We paid a handyman to sand the floors in a cottage we bought and the floor looks the same as it did before he started. I’m so frustrated now he’s shellacked them any advice?
This is so hard to stop watching as a former carpenter and wood enthusiast... I am about to restore a 50-60 yr old house floor... Very inspiring... can watch sanding and restoring of wood all day. Thanks for the great video!
What a fantastic job you did with this floor! You strengthened the loose boards which likely squeaked, nailing them back in place. Then you sanded the floor-boards so perfectly and sealed them! Sanding a 2nd time and sealing again.😊 It really came out looking awesome! Well done!❤👍
You can't remove squeaks by nailing the floors back in. You have flooring screws nowadays and they work much better than any nail you'll ever see but to each his own ..
@@nobodyhome31337pretty sure it’s to de-nib the planks. The water based sealant raises the grain on the timber, so it’s lightly sanded between coats so the floor isn’t rough.
I'm so relieved to finally find a video on floating wood floors! I've called company after company and they just argue about how im wrong. No one believes that there's floors that go directly on the joists 🤦♀️
I love seeing all these examples of old floorboards , so far , most of the RUclips videos I've watched have me wishing that was my floor before sanding as most look like it would take a fraction of the time than the state of mine is taking! Somebody has done a fantastic job of buggering up my partner's floor I'm wrestling with Im only 34 and feel aged after several hours sanding, ( admittedly in stages as its not feasible to remove all the furniture from the room 🙄) so the dust cleanup after each day chipping away at it is a laborious job in itself . Jeez
You were very fortunate that your 100 year old pine flooring did not have any big gaps between the boards. My house was built in 1892 and has the original old pine planks. Some have rather larger gaps, so I won’t be able to go with a lighter or natural stain because I would see all those dark cracks.
You could consider moving the boards around a bit if you can get them up, or you can also fill the gaps with Bona Mix & Fill. He does a great video on filling gaps as well
I watched a video a while back on another channel using natural fiber cordage between some of the cracks to allow for expansion of wood. They dyed it to match the floors close as possible. Don't know how well it lasts but it seemed nice.
People commenting on gaps and how pine is not that great, but the colors and textures in old growth pine and the character from the century of distress and cool nail holes makes these floors tops in my book. If you do t like character just go lvp which is being touted as “luxury vinyl” kind of like linoleum was in the titanic
I agree, the warmth and charm are beautiful. I fell for the LVP sales pitch at my old home. Coretec, top of their line at the time. Scratched easily and any heavy furniture like a sectional smooshed it and left permanent marks. We just bought a house built in 1894, and I am looking forward to restoring the actual wood floors here. Pine is soft, but it doesn’t dent like LVP!
Great to see you do an old British pine floor Ben. This one is very similar to mine, complete with creaks, large gaps and past plumbing cuts. Interesting to see what you improve and what you leave alone, though I guess the client had some input there. The final job looks wonderful!
@@artbyingrida You have to close up large gaps and usually you use a long shim to do so. You can cut the excess of with a chisel and then the sander will take care of the rest. It takes a very long time do to and the truth is that many old floors are simply not worth the effort or money to restore. But I'll get a lot of abuse for this so take it with a grain of salt.
Beautiful work 👏 the devil is in the details, making sure nails are set slightly deeper, with no large height difference. You make your ancestors proud, good sir.
Incredible difference! It doesn't look like the walls were affected or discoloured. That's my issue, which to do first. I heard that the walls will get discoloured by the floor sanding, so I was going to do the floors first then have the problem of protecting the floors while doing the walls and ceilings, all hardwood ceiling to & including floors, 3 layers of lead paint on walls & ceiling.
Not using Bona anymore?, did a job similar to this a few days ago, Very old pine boards but the majority of the floor was covered in carpet adhesive so it gunked up all the sanding pads and had to scrape all the edges with a carbide scraper before using the rotex. Punched all the nails below like done here and also lifted a board and put better supports under like you did here to stop the boards moving when stepped on. Hoovering was a nightmare just couldnt seem to get bits to stop coming up through the cracks until the last coat. My job was stained walnut and coated with a few coats of Fiddes hardwax oil cut back in between. Came up lovely.
