I recently bought an abandoned farm house from the the early 1900's. It has softwood flooring that has been covered by carpet and vinyl. I would like to restore the wood and have been given conflicting advice about softwood. Is it okay to sand the floor with a lower grit to get the adhesive off the floor, or should I only use higher grit? Is the overall process the same as hardwood floors? Thanks for any help.
It is the same. To get a nice smooth surface use 3 or 4 grit grades working up to 220 or 250 grit. It is much easier to gouge a softer wood, so be careful about moving or tipping the sander or being in any spot for too long. Some sanders are much more aggressive than others. Sanding always makes a mess so having a dust collector and a well-fitting respirator makes good sense. Also, consider hanging sheets of plastic to confine the dust else it will easily travel over the house.
Not sure about your softwood floor project but at our summer home we refinished the 800 sq feet of softwood flooring last summer. Real nice job, took our time and put 5 coats on it. Daughter had some friends up for a BBQ and someone decided that high heel shoes was appropriate footwear for cottage country. The rest is history.
Wow, that is a sad story about the high heels. Thanks to everyone for the advice!
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