Hi! I know this is pretty late but I just saw your video. I am a Tool Rental associate for home depot in Washington and when you rent this particular sander it is supposed to come with a dust skirt that goes around the base from the metal plate to the floor to help keep the dust down. It doesn't prevent all the dust from escaping but it keeps about 80% in the bag and not in the air. Anyone renting this in the future make sure you get the dust skirt.
Consider this advice from a first-timer who did the floors in a connected living and dining room and got a very good result: Work slowly. A professional may be able to do your floor in two days, but if you're doing it yourself, plan for at least twice that amount of time. Compared to the cost of hiring a professional, taking that much extra time is still well worth it. Remove the baseboards, or at least the quarter-round trim at the bottom of the baseboards. One of my floors was a herringbone parquet, so sanding it with the grain was not possible. The people at the rental center warned me not to rent the huge, heavy drum sander, but I ignored the advice, did it anyway and came out fine and here's how: the downward pressure was adjustable on the machine I rented, I started out with almost zero downward pressure at first, and SLOWLY adjusted it to where I could see it was working. Keeping it moving at all times, and fighting the very strong urge to "scrub" on a bad spot. Keep it moving and work the larger area long enough to sand away or minimize the problem spot. The drum sander is indeed a beast, but it can be tamed. I used the drum sander one day, returned it the next morning and brought home the large square sander (similar to the one shown in this video), I used it to sand with the finer grits and I did it twice, just to make sure it was good and thorough. Inspected the work carefully and up close as I went, and never got in a hurry. Then made sure everything was super clean, stained the floor and let it dry 24 hours. Then three coats of poly, with proper drying time between coats. It looks professional, but it was my very first one. You can do it too.
This machine was not made for Sanding down to the bare wood and an orbital sander was NOT made to sand down to the bare wood. For All the damage he has done to the floor and all the divots, dirt and finish left in the floor, because he has no idea of what he's trying to teach...... It's Worth every penny to hire a professional. If this is what you expect form a professional then youd be correct Do it yourself. However if you want the floors to look Great then Hire the professional or live with crap
@@kathleenfreeman9456 As previously stated, I did fine with no professional involved, but I definitely can see and understand why others are better off hiring one!
@@kathleenfreeman9456 Agreed, he didn't even sand the floor completely. Like you stated he left all the divots and even highlighted them when he polyed the floor...
Wow! You are made to make instructional videos ! Step by step even applying the pads to the machine you have NO IDEA how helpful that was.. and this video in general thanks a lot
Thank you for the cost and time breakdown in this video, it was very helpful. We need to refinish our floors and the cost to hire a professional is outside of our budget.
“When working with polyurethane you need to be fast...” More like when reading the comments you need to be fast. I had to pause almost every time to see what you wrote 😂. Maybe I’m just too slow. Thanks for the vid. Very helpful. Maybe I’ll get brave and do this myself.
Thank you so much for making this video! we are about to refinish our wood floors it is about 50+ years old and this video will definitely help, I appreciate you adding the cost breakdown too! Great job on the floor too!
I want to spiff up the wood floor in a rental and this is the best video I've seen... thank you so much for sharing! I don't feel so intimidated now :)
I am in the process of refinishing old wood floors in a home I bought in Mobile Alabama. My son is doing it for me, this video is a great help. Thank you for posting.
I can't thank you enough for this video! Sure, there's a lot of things you could have done to do more high-end job as others are stating in the comments, but for the time and budget you allotted yourself the results are way above par. I need to tackle this at my own house blending new unfinished boards into 60 year old red oak. Thanks to your video I see I will be able to hold off until sanding is complete and sanding sealer is applied before I decide if I have to apply stain to get it all to blend better... Hopefully I can leave it natural. Only real problem I foresee is not being able to do all four rooms and three closets in one go. It wouldn't be too big of an issue except that where I see I will need to have is my break point is a doorway where the planks are running long ways through... Will probably end up being a visible blend... Oh well.
I refinished some 120 year old pine flooring last summer. The boards had a lot of cupping and had been painted. I had to sand 400 sq/ft with a 4" hand held restorer drum sander, 3 and 4 inch belt sanders, and vibrator sanders. It was a lot of work especially removing the paint because I had to use 36 grit drums running across the grain at a lower speed so it didn't clog the paper. When I applied the finish I also used the same type applicator as you did but, I poured in a straight line then spread the finish from end to end by dragging the puddle along with the applicator. It worked really well that way. The only areas that got finish applied across the grain were at the ends when the puddle had to be turned to go back to opposite direction. Then the small amount of cross grain application was wiped back in line with grain. It's a very smooth way to apply the finish with less chances of creating any application strokes in the finish.