As a DIYer who just restored his own 150 year old floorboards last weekend after trying to learn as much as possible from your videos, I want to share some of my experiences. 1. Against your advice we thought that we could get away with just using a rotary sander and edge sander since pine wood is quite soft. I guess we were afraid of using a belt sander and messing it up. We quickly realized our mistake, listened to the pros and rented a belt sander. Even if your floorboards are only very slightly cupped, it takes forever to get them level with anything else and any dents will not come. Just be careful and stay focussed. 2. Take enough time to check if there is movement in your floorboards and nail them down if necessary. There were a couple of planks that I missed that moved ever so slightly, which meant that we initially missed some of the deeper scratches of the coarse grits when trying to sand them out, because the board dipped down ever so slightly. 3. Take a bright light and go over your floors after you move up a grit. You will be able to easily spot if you left some deep scratches or if you managed to get them all out. 4. When it came time to finish the floor with a roller, we had some issues with dirt coming up from the gaps between the floorboards, even though we vacuumed very thoroughly. This caused some bits to get stuck into the finishing oil, which we then had to scuff sand out between coats. Probably worth it to spend some extra time poking away at the gaps to loosen dirt and then vacuum it all up. 5. The whole process took way longer than expected, but we are oh so very pleased we the result. All of the common pitfalls were avoided thanks to your videos! At least as far as I can tell ;)
Wow, if you’d have bought my video course and shot me an email I could have saved you a ton of time and money(one days rental for 1 machine is more than the cost of my course 😂) I couldn’t think of a floor less apt for starting with a rotary sander than a 150 year old pine floor 😂 it takes a ton of work even with 36 on a drum sander. However, a lot of the time someone will email with a question, I’ll give them my advice and they will not take my advice and then exactly what I said was going to happen happens. I’m not saying that to moan, it happens 75% of the time, I don’t know how to be more convincing! I’m glad it worked out in the end, floors that old look great when they’re done
Very impressive. How do you seal the gaps between boards and what's a typical gap for a floor like this? And which exact lacquer did you use on this floor? Thanks
On a very small floor 6m2 would say a belt sander would be ok? Also, what would you recommend as the best finish to give the most nature look possible.
The floor on my house is over 200 year old planks. It doesn’t lay flat in a lot of areas(kind of like walking in a ship)… is it possible to use the big machines on it or is my best bet to go hands and knees and use an orbital sander?
I'm in a similar boat and my guess is it's better to do it by hand. Just be very careful to use PPE and a shop vac for dust collection. Those machines are also vacuums, so you'll end up with a huge mess if you're not careful
Mine also is like an uneven old ship but I love its character finished sanding 40grit hoovering all the crap constantly is annoying, gaps i used sealant wish i had only used around the edges now as its stained will prob have to plain it off😒 boiled linseed x2 coats still loads to do🙄
No sawdust and Lecol. Apart from that good job. Little tip, before final sand, if you give a light water pop (I use a garden sprayer high pressure fine spray) . There is no need to sand between coats meaning there is a thicker protection layer and still just as smooth.
@sambryant2283 same applies. You could putty fill the nail holes to avoid cracking... but that'd be very odd, it's considered to be part of the optic character of the floor (the visible nail holes).
Sir may I say that your did a awesome job on that floor that's how u deal with a floor like that u did the right thing and at the end it looks amazing sir a job well done 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍💯💯💯💯💯 a perfection sir 🙂🙂🙂🙂
Wish you could come do my hall stairs and landing, 1904 end terrace no paint on but some holes squeaky uneven boards. Will have to diy it unfortunately not everyone has the funds and loads of repair jobs on these old propertys.
great video, and the floor came great as well. I want to restore a similar floor in my house. I am curious, what did you use to fill the gaps between the boards?
