughly removing the debris, we sanded the entire floor with an orbital sander (rented from Home Depot) using a 150 grit sanding screen. The edges and corners were done manually with a hand sander. We were careful not to sand too deep in order to keep enough of the current finish and color (the orbital sander is simple to use and more forgiving than a belt sander). After sanding, you should see a powdery white dust over the floor.
Next, we dusted thoroughly with swiffer pads and followed up with mineral spirits using a lambswool applicator. This step was imperative in our case due to the waxy buildup over the years. If the wax is not completely removed it can affect the finish at the end. The mineral spirits also cleans up any dusty layer that might be left and leaves the floors free of residue. We went over the entire floor twice to ensure that it was clean and ready for the first coat of polyurethane.
We used an oil based, gloss by Minwax – I’ve used water-based poly before and while I know it can be argued that it’s a better choice, I feel like the oil-based was easier to use. One big difference is that there were no wet edge problems. This is partly due to it’s slow drying time (18-24 hours before the second coat can be started). Even though it took longer, we're much happier with the results here than in our previous house.
We allowed the floors to dry and lightly sanded them again with the orbital sander (150 grit). You’ll get the white powdery residue again (swiffer, then more mineral spirits with the applicator) – let the mineral spirits completely dry and hit it again with the same poly I mentioned above.
We love them – so much – I think they might be pregnant.
You can also see that we started the cabinet installation! I think that needs one more exclamation point. !
They’re Ikea Akurum in Adel. The finish is called Medium Brown. Medium Brown is a rare species of tree only found in the forests of Sweden. Couldn’t Ikea come up with a name involving more than just adjectives?
Ta-Dah!
17 comments:
Very nice job! Better than ours, in point of hard fact. We used Varathane which was highly recommended and seems quite hard. It's OK, but we didn't sand between coats due to time constraints. Even with the satin finish, you can tell. It needs more work.
Yours appears flawless. Good instructions, too.
I'm continually amazed at how similar our progress and taste is.
Mark
So do you care to come and do my floors? You guys did such a great job that I'll leave the refinishing of my floors to the experts (aka you). Congrats on a job well done!!
Glad to see you refinished yours. I felt bad laying a layer of plywood over mine so I can then lay teak on top, but the shiny finish just wasn't for me. :-)
Jon! When I saw the floors, my mouth dropped open and all I could say was, "Woooow!" They really turned out nice. Dude, you guys are good! I also heart that cabinet. It's such a warm color and has very nice lines. Like I said before, "Can I live in your kitchen?" :) xxoo
We need more updates! Come on.... we know you did more this weekend!
Oh yes its amazing job, what a nice blog article. I hope next time you post more like this and thank you for sharing.
Your floors look amazing!! I found your blog when I was searching for IKEA cabinet installations, and yours look great, as well.
I also have old hardwood floors that I need to refinish- you've given me hope that it can be done with fantastic results!
Wow, so much work! Who would have thought that sanding would be this exhausting?! The floors look FANTASTIC.
I think you did a great job, I had the same project on hand and used the same processes, the only difference is that I used rejuvenatevs the minwax.
Hello,
This is the nice post and this post is really appreciable. if you are lookig for Floor sanding company or floor refinishing lyou can find more info from herer........
Better than ours, in point of hard fact. We used Varathane which was highly recommended and seems quite hard.
Flooring company
I truly like to reading your post. Thank you so much for taking the time to share such a nice information. I'll definitely add this great post in my article section.
I am using hard wood floor at my house since 2 years and must say that my house never look more beautiful before this. I have suggested my friends to take wood floor restoration info from the internet and install in your houses.
wood floor restoration info
This is rally appreciable post..This floors looks amazing... Kind of jealous, we haven't got our blog up and running quite. But, we're a vancouver wood floor stain company.
Great post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am impressed! Extremely helpful info specially the last part :) I care for such info much. I was looking for this particular information for a long time. Thank you and best of luck.
Damn, i want to lay down on this shiny hardwood floor, it is looking outstanding after the refinishing job.
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