@@gruffsbadmojo With a random orbit sander it doesn't matter what direction you go. This is why most homeowners go this route because its really hard to screw up. Again, with random orbit you can go any direction you want. Doesn;t have to be with the grain.
I 100% appreciate your video. I rented the square buffer and returned for the circular sander. So much quicker. I am about to use the miniwax complete and I appreciated your video. Helped a lot thank you.
I was really surprised at the end when you said it was price over quality - I think it looks stunning! I love that it retains its original character while looking way more polished and clean. I purchased a home two years ago and recently discovered original hardwood underneath the carpet in the entire home. It's from the 1950's and beat to hell, so I'm going to refinish it this coming summer and will be using this video as a reference. Thanks!
It is a good job for a rental. For higher quality, he knows to remove the shoe molding and also, screen that second coat then do a final third coat. Also would fill more of the gaps.
Jerney Geier you’re right. it’s the little imperfections that I like especially when they’ve been sealed in. Our house is almost 100 years old. It wouldn’t look right if it had brand new perfect hardwoods.
Good job! We did our floors with one big difference, we sanded it against the grain like you did and it really screwed up everything. After we applied the stain, the irregularities of sanding really came out. We had to resand. Thus, sand w/ the grain!
Correct sand with the grain and one more thing. Did anyone notice the divets in the floor and odd spots in closet and kitchen when he did the walk through after being finished. I learned the hard way.
just fyi, if you had the sanding skirt that was suppose to be on that square buff sander you would have had next to no dust flying around the room but still use the dust mask for sure cuz you dont know whats been on that floor and is now airborne. great job!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO and all the hard work you did! I am going to mop my terrible wooden old floors that renters ruined and put down carpet!!!
So far this is one of my favorite videos. We need to restore our hardwood floors and we want to takr this project on buuut i suffer from respiratory problems sooo i dont think i can help my hubby 😥... I'll end up in the hospital. Definitely will show this to my husband-its very self explanatory..easy to follow.
#1 The heavier grit sandpaper is much, much more effective using a drum sander instead of an orbital sander like you were trying to use. The big drums sanders DO require you operate them correctly so that you don't scar the floor but are much more effective on your first pass with the 36/40 grit paper.
Very good results. Especially when you see the before/after still. We just bought a 50 year old house, original hardwoods, which badly need refinishing. We're DIY since we don't have the moola and DH is very handy. Initially, we rented the orbital, but found out by trial-and-error, it's the wrong one; we need the drum sander. We have approximately 1,500 square feet to tackle. In another video, I notice the DIY guy use a watering can to disperse the polyurethane. Like you, we purchased the gloss, but because I like super shiny wood floors. Loved how yours came out and thank you for the demo.
i was taking out carpet cause of bad allergy problems and was gonna put a better carpet down. then i found inhad a beautiful wood floor under 🤣 amazing 😍 i think imma refinish it.
From my experience.. setting up a negative air exhaust fan with filters would of been effective with post work clean up.. it’ll exhaust out the window to trap particulates from the old stain and sealer.. also maybe some painters type drop cloth with tape on one-side to keep baseboards and painted surfaces from clean up after as well- All in all, 👍🏻 great information and content. Greatly appreciate it as I know others will as well
in negotiations on a home purchase and about 1000sq foot needs refinished + 1 flight of steps. so trying to gauge the cost of doing it myself. this videos really helped me out!
I know you keep saying that it's not pretty, but I think it is. You did a fantastic job and am impressed with the cost. We bought our post-WWII cape cod this past July and last night I got curious about what may be underneath the carpet in the living room... Surprise! It was beautiful original hardwood floor. It has seen better days, so we've been discussing hiring someone to refinish them. Seeing as your video has made me hopeful that we can do it ourselves.