4 disc floor sanders are much gentler and preserve far more material than the belt or other style of sanders. For most people, that would be the far safer option for sanding old floors. I've seen a lot of old homes flooring ruined by the more aggressive machines in the wrong hands.
Older floors need more material removed, and pine floorboards like this can rip those disks off sometimes. People just need to do a bit of research on how to use the drum sander and practice with a 120 belt.
Awesome job - I have floors just like this in the US, but in much worse shape. No subfloors, can the basement. They need to saved. 150 years old planks. Appreciate all the videos, Subscribed, definitely earned - amazing videos
hey I have a question hopefully you see this within a day or so! when doing the diagnonal method and I reach a corner, should I go straight there? or just use the edger on a larger area there in the corner?
I’ve been watching a lot of your videos recently! I am refinishing my own hardwood floors at the moment. I wanted to get your opinion on something though. I sanded the edges first with a belt sander with 50 grit going with the grain and then with a detail sander with 60 grit. I will be coming back with a drum sander for the middle of the floors with 60 grit and then going from 80 to 100 and the same for the edges but with a detail sander. Do you think I should have done the edges differently? I hope you see this before I finish up so that way I have an experts opinion!
I want to do this but my 3/4 inch tongue and groove oak floor boards don’t squeak, instead they crack and pop and sound like they are splitting even though they are not, they’ve been doing it for years. No idea what to do.
They look amazing. Our house was built in the 1920s and the flooring is like this. We tried to sand it and do it ourselves and the result was meh. Having watched your videos I can see what things we did wrong so how to improve next time. The one big issue we had is that one board needed replacing completely and they don’t make the boards the same size now so the one that my husband replaced it with isn’t as wide as the original and sticks up higher. Do you know if there is anywhere you can get original ones to switch out?
Love your videos! I only needed to watch one to realize you knew what you were talking about. Question... for a very old historic home do you think it's possible to make the floors look too perfect? I'm concerned that the floors could look almost new when the rest of the rooms are imperfect because they are so old. Not sure if I'm explaining that well.
Hey! I live in Long Branch, NJ and was impressed with your work. In 2023, I founded my sand and install flooring company, IAC - American Floor, and am seeking advice on how to expand my business and find more job opportunities. I am open to any suggestions or guidance you can offer. Thanks in advance!
Wonderful job! The only thing I would have done differently would have been to use an oil based finish rather than a water based to give it that honey tone like original shellac finish. It would have given it a higher sheen as well. None the less a beautiful job!
going to say when the alternative flooring is printed paper glued to strand board -Hell yes !!! it is more than worth it in every way FYI my replacement flooring they convinced me to put down got wet from a leaky window and the top just peeled away
I think there's a pretty good video somewhere on this channel that explains why you start with one or more diagonal passes until the floor is smooth and then do the final pass with the grain.
Any advice on cleaning carpet adhesive off 70year old boards? I very much would like to restore it and own a 16in rotary disc and a 20in square scrubber as well as all the hand tools thanks😬 I've considered buying a scraper drive for the rotary but don't want to potentially damage the boards with a diamond scraper. I also have these same wide boards with the gaping under my carpet on the second floor, so this helps me a lot!
@@HowToSandAFloor thank you! I’ve watched a ton of your videos and didn’t heed your advice to use the drum sander rather than a finishing sander to remove the old finish. I recall you saying in one of your videos, that it would take a week if you used just a finishing sander. No one in my area offers a drum sander for rent so I went with the finishing sander. It took me 55 hours not including prep time, clean up and edge work to sand about 1200 sqft. 15 hours the first day, 10 the next then about about 5 on average the next 5 days. I knew within the first minute of using it, that I was in for a long day and should’ve returned it right then and counted my loss.
Amazing transformation! Are the gaps between boards just a part of how floors like this were constructed? We have a similar floor and the gaps make it so hard to keep clean!
