Refinishing wood floors DIY

I finished my flooring when I installed them with Waterlox It is a finish that has been used for over 100 years. There is no poly to apply over the finish, it hardens but not as hard as a poly top coat. The advantage is you can reapply the finish with minimum prep work. This past year where we were leaving to go on vacation I applied 2 coats, it blends perfectly but there is a shine difference between the 2 coats that can be blended after it drys. The watelox provides a much easier to apply finsh than a traditional stain and poly wood application.


The waterlox is tung oil-based and is designed to bring out the grain in the wood. Lots of photos on the facebook page.

This.

Sanding is a PITA because you will find dust for years to come unless you completely seal everything but the floors.

Can you yes, BUT the problem is the equipment you rent is garbage drum sanders not belts and are under powered 110v a quality floor sander cost 6-9k 220v most call it the big machine then the edgers run 1800-2400 each rentals are fine BUT you need to know how to set the edgers up its not tricky but not plug and play, then you will need a buffer Rental buffers are fine.
The abrasives (Sand paper) the rental places sell are crazy expensive and poor quality. If you could get your hands on quality equipment I would say go for it, but the hard work is the edger and not knowing what you are doing you can really screw up your floor and it will look worse than it does now.
Post a pic of the worst section of the floor you might be able to salvage it without a full sand and refinish.

They’re not terrible but I know I’m going to want to eventually stain them darker. We have a little time between closing and moving in so I wanted to just get it out the way then to save headache down the road.

You need them sanded and stained and refinished. That’s not a diy job darker stains will show every scratch you don’t get out in the sanding process. I am not saying you can’t do it but there is a 99% chance you will not succeed with acceptable results. Hire a professional from the NWFA can recommend someone. Most companies have really nice vacuum systems to keep the dust to a minimum plan a vacation have them done or spend 3-4 a ² foot having them done for you. If you try and screw up you will still have to pay that 3-4 dollars a ² foot plus what you wasted on rentals fees and sweat equity.

True true. We are also renovating the kitchen and upstairs floors (that can’t wait, the carpet is filthy and I’m getting it done before moving in) so honestly our extra $$ saved is going there first. I was hoping to go ahead and get downstairs floors redone before move in but if it means another 10-15k right now, it may have to wait a year or so. Which, is a massive pain but I haven’t figured out how to make a money tree bloom just yet.

Thanks for the advice. I’m sure I’ll be back for more considering we bought somewhat of a fixer upper (albeit beautiful but needs work).

Yeah, and that’s what I was hoping to avoid by doing them up front here. Trust me, If I find some extra cash laying around I will do it before we move in. Otherwise, like someone else said, I will have to schedule it to be done while we go on vacation.. after moving furniture out. Pain in the butt.

Definitely something you want to do before moving in, or just enjoy it the way that it is. Maybe cleaning & buffing would be doable without breaking the budget.

OP, that size area, there would be no way I would take that on due to the time it would take. Now if you have time to not move in for a week+, then go for it.