+dvbdvbdvb i have a question if I wanted to make the wood darker what would i do after i sand it and oil it down because i want my floors to be dark like a walnut wood
Lavonte Wright Between the sanding and before the finish you will need to stain the wood. You will need a lighter color wood to start with and applying the stain homogeneously would be the challenge, I would recommend you finding your hardwood floor species and staining and finishing some samples before you work on the floor so that you can see how much stain and color would satisfy you and how they look once you apply the finish. The key will be color consistency so that you don't end up with patches of stain in different places.
Nice just bought an old house was planning on carpet but after watching this I think I'm planning on this route.. might just carpet some rooms that will save me tons of money.. Thanks for the vids!!!
Awesome job. It looks pretty darn good for its intended use. I have rentals with wood floors also. I will use your method instead of the other option of painting which doesn't look as good.
Great vid, I'll be doing the floors at a rental I purchased last month. Overall, 720 sqft the estimates I got were from $1800 to $2300, but I'd rather pocket the money and sweat it out a weekend. Keep up the good work
This was excellent. I need to refinish some of my old floors and I thought you did a great job. I will be replaying this many times over the next few days. Thanks!
hey great video man, thanks for all the details and time put into this!it was great! i like how real it is, i live in texas too and yeah labour is a wallet killer. this is great, thankz again!
Thank you for clarifying that. I am used to furniture refinishing, and even with an orbiter sander we go with the grain but it is a little more tedious than floors.. I did not realize that. Thank you.( I really wasn't trying to be a jerk... or a know it all, which I can admit, I didn't know it all! Lol
Good video. Matches my experience refinishing a red oak floor laid in the '30s. That square-cornered sander is great for older floors as it doesn't dig in as aggressively as drum or belt sanders. Dust bag doesn't hold much. Lot of dust comes up, so clear the room, mask off doorways, wear a mask, goggles, hat and gloves. Tested a section with 60 grit paper just to see how the floor would respond to sanding. Coarser 36 grit was the best option to remove the old varnish and stain, then went to 60 and 80 to finish. Hand sanders for the edges and corners. Stained with Varathane Provincial, good medium brown tone. One tip - the pads you stick sandpaper get dusty. Get extras or beat the dust out when changing paper to keep the adhesive sticking.
like how some say to stain it darker to hide the imperfections but it brings them out out would of been easy with a drum sander and a edger they rent them too along with a buffer
Good video, but I have now decided I am not trying this myself. :-) Thank you. Great video- thanks! I learned a lot from you, thanks for sharing your work.
I was going to hire someone to do as some jobs aren't worth aggravation but due COVID-19 looks I may be tackling this myself with home depot rentals. I did my second floor with great results as you did, i know a rental so get your frugality but i still would sanded more. If going through all of this work why not make beautiful, all you needed was another rental for drum sander & papers in beginning then follow up with one you did. Still great job and goes to show with a little time anything can be done.
Hey thats awesome! I know this was from 2015, but awesome way to cut costs with the DIY refinish. Thanks for the close documentation too. I feel I can tackle this chore now.
it blows my mind that it's so common to find hardwood floors covered by ugly outdated and cheap looking floor coverings. thanks for the vid, I think I can do this.
Love the old look but it looking new and shiny! I have an old house from early 1900’s with the original hard wood floors that im wanted to seal to keep the old look and the character its got along with the wear an tear of it! Great knowing it can all be done at a low cost! Been sanding for a few days with my palm sander thats all i have to sand all of the floors but thats fine! Looks great! The difference is really amazing
My floors are in good shape but a light sanding would do wonders. I thought about using a hand sander because my rooms are small and less cost, danger of damaging my floors with uncontrolled sanding. Plus I own a hand sander. How did yours come out?
@@WakandaBabe it turned out pretty good took the broom an swept the sanding dust into the cracks then just used some polyurethane an brushes all over the floor good and thick an let it dry.
@@maroonz71goon49 Thanks. My floorboards are very tight...no spaces at all. Really good shape for being old (house was built in 1927.) Thanks again for the update.
hey man this was a GTREAT video very helpful and informative Ive been wanting to do my floors and havnt had the courage ro but after watching you Im feeling like I can do it thanks!
6:50 - so you went with the glossy polyurethane when you WERE FULLY AWARE that using a satin finish helps hide the imperfections? because the satin cost more? was it like triple the cost?
Awesome video! We are about to purchase a very large old home with wood floors that are in desperate need of refinishing! This gave us a good idea of what to prepare for!
