Our new house has hardwood floors. The living room, dining room and hallway have all been refinished. The bedrooms OTOH, have not. We considered refinishing those before we moved in, but the expense and time involved pretty much made it a non-starter.

So. With that said, the bedroom floors look like the carpet was JUST pulled up. They are in good shape, just dark and dull. It doesn't look as if the carpet was glued down though. So that's good.

My question is what is the best way to CLEAN these floors to maybe bring back some of the luster?

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Probably not much of chance unless it's dirt..which I doubt.

It's probably old school floor varnish that has ambered heavily..are they dark orange? dark brown?

dark brown.

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probably were stained and then top coated with an old oil base finish..

im guessing you can see the grain of the wood?

Oh yes. Definitely. They just look...dirty. I guess I could just get some murphys or something and try it out. Can't hurt.

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Is sanding and refinishing out of the question?....

Might want to look at something like this.

[www.amazon.com]


There are also other products that claim to do the same thing. I haven't used any of them, but the one linked gets good reviews on Amazon

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

You'd be able to get an idea of what's going on with a drop or two of dish soap in water, or even warm water in a small area. Doubtful that it's gonna make a big diff. Been there done that..but hey, you never know

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rgG
Might want to look at something like this.

[www.amazon.com]


There are also other products that claim to do the same thing. I haven't used any of them, but the one linked gets good reviews on Amazon

That's a floor finish..if he can't get rid of the brown dumpiness - this'll just put a sheen on it.

I used the Murphy stuff on an old house we bought. Works good, but the color will stay the same.

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There would be evidence of removal of tack strips around the perimeter of the room's floors edges at the walls if there had been carpet. There would be hundreds of little nail holes from the nails that held down the tack strips.

Carpet glued down is usually a commercial application with short nap carpet and huge rooms that make the usual small room stretch install impractical. The only place I've seen glued down carpet in a house was on concrete slab ( basement ). Not saying it's not done, it's just not usual, at least not around here on hardwood finished floors. Plywood floors ( the plywood can be ripped up and replaced just like is often done with linoleum ).

Many years of use, wear and tear ( especially to the high traffic rooms/pathways ) make the floor's finish look " dirty". With high enough traffic and abuse the finish can be gone and the wood itself, with little protection, starts to look "dirty".
Removing all the old worn out finish, a small layer of wood to get the floor flat again ( remove all the dents and dings that make contribute to it " looking dirty ) and a new finish may be the only way to getting it look nice again.

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max
Is sanding and refinishing out of the question?....

We got a quote for the whole house. Which was about what I expected. But I doubt we could ever swing that since we just scraped up enough cash for 20% down on the house.

So we got a quote for JUST the bedrooms so they'd at least match the rest of the house. Or close to it. Price was better...obviously. But the time frame killed us. We close on the 20th of June. We've opted to "rent" from the owners of our old house for a week so we can move. But that's it. A week. The floor guy told us it would take 4-6 days to sand and finish the floors to where we can walk on it and move. Which then makes it crazy to move. And that's IF he sticks to that deadline.

We've got a call into another place to see if they can do it quicker. We'll see.

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Congrats on the new house!

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

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rjmacs
Congrats on the new house!

Thanks! Moving time is getting closer and closer. We're just trying to figure how or if we can get everything we need to get done BEFORE moving in. Stupid time and money!

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Can you move into the new house but just leave the bedrooms empty for another week. Get the floors refinished then move stuff in there.

Might be a bit cramped, possibly sleeping on an inflatable, but everything is done with additional costs.

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

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The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

The actual sanding, vacuuming, sanding, vacuuming and refinishing takes one day. The rest of the time is drying and curing. If they say it takes 4-6 days for it fully dry and cure. It takes 4-6 days. If it's raining/humid it'll be more towards the full 6 days. Bedroom furniture is heavy. If you rush the legs will leave marks on newly finished floors from the weight of the furniture and then you'll really have a headache on your hands. Rush at your own risk.

Keep in mind that the rooms are empty now and the difference in floor color is very noticeable to you. But with furniture added it really won't be that noticeable to most people, especially since it's between the 1st and 2nd floors. Save your cash for other stuff that will inevitably arise.

Go all in. Beat it with a chain, call it "vintage distressed" and submit to Better Homes & Gardens.

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3d
The actual sanding, vacuuming, sanding, vacuuming and refinishing takes one day. The rest of the time is drying and curing. If they say it takes 4-6 days for it fully dry and cure. It takes 4-6 days. If it's raining/humid it'll be more towards the full 6 days. Bedroom furniture is heavy. If you rush the legs will leave marks on newly finished floors from the weight of the furniture and then you'll really have a headache on your hands. Rush at your own risk.

Keep in mind that the rooms are empty now and the difference in floor color is very noticeable to you. But with furniture added it really won't be that noticeable to most people, especially since it's between the 1st and 2nd floors. Save your cash for other stuff that will inevitably arise.

All true.

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Use a good product like Bona Traffic (2 part). You can get by in socks and move the furniture gently. these guys ought to be able to lay down all of the finish fast 2 coats immediate and then a light floor pad to take off the burrs n chunks - 3rd coat the next day..or just 2 coats and dry..I prefer to put down 3-4 coats so when you go to refinish you can use a super fine screen and recoat. long term benefit of that pays back solidly. As long as you're not staining before topcoats this process can go fast. The first two coats can go bam bam.