Yes, in britain these floors are generally fitted as a subfloor, the gaps are to allow for expansion and contraction. You do get cumulative contraction over time.
Thank you! Why did builders put strips of wood on top of floor joists? We replaced several joists and flooring in the kitchen years ago, but we didn't go far enough. Now I have a new soft spot. I'm too old to crawl under the house. Do NOT tell me I am too fat to do it or I'll prove you wrong just for spite! Anyway I used some reclaimed wide hundred year old tongue and groove on a floor upstairs. I tried the glue and sawdust filler. Yeah, sawdust is much too coarse BUT I can fill most of the gaps with it and then come back with a fine filler. I'll be painting the floor anyway. The walls and ceiling are this wonderful dark shiny stain/sealer/whatever. I just need a light color floor. I refuse to sand the whole floor. Wouldn't be able to carry a floor sander up the stairs. Had to get a young friend to carry my Dewalt saw down the stairs after finishing the floor. And for all you 'pro' men, my home (2 stories) was cut in half and moved to my land 25 years ago. A doctor moved South and converted a barn into her a hundred years ago. She survived a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina with minimal damage.
Been sanding floors in the Chicago area for a while….. happy to see there are others out there who care about standing floors…. Keep it going
We paid a handyman to sand the floors in a cottage we bought and the floor looks the same as it did before he started. I’m so frustrated now he’s shellacked them any advice?
Can you come sand mine?
This is so hard to stop watching as a former carpenter and wood enthusiast... I am about to restore a 50-60 yr old house floor... Very inspiring... can watch sanding and restoring of wood all day. Thanks for the great video!
Now its very easy to understand why proper floor sanding is $6+ a square foot!! Amazing work
I’ve just restored a pine floor in my hallway this week with help from your ebook and video course - thank you!
What a fantastic job you did with this floor! You strengthened the loose boards which likely squeaked, nailing them back in place. Then you sanded the floor-boards so perfectly and sealed them! Sanding a 2nd time and sealing again.😊 It really came out looking awesome! Well done!❤👍
No need to watch the vid with this perfect synopsis.. 😆
You can't remove squeaks by nailing the floors back in. You have flooring screws nowadays and they work much better than any nail you'll ever see but to each his own ..
I don't understand why the need for a second sanding. Doesn't the second sanding remove the work of the first seal?
@@nobodyhome31337pretty sure it’s to de-nib the planks. The water based sealant raises the grain on the timber, so it’s lightly sanded between coats so the floor isn’t rough.
Beautiful floor! Ben, you are an absolute star!
I'm so relieved to finally find a video on floating wood floors! I've called company after company and they just argue about how im wrong. No one believes that there's floors that go directly on the joists 🤦♀️
You sir, are a master in your craft. Thanks for sharing!
You take the time to do it right and it shows, very professional
Yes! I stripped our 100 year old orange floors and also left their natural color. I think this looks SO much better. Great job!
I like it when you do a voice over on your videos. It helps explain for us noobs what you are doing and why. Anyway - I love your videos!!!
I love seeing all these examples of old floorboards , so far , most of the RUclips videos I've watched have me wishing that was my floor before sanding as most look like it would take a fraction of the time than the state of mine is taking!
Somebody has done a fantastic job of buggering up my partner's floor I'm wrestling with
Im only 34 and feel aged after several hours sanding, ( admittedly in stages as its not feasible to remove all the furniture from the room 🙄) so the dust cleanup after each day chipping away at it is a laborious job in itself . Jeez
Loba for the win! Just started using it and I’m in love, no lap lines!
Most 1k lacquers and low sheen keep lap lines well at bay.
You were very fortunate that your 100 year old pine flooring did not have any big gaps between the boards. My house was built in 1892 and has the original old pine planks. Some have rather larger gaps, so I won’t be able to go with a lighter or natural stain because I would see all those dark cracks.
