We have just discovered (like, an hour ago) that our wonderful house, built in 1919, has hardwood floors under the carpet and plywood put in by the previous owner.
We are looking for advice on refinishing (we’re thinking strongly of going professional… this might be a bit beyond our skillset) but are willing to try if we won’t ruin anything.
First, how do we tell what kind of wood we’ve got?
Second, should we just pull up the carpet and plywood now and then decide on our options?
Third, should we just hire someone?
What would you do?
Thanks.
Another vote for hiring someone. You can do a lot of the prep work removing baseboards and trim that might get damaged, but the actual sanding and refinishing is a backbreaking job that requires experience and skill. If you make a mistake and damage the wood, the damage will show forever - unless you chop out that piece.
As for how to tell what wood it is - the overwhelming majority of wood floors I’ve seen are oak.
Once in a great while, I’ve seen decorative inlay work around the edges done in walnut or cherry.
As mentioned above, it’s a horrible DIY project. I did a small bedroom years ago. I’ve checked it off my “bucket list” and never, ever want to do it again.
You can make the job easier for the professionals by completely emptying the room(s) - take out all of the furniture, remove everything from closets and shelves, remove the carpet and plywood, plus all of the baseboard moldings, and go over the floor with the proverbial fine-tooth comb to pull out every last bit of metal - nails or staples - that will otherwise shred the sander.
Be prepared for hellish noise and dust. Expect a lot of dust to get on everything in the house.
Post a good, close-up picture – better yet, several – and people here will be able to tell you what kind of wood it is.
Probably good to get professionals to do the refinishing, but even at that, there are a lot of “professionals” out there who will do a terrible job – leave swirl marks from the sanders, neglect the edges and corners, etc. Get some recommendations first, and ideally, look at a couple of jobs the recommended people have done to make sure they’re up to snuff.
First, you have to resign yourself to the fact that this is a big job and it’s quite possible you may not be able to refinish the floors. You can alway go back to carpet, replace the flooring, etc… if this is the case.
There are alot of things you need to do before you can proceed.
First, you need to expose the whole area. Remove all the carpeting, plywood, etc. to assess the damage. The tack strips and subfloor may have been nailed, screwed, glued, or stapled to the hardwood and the wood may be irreparable.
Past renovations may have reconfigured your rooms and the hardwood floors may not be continuous throughout the house.
There may not be enough wood, either due to the original thickness, wear, and/or prior sandings to refinish the floors.
Your house’s settling and heaving may have played havoc with the floors as well, opening up the seams or buckling the floor boards.
Or, there could be other underlying problems which may be why the floors were covered up.
It doesn’t really matter what type of wood they are, as long as they’re hardwood they will refinish nicely. You should be able to deduce yourself what type of wood it is from samples at the hardware store and pictures.
After you have exposed and surveyed the whole area, then you call in multiple professionals for estimates. There will be some variance in their opinions as to the work involved, if they can and how they would do it but by comparing and contrasting their opinions you will quickly become quite informed on the subject and be able discuss issues with them.
Don’t be afraid to call someone back in to answer more questions for you either. If they want your business they will gladly do so.
Depending on all of the above, you can make a decision on whether to do it yourself or to hire a professional.
It all depends on the scale of the job. It may be a quick sand and top coat or it could be to sand it all down and refinish it completely.
There is some skill involved, and it is pretty labour intensive but the tools are available at most rental locations.
You could hire someone to do it all or just someone come in at the end to apply the finish.
As gotpasswords mentioned it will be messy and very, very dusty. Prepare for this by sealing off the area from the rest of the house. Tent off the area and plug your heating supply and return vents to keep it from being circulated to the rest of the house.
Remember, floor finish must be applied in a dustless environment. If you hire someone make sure you negotiate that they clean up after themselves completely and include all waste disposal. This will save you alot time , money, and headaches.
Good Luck!
We recently discovered a hardwood floor under our upstairs hall carpeting. In the course of an unrelated project, we had to trim about 2 inches off the end, and it looks like good, solid oak wood. I, of course, would love to refinish it…
Now, how do we determine if the whole thing is good enough to show? The hall is “L” shaped, and we know that the wood also continues down the stairway, which we would also uncover. Do we just start pulling up the carpet? What if we get around the corner and find it’s been repaired with a cork board and some plastic shims? We know the former owner wasn’t exactly the most…technically correct home owner.
I know that eventually we will be re-doing the floor somehow, so it’s no big deal to just start ripping away. But it’s very intimidating when you think about what’s underneath…
Our 1917 house had oak floors on the lower level, maple on the upper level (under all that glorious carpet). A radiator had leaked in one area so we had to patch part of the maple flooring. We hired a professional to do the patch and refinish the floors. He said he spent about $200 in sandpaper alone, and his equipment was really heavy - much more than I would be able to handle. He had three different sanders and it came out really nice. Best $1200 we’ve spent.
As I said above you must uncover it all to make a judgement.
Yes
How will you know if you don’t investigate? You can deal with that when you get there.
I agree it can be very intimidating and you may be opening a can of worms.
On the other hand, if you plan to re-do the flooring anyway, you have to start somewhere.
If you’re not committed to doing the job all at once, you can stop at the point of no return until you have decided how you want to proceed.
In the meantime you can always cover it up again temporarily with carpeting, etc. until you’re ready.
Several things:
THIS IS NOT A DIY project - if you had the equipment/knowledge to do this, you wouldn’t be here.
The hardwood of your (my last house was also 1919) came in tow grades - real toungue-and groove (no visible nails) and 1/4" strips face-nailed, fwiw
Species doesn’t really matter - hardwood is easily distinguished from soft by the grain pattersn, Stained oak (as mentioned, a 1919 is probably (white) oak) can look like most anything - you will need to dig deep to be sure that you are seeing natural, not staind, wood.
I remodelled that house - moving/removing/creating walls.
In doing so, I ripped up the cheapo wood, then because thee was not enought material, nor the incentive, to do it right, I put it in haphazard - it CANNOT be exposed.
Secondly: as to removing baseboard - this stuff was about 7" wide, clear heart tedwood, but nailed so that it could not be removed in one piece - a couple of trips to a millwork shop to re-create the stock - there’s a gatcha for you!
Third - hardwood acts as a sounding board (that monsterous board onto which piano string as strung, the back of stringed instrument (now you know why they have holes on the front).
If you have traffic or other low-frequency noise, YOU WANT THE CARPET - AND THE THICKEST PAD YOU CAN FIND!
Otherwise, expect lots of noise and dust, and eventually you will find out why carpet replaced hardwood in the first place (dog nails, dust bunnies, cats trying to brake before hitting the walll (thy do eventually learn).