I've done quite a few floors in my day. I own 15,000 square feet of 120 year old male flooring that I know intimately, plus outside jobs..this is totally doable if you find a way to pay for it.

What is the total square footage of the areas you want to sand Bazzok?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2016 10:42AM by Kraniac.

It's about 790 sqft.

$2.25/sqft

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Bazooka,

The quote is a touch on the high side but not that much out of the ballpark. Get a couple of more quotes. Personally, I'm a fan of 3 coats minimum, preferably 4 coats. Definitely stick with a high quality poly like Bona Traffic. The whole job would take two or three days including moving everything out of the rooms. Don't rush putting it all back. Give the poly time to harden properly.

I know all too many people who had floors refinished. They looked perfect until they rushed to put everything back in the rooms. They were careless, ruined the floors in several places and then had the nerve to go after the contractor about it. Let's just say the morons were quickly taught the error of their ways and were lucky the contractors didn't counter sue them on principal.

Robert

I don't think that cost is high. That's toward the lower end of the scale in my area and this holds pretty well across the board.

To do floors right, they have have to be sanded, cleaned, re-sanded, cleaned, sealed, touched up, cleaned, (possibly) stained, touched up, cleaned, then finish coated, lightly sanded, touched up, and cleaned, repeated 2 - 3X additionally, depending on desired depth of finish. It's an acquired art form; you want somebody that's done it enough to know how to do it right, w/o taking shortcuts. Frankly zook, I'd say move in as-is, then do the bedroom floors when you can deal w/ it w/o being hassled, say during a summer vacation in a year or two... the immediate move is stressful enough already. Good luck.
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Kraniac,

My 1450 sq ft apartment was $2200 and that included adding matching flooring to three closets, angled saddles for two doorways and Bona Traffic poly.

Robert

I believe it's mostly the timing of the entire job that bazookaman is most concerned with. Cost/number of coats/products used is secondary.

Something else came to mind. If your goal is to refinish the bedroom floors so they match the first floor, a stain may be necessary. Which will tack on another day or two. And then your whole schedule is blown out of the water.

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Robert M
Kraniac,

My 1450 sq ft apartment was $2200 and that included adding matching flooring to three closets, angled saddles for two doorways and Bona Traffic poly.

Robert

Robert,

that is an EXCELLENT price.

Not saying it's impossible to find a good crew that works like that..but, you have to be careful and lucky..great Polish crews here that will work at extremely competitive rates but also lots of folks who do crap work for cheap..many more of those.

Very easy to impress homeowners with floor sanding..scratch it off..looks nice and bright with a shiny finish..people get thrilled and don't realize that they didn't use a proper finishes grit for the type of finish..were way to aggressive in their first cut..cheaped out on the finish..which is very common..etc etc..You did good..great.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2016 11:10AM by Kraniac.

Quote
3d
I believe it's mostly the timing of the entire job that bazookaman is most concerned with. Cost/number of coats/products used is secondary.

Something else came to mind. If your goal is to refinish the bedroom floors so they match the first floor, a stain may be necessary. Which will tack on another day or two. And then your whole schedule is blown out of the water.

yep, understood..but sometimes you have take the dive and suffer a for a few days..it can be done..

As for matching..Ack..I would say BAzkzoona!! Not worth it..put a nice slim threshold across the doorway and enjoy the differences..lots of happy accidents occur with floor color after sanding..

In the end, you'll be so glad you did it now. Your contractor will really appreciate working with the house empty, too.

Kraniac has some really good advice. Although some of it…

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Kraniac
120 year old male flooring that I know intimately, plus outside jobs.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2016 01:11PM by Speedy.

This. Exactly this. And rugs in the meantime.

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Buzz
To do floors right, they have have to be sanded, cleaned, re-sanded, cleaned, sealed, touched up, cleaned, (possibly) stained, touched up, cleaned, then finish coated, lightly sanded, touched up, and cleaned, repeated 2 - 3X additionally, depending on desired depth of finish. It's an acquired art form; you want somebody that's done it enough to know how to do it right, w/o taking shortcuts. Frankly zook, I'd say move in as-is, then do the bedroom floors when you can deal w/ it w/o being hassled, say during a summer vacation in a year or two... the immediate move is stressful enough already. Good luck.
==

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2016 01:10PM by anonymouse1.

With a subject line like this, I'm a bit surprised that NewtonMP2100 hasn't posted anything.

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bazookaman
With a subject line like this, I'm a bit surprised that NewtonMP2100 hasn't posted anything.

LMAO!!

It's comin...




(oops, sorry)

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bazookaman
With a subject line like this, I'm a bit surprised that NewtonMP2100 hasn't posted anything.

With a phallic representation such as the tool in your sig maybe she is intimidated.










nah...

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The Phorum Wall keeps us safe from illegal characters and words
The doorstep to the temple of wisdom is the knowledge of one's own ignorance. -Benjamin Franklin
BOYCOTT YOPLAIT [www.noyoplait.com]
[soundcloud.com]

Have you looked into screening and refinishing? Can't tell for sure if you are a candidate without pics, but it might be all you need... No, it probably won't match but a perfect match is elusive.