I just uncovered my houses living room hard floor but just a little bit so idk if it has any big cracks I'll keep that in mind
You could consider moving the boards around a bit if you can get them up, or you can also fill the gaps with Bona Mix & Fill. He does a great video on filling gaps as well
I watched a video a while back on another channel using natural fiber cordage between some of the cracks to allow for expansion of wood. They dyed it to match the floors close as possible. Don't know how well it lasts but it seemed nice.
Mine too huge gaps and holes around pipework even wires that were just under the carpet!
Who cares about the gap
Great lighting and camera angle showing the cross cut get run over by the straight pass with the drum
People commenting on gaps and how pine is not that great, but the colors and textures in old growth pine and the character from the century of distress and cool nail holes makes these floors tops in my book. If you do t like character just go lvp which is being touted as “luxury vinyl” kind of like linoleum was in the titanic
I agree, the warmth and charm are beautiful. I fell for the LVP sales pitch at my old home. Coretec, top of their line at the time. Scratched easily and any heavy furniture like a sectional smooshed it and left permanent marks. We just bought a house built in 1894, and I am looking forward to restoring the actual wood floors here. Pine is soft, but it doesn’t dent like LVP!
Any new content? I liked this channel
Great finish as always, love the cheeky editing with the hammer work!
Nice job pal. I like that tool at 3:12 for the edges!
Very nice end results. And the video editing is top quality. Just like your work.
Gorgeous! Good for another 100 years.
Efficient and clean work, I love it!
Fabulouse restoraiton !
Great to see you do an old British pine floor Ben. This one is very similar to mine, complete with creaks, large gaps and past plumbing cuts. Interesting to see what you improve and what you leave alone, though I guess the client had some input there. The final job looks wonderful!
But what to do with large gaps?
@@artbyingrida You have to close up large gaps and usually you use a long shim to do so. You can cut the excess of with a chisel and then the sander will take care of the rest. It takes a very long time do to and the truth is that many old floors are simply not worth the effort or money to restore. But I'll get a lot of abuse for this so take it with a grain of salt.
Beautiful work 👏 the devil is in the details, making sure nails are set slightly deeper, with no large height difference. You make your ancestors proud, good sir.
Incredible difference! It doesn't look like the walls were affected or discoloured. That's my issue, which to do first. I heard that the walls will get discoloured by the floor sanding, so I was going to do the floors first then have the problem of protecting the floors while doing the walls and ceilings, all hardwood ceiling to & including floors, 3 layers of lead paint on walls & ceiling.
Much nicer than covering it with carpet for sure! After the initial essential hand labour, the power tools make the job much easier.
Another fabulous and mesmerising restoration! Good job Ben
Always beautiful work ❤
Definably worth it..., Well done sir.
Not using Bona anymore?, did a job similar to this a few days ago, Very old pine boards but the majority of the floor was covered in carpet adhesive so it gunked up all the sanding pads and had to scrape all the edges with a carbide scraper before using the rotex. Punched all the nails below like done here and also lifted a board and put better supports under like you did here to stop the boards moving when stepped on. Hoovering was a nightmare just couldnt seem to get bits to stop coming up through the cracks until the last coat. My job was stained walnut and coated with a few coats of Fiddes hardwax oil cut back in between. Came up lovely.
As a DIYer who just restored his own 150 year old floorboards last weekend after trying to learn as much as possible from your videos, I want to share some of my experiences.
1. Against your advice we thought that we could get away with just using a rotary sander and edge sander since pine wood is quite soft. I guess we were afraid of using a belt sander and messing it up. We quickly realized our mistake, listened to the pros and rented a belt sander. Even if your floorboards are only very slightly cupped, it takes forever to get them level with anything else and any dents will not come. Just be careful and stay focussed.
2. Take enough time to check if there is movement in your floorboards and nail them down if necessary. There were a couple of planks that I missed that moved ever so slightly, which meant that we initially missed some of the deeper scratches of the coarse grits when trying to sand them out, because the board dipped down ever so slightly.
