Rental Property Investor · St Louis, MO · Member since 2010 · 317 posts · 72 votes
A rehab is nearly done and the occupancy permit will be granted shortly afterward. I still have to take care of the hardwood floors and paint after moving in. The painting shouldn't be too bad, but about those floors, I need to sand, stain, and put down polyurethane. I am contemplating doing that myself. They are somewhat water damaged but salvageable, see pic. I plan on staining a darker color.
For those first-time DIYers that did their own floors, was it as tough as you expected or did you mess your floors up? What's the trickiest part of getting right and any other tips? What grit of paper did you use on each stage of the drum sanding? Thanks!
@Elizabeth Wilson - ok, family getting in on the same conversation here. Elizabeth and I used to own this business- we sold it in 2012: Floor Craft Sanding. Just follow the link and you'll see what we used to do for a living. I was also a National Wood Flooring Association hardwood flooring inspector. I'd go to problem jobs and determine "who done it?". I have refinished millions of square feet of hardwood flooring- no exaggeration. That being said- I still do not sand my own floors.
Here's why, in order of importance:
1) The equipment you can rent vs. the equipment you buy. The stuff you rent is 110v lightweight equipment. It doesn't cut like a 220v heavyweight piece of equipment can. And nobody rents the good stuff. You can spends DAYS doing what would otherwise take a pro with the right tools just a few short hours. I know how to run a drum sander- and this stuff just won't do the job. Trust me, I've tried. We fixed loads of DIY attempts at sanding a floor. Also, I don't own any of the equipment anymore- so it makes hiring it out a no-brainer for me.
2) Your sand job is going to suck. Sorry mate. It's true. There's a lot to know about how to finish a floor properly and make it look good. And the more you attempt to make it look good with inferior equipment, the more its going to suck. I know how to finish a floor properly- and my sand jobs suck with bad equipment.
3) It's a killer job. There are guys here in Memphis that I can get to sand and stain w/ 2 coats (3 is better) of poly for less than $2 a sq ft. That's below what my cost used to be when I was in business. Another reason to hire it out.
Lets run some assumptions here:
lets say you have 1000 sq ft- that's $2k if you're paying $2 sq ft. Then start subtracting your cost of materials:
$8 each belt (*10) = $80
.75 cents each edger disc= $75.
5 gallons of poly= $200 (if you're buying decent poly).
2 gallons stain = $80
4 screens $30
Buffer, drum, edger rental $350 or more
Now you're fast approaching $800 in materials and rental equipment, plus your 4 days of labor and opportunity cost. (side note: What happens if you're heads down in sanding dust when another opportunity passes you by that could have made you another 20k instead? But you didn't see it because you wanted to save money on your flooring job).
So if a pro costs you 2k and you can do it for $800 is it worth the $1200 in savings? Maybe. Maybe there are no opportunity costs. Maybe this is your first run at flipping or renting and you want to know it front to back. Go for it. You'll figure it out. And hey- maybe you're just really good at stuff like this and it will turn out amazing. I've seen it, but off all the DIY jobs- I've only seen it once, maybe twice that it actually looked professional grade. Also- is this a flip or a rental? If rental- I may not even bother with sanding them- depending on the price of the rental. It may behoove you to paint them a brown color and slap some poly on them. That's way less labor and $ intensive, and you can certainly do that yourself and for the most part-rental location and $ dependent- it won't matter. Just food for thought. And to answer your initial question, How to refinish a wood floor. This is the manual produced by the NWFA. Sort of lame really to be honest, but if you skim through it you may end up with some nuggets that will help you sand the floors! All the best and let us know how it goes!
Find an experienced handy man, rent equipment, job complete. For the rentals you only need a light sand. As far as resell, consider professional. The floors will pop!!!
I strongly agree with Joshua. Refinishing floors requires quite a bit of experience to understand what you're doing. I have experience with quite a few remodels, and while you may want to keep the cost down, paying an expert who specializes in this type of work is definitely worth the money.
As for the price points, you are typically you are going to get what you pay for. I would use Josh's reference points as a good benchmark to go off. I would stay away from stains, and stick with a quality clear finish. A well done rehab on floors such as those will make the property look incredible.
I'm another pro flooring installer, and I will say a big ditto to Joshua Crossman 's post. Refinishing hardwood is a highly skilled trade that should be done by a professional if you expect professional results. If you're refinishing a sub 100k home then sure , try your hand at it. But getting good results from diy refinishing is rare, unless the person has extensive woodworking knowledge. I saw a flip that I was installing carpet in, GC had one of his guys doing the refinish work and it looked really bad to my eyes.
Lots of great info here @Paul Winka! I did mine back in July, and they sure were a pain. Although I did find it to be a rewarding experience. The equipment from HD rental worked fine (I used a Drum and Edger)
A word of advice if you decide to go through and DIY: Pop the grain before staining, using a wet sponge and distilled water. You want to moisten the floor to open up the grains of the wood. Once it dries, apply your stain...this ensures an even finish. I actually forgot to pop the grain on a 2x2 foot area, and you can clearly see the difference (the stain didn't really soak through).
first, if you are inexperienced get someone who is experienced to work the floor with you. 2. 2 coats of polyurethane with a light sanding makes them seal complete. better safe than sorry. 3. watch while you sand, you Can burn the floors....
Well, the job is finished. Here are the pictures below. Here’s what I learned: if you are doing some the work yourself, and you have painting on your list and refinishing the hardwood floors, don’t waste a second thinking about putting down drop cloths over those hardwood floors. You are not going to “mitigate” the damage to the floor by putting down drop cloths. One of my other concerns were that the guy that I would hire to do the hardwood floors would damage the baseboards and that the quality of the job near the baseboards would not be as good as in the center of the room. But it was just fine. And finally, the water damage that was present I thought would be unsalvageable, but that came out fine too. Total cost was $1920 for 800 ft.². The job took five days, that was from the day the job started until I was able to walk on the floors. Thanks for all those that offered advice here. It made a difference.