hardwood floor refinish

[Ron]

That machine does look easy to use, and the video is really helpful in terms of seeing it in action.

[Vic Smith]

Nice, Thanks.

Dark, about hand-sized. But that was an unwalked on area under a table and rug. Could have been just the varnish took most or all of it. Sander didn't do anything special there. Had a few other lighter stains where the varnish was almost gone, and they all disappeared too. Might be I was seeing varnish discoloration, not wood stains. All I really know is when asked the sander if the stains would come out, he said "Don't know, we'll find out." Judging from the ridge when I did the base/shoe, they took off close to 1/16"

--Vic

[Tony Sivori]

>

I replaced the living room floor with wood of the same species and dimension as the original, Red Oak 2" x 5/16" strips. I bought 210 SF of Select and Better from the Lebanon Oak Flooring factory in Lebanon KY. Cost was $510, picked up at the factory.

Tongue and groove doesn't come that thin, and changing the floor height would have meant changing thresholds and door heights.

I also considered all the wood floors through the house having a similar appearance to be a plus, but that is just my own preference.

The floor is stained, it is Bona DriFast, the color is Cherry. Only one coat of stain. It is a very light red, so light I was worried about the floor looking pink.

The color looks good on Red Oak, and to my relief it did not turn out the least bit pink.

PDF of Bona Stain color chart here:

The finish is Bona Traffic, in satin. I bought it (and the stain, and the wood filler) from these guys:

That probably came out looking fine, but I think it might not be a sturdy and long lasting floor finish.

Just my opinion here, but when I do a DIY project, I tend to splurge on quality materials. I figure I am already saving a ton of money on labor, so I like to buy upper end materials.

[Ron]

>>

Thanks Tony. That helps a lot. I should have realized that you used Bona Traffic for the finish since you wrote about that in detail elsewhere. Even though said it is extremely durable and long lasting, I won't be using that since I don't need super durability. The hardwood that I am going to put down will be in an apartment that I will be renting out, and regular polyurethane will work for me for that and is much less expensive. I don't mind spending more for good quality materials in general, but in this case the price difference would be way too much for me to want to go with the Bona Traffic.

Knowing that you used Red Oak Select and Better also helped since I can get Red Oak locally.

What really helped is knowing that you did use stain first and knowing what you used. The Bona Dri-Fast cherry stain that you picked looks like it would produce exactly the look that I would like to achieve. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any local places where they sell that product (I am in New Jersey, near Philadelphia, PA). But maybe I can test out some other brand of stain and try choosing cherry as the color.