3. Take a bright light and go over your floors after you move up a grit. You will be able to easily spot if you left some deep scratches or if you managed to get them all out.
4. When it came time to finish the floor with a roller, we had some issues with dirt coming up from the gaps between the floorboards, even though we vacuumed very thoroughly. This caused some bits to get stuck into the finishing oil, which we then had to scuff sand out between coats. Probably worth it to spend some extra time poking away at the gaps to loosen dirt and then vacuum it all up.
5. The whole process took way longer than expected, but we are oh so very pleased we the result. All of the common pitfalls were avoided thanks to your videos! At least as far as I can tell ;)
Wow, if you’d have bought my video course and shot me an email I could have saved you a ton of time and money(one days rental for 1 machine is more than the cost of my course 😂)
I couldn’t think of a floor less apt for starting with a rotary sander than a 150 year old pine floor 😂 it takes a ton of work even with 36 on a drum sander.
However, a lot of the time someone will email with a question, I’ll give them my advice and they will not take my advice and then exactly what I said was going to happen happens. I’m not saying that to moan, it happens 75% of the time, I don’t know how to be more convincing!
I’m glad it worked out in the end, floors that old look great when they’re done
@@HowToSandAFloor
Have you ever heard of the Rhino RS150 working to sand wooden floors?
Very impressive. How do you seal the gaps between boards and what's a typical gap for a floor like this? And which exact lacquer did you use on this floor? Thanks
He does other videos on filling gaps, you'll need to watch them all!
Beautiful. Nicely done.
Beautiful work
Great recipe, can’t wait to try this soup at home!
Wow what a transformation
On a very small floor 6m2 would say a belt sander would be ok?
Also, what would you recommend as the best finish to give the most nature look possible.
The floor on my house is over 200 year old planks. It doesn’t lay flat in a lot of areas(kind of like walking in a ship)… is it possible to use the big machines on it or is my best bet to go hands and knees and use an orbital sander?
I'm in a similar boat and my guess is it's better to do it by hand. Just be very careful to use PPE and a shop vac for dust collection. Those machines are also vacuums, so you'll end up with a huge mess if you're not careful
Mine also is like an uneven old ship but I love its character finished sanding 40grit hoovering all the crap constantly is annoying, gaps i used sealant wish i had only used around the edges now as its stained will prob have to plain it off😒 boiled linseed x2 coats still loads to do🙄
Yes! Old floorboards are very much worth restoring.
No sawdust and Lecol. Apart from that good job. Little tip, before final sand, if you give a light water pop (I use a garden sprayer high pressure fine spray) . There is no need to sand between coats meaning there is a thicker protection layer and still just as smooth.
Can't resin fill gaps that big brother, will crack and loosen within 3 seasons.
What does your "sawdust and Lecol" comment mean? Are you suggesting that the floor should have been vandalised (aka, gap-filled)??
@@p1tillhometime I was referring to the nails holes
@@simpletonballsack I was referring to nails holes and the chipped parts. Not the gaps, That’s suicidal.
@sambryant2283 same applies. You could putty fill the nail holes to avoid cracking... but that'd be very odd, it's considered to be part of the optic character of the floor (the visible nail holes).
Sir may I say that your did a awesome job on that floor that's how u deal with a floor like that u did the right thing and at the end it looks amazing sir a job well done 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍💯💯💯💯💯 a perfection sir 🙂🙂🙂🙂
Cheers 😁🍻
This can resolve the squicking sound when you step on an old such floor as well right?
Beautiful work sir nicely done sir a perfect job sir nice 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
What are the equipments needed please?
Wish you could come do my hall stairs and landing, 1904 end terrace no paint on but some holes squeaky uneven boards. Will have to diy it unfortunately not everyone has the funds and loads of repair jobs on these old propertys.
great video, and the floor came great as well. I want to restore a similar floor in my house. I am curious, what did you use to fill the gaps between the boards?
I had the same question, any solution?
4 disc floor sanders are much gentler and preserve far more material than the belt or other style of sanders. For most people, that would be the far safer option for sanding old floors. I've seen a lot of old homes flooring ruined by the more aggressive machines in the wrong hands.
Older floors need more material removed, and pine floorboards like this can rip those disks off sometimes. People just need to do a bit of research on how to use the drum sander and practice with a 120 belt.
What is that second sander called, the green handheld one?
They look fantastic...ill be honest though, old look looks fine to me as well
Do you have a guide to simple floor touchup?
Awesome job - I have floors just like this in the US, but in much worse shape. No subfloors, can the basement. They need to saved. 150 years old planks. Appreciate all the videos, Subscribed, definitely earned - amazing videos
Thank you! 🍻
Bravo!! Great job. I have wood floors I will need to tackle. :)
So diagonal passing first with lower grain? Then pass in the direction of the boards with high grain?
What is the first product that you apply to the floors (prior to the finish)?
hey I have a question hopefully you see this within a day or so! when doing the diagnonal method and I reach a corner, should I go straight there? or just use the edger on a larger area there in the corner?
Excellent video, can I ask what grit size sand papers did you use? 😊
hello, thanks for the video. how much does it cost to hire the equipment to sand your own floors?
do the edges of the boards eat a lot of the material?
I’ve been watching a lot of your videos recently! I am refinishing my own hardwood floors at the moment. I wanted to get your opinion on something though. I sanded the edges first with a belt sander with 50 grit going with the grain and then with a detail sander with 60 grit. I will be coming back with a drum sander for the middle of the floors with 60 grit and then going from 80 to 100 and the same for the edges but with a detail sander. Do you think I should have done the edges differently? I hope you see this before I finish up so that way I have an experts opinion!
Hello. Can you please tell me the name of that smaller sander and what exactly you treated the wood with after sanding? Is it just lake?
I want to do this but my 3/4 inch tongue and groove oak floor boards don’t squeak, instead they crack and pop and sound like they are splitting even though they are not, they’ve been doing it for years. No idea what to do.
They look amazing. Our house was built in the 1920s and the flooring is like this. We tried to sand it and do it ourselves and the result was meh. Having watched your videos I can see what things we did wrong so how to improve next time. The one big issue we had is that one board needed replacing completely and they don’t make the boards the same size now so the one that my husband replaced it with isn’t as wide as the original and sticks up higher. Do you know if there is anywhere you can get original ones to switch out?
Love your videos! I only needed to watch one to realize you knew what you were talking about. Question... for a very old historic home do you think it's possible to make the floors look too perfect? I'm concerned that the floors could look almost new when the rest of the rooms are imperfect because they are so old. Not sure if I'm explaining that well.
Wow...!! Magnificent job 👏 👌
Could anyone explain the steps after the floors were sanded?🙏🏾
What machine would you recommend when hiring a sander for DIY?
Hey! I live in Long Branch, NJ and was impressed with your work. In 2023, I founded my sand and install flooring company, IAC - American Floor, and am seeking advice on how to expand my business and find more job opportunities. I am open to any suggestions or guidance you can offer. Thanks in advance!
You left all the nail holes?
Wonderful job! The only thing I would have done differently would have been to use an oil based finish rather than a water based to give it that honey tone like original shellac finish. It would have given it a higher sheen as well. None the less a beautiful job!
Looks great!
What’s the little tool you used to get in the corners? I need that! 😅
Its called a Multi tool. Made by Fein but other brands make their own.
How long would the entire process take for a room this size?
Question, you dont fill the nail holes?
going to say when the alternative flooring is printed paper glued to strand board -Hell yes !!! it is more than worth it in every way FYI my replacement flooring they convinced me to put down got wet from a leaky window and the top just peeled away
Gorgeous
Why did you use the sander at an angle when removing the paint and not use it in the direction of the wood fibers?
it more easily creates visible marks
@@magnushmann Thank you
Makes the floor flatter
I think there's a pretty good video somewhere on this channel that explains why you start with one or more diagonal passes until the floor is smooth and then do the final pass with the grain.
@@Ragnar8504 There is yea
Any advice on cleaning carpet adhesive off 70year old boards? I very much would like to restore it and own a 16in rotary disc and a 20in square scrubber as well as all the hand tools thanks😬 I've considered buying a scraper drive for the rotary but don't want to potentially damage the boards with a diamond scraper.
I also have these same wide boards with the gaping under my carpet on the second floor, so this helps me a lot!
sand it off with a big belt/drum machine. If theyre 70 year old boards youre going to need to start with one anyway! 36 or 40 grit should get it off
What’s on the bottom of your shoe
Curious why ou didnt fill the nail holes?
The client didn’t want it! I wanted to clear the gaps and fill them but she didn’t want that either
It looks nice, but when are you gonna put the top floor on?
So you would recommend using a roller for the polyacrylic topcoat?
I think roller is the best method of application yes
@@HowToSandAFloor thank you! I’ve watched a ton of your videos and didn’t heed your advice to use the drum sander rather than a finishing sander to remove the old finish. I recall you saying in one of your videos, that it would take a week if you used just a finishing sander. No one in my area offers a drum sander for rent so I went with the finishing sander. It took me 55 hours not including prep time, clean up and edge work to sand about 1200 sqft. 15 hours the first day, 10 the next then about about 5 on average the next 5 days. I knew within the first minute of using it, that I was in for a long day and should’ve returned it right then and counted my loss.
The surface of the floor is not leveled and I wonder what tool he uses to level it, I notice that it comes out super well and nicely leveled
The big green machine, is it a plainer?
It’s a belt sander (Lagler Hummel)
Can you do a video on how to tidy up old borer tracks. If it's possible 😀
What kind of roller did you use??
I probably missed it in another video but what filler do you use? Is it an oil based solvent ekth sanding dust or something else?
Beautiful work 😅
Good job 👍
Amazing transformation!
Are the gaps between boards just a part of how floors like this were constructed? We have a similar floor and the gaps make it so hard to keep clean!
Yes, in britain these floors are generally fitted as a subfloor, the gaps are to allow for expansion and contraction. You do get cumulative contraction over time.
Beautiful.
I like that edger. The one I rented was a joke.
No wood filler?
Any recommendation to hide nail spots?
drive the nails deeper into the wood and use plugs or filler
Thank you ❤ my floors are from 1886 and I am pulling my hair out trying to clean them up to sand them ❤
Why do you need to clean them before sanding?
No telling how many materials have been attached and with what adhesives or coatings over the years.@@HowToSandAFloor
Green crocs are powerful 🔥
so interesting to watch!
I love this!
Nice work! How do you rate the Loba finish vs something like Bona HD?
@@phantos02 they both have their benefits and draw backs, I’d probably say hd pulls ahead slightly
Bon travail bravo
Thank you! Why did builders put strips of wood on top of floor joists? We replaced several joists and flooring in the kitchen years ago, but we didn't go far enough. Now I have a new soft spot. I'm too old to crawl under the house. Do NOT tell me I am too fat to do it or I'll prove you wrong just for spite! Anyway I used some reclaimed wide hundred year old tongue and groove on a floor upstairs. I tried the glue and sawdust filler. Yeah, sawdust is much too coarse BUT I can fill most of the gaps with it and then come back with a fine filler. I'll be painting the floor anyway. The walls and ceiling are this wonderful dark shiny stain/sealer/whatever. I just need a light color floor. I refuse to sand the whole floor. Wouldn't be able to carry a floor sander up the stairs. Had to get a young friend to carry my Dewalt saw down the stairs after finishing the floor. And for all you 'pro' men, my home (2 stories) was cut in half and moved to my land 25 years ago. A doctor moved South and converted a barn into her a hundred years ago. She survived a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina with minimal damage.