I bought the same sander from someone on classifieds for $400. I did find at Home Depot 20 grit which was awesome for taking the first coat off and taking it back to bare wood. Also yes the dust collection is not good so I just hooked my shop vacuum on the outlet hose and it worked great!! I did sand the edges before each sand working my way up from 20g to 120g sandpaper. It worked well because my hand sander and the square sander sand at different rated thus keeping down the different sanding pattern to a minimum. If you start with the 20g you'll notice a huge difference on how quickly it takes off the old finish and stain compared to the 30+g. Don't skip grits to get done quicker you'll not get the finish you are looking for if you do that.
Most of the "pros" in my city of Baltimore do not do a better job than rushed amateurs, and would certainly not do significantly better than you nor I. It was worthwhile that you saved yourself a lot of money. The floor looks good from 5 or 6 feet of height.
Solid wood floors are usually more than a half inch thick. Especially old ones. You could completely strip it, or pull up a board in a closet to check the thickness if you can’t get a knife blade between the boards anywhere there’s a bigger seam.
Brother I feel your pain. This is backbreaking work especially with such abused old floors. We just went through the exact same process with almost the exact same floor, except we live in Spain and everything from home depots is more expensive (just our rental sander cost almost 80 bucks for one day!). Excellent job, congrats!
Thanks so much! Awesome video and great job. I'm going to give it a shot with my floors. Hope I do as good as you did. Thanks again. Best video I found.
There are some good tips in here, I'll give you that. Especially the tip about the homemade wood filler using glue and sawdust is a nice one. But, the biggest problem here is your general approach. Don't use a finishing sander, in this basically a oversized palm sander, to start with. You're not going to get the scratches and the marks out of the floor, because it doesn't remove enough wood. You should have used a belt or a drum sander for that, to get the floor level and all the scratches out. And then finished fine sanding it with the machine you're starting with. You can clearly see a lot of old finish and marks in the floor when you start putting the finish on it, especially around the edges. Otherwise, nice video!
Bravo👏👏 well done thank you for inspiring and educating one who has floors as such wood from the same year and would like to delight her mother but sprucing up her floors.
If you are watching this, check out using the Diamabrush mastic removal tool instead of sandpaper. it never plugs up with gunk. They rent it at most home depots and some Sherwin williams paint suppliers
Wow amazing work! Only question is, does the wood need to be sanded with a smaller grit on the last pass? Like 80 or 100, so the wood is not too porous.Thank you for the detailed video, very nicely done,I plan on doing this myself soon.
Im about to do mine in april. House is 100 years old with original wood floors. It looks pretty good under carpet. There are 3 of us going to tackle this.
Yes, not a pro job, but, from the pictures it looks like the only imperfections are natural(opposed to sanding marks and scratches) which gives it a nice rustic look. Kudos to the DIY guy!
Hi! I know this is pretty late but I just saw your video. I am a Tool Rental associate for home depot in Washington and when you rent this particular sander it is supposed to come with a dust skirt that goes around the base from the metal plate to the floor to help keep the dust down. It doesn't prevent all the dust from escaping but it keeps about 80% in the bag and not in the air. Anyone renting this in the future make sure you get the dust skirt.
Thanks for sharing that.
Thank you. I need to do mine soon and I will make sure it comes with. Most appreciated
Appreciated
A drum sander should be used.
Good to know, thank you.
Consider this advice from a first-timer who did the floors in a connected living and dining room and got a very good result: Work slowly. A professional may be able to do your floor in two days, but if you're doing it yourself, plan for at least twice that amount of time. Compared to the cost of hiring a professional, taking that much extra time is still well worth it. Remove the baseboards, or at least the quarter-round trim at the bottom of the baseboards.
One of my floors was a herringbone parquet, so sanding it with the grain was not possible. The people at the rental center warned me not to rent the huge, heavy drum sander, but I ignored the advice, did it anyway and came out fine and here's how: the downward pressure was adjustable on the machine I rented, I started out with almost zero downward pressure at first, and SLOWLY adjusted it to where I could see it was working. Keeping it moving at all times, and fighting the very strong urge to "scrub" on a bad spot. Keep it moving and work the larger area long enough to sand away or minimize the problem spot. The drum sander is indeed a beast, but it can be tamed.
I used the drum sander one day, returned it the next morning and brought home the large square sander (similar to the one shown in this video), I used it to sand with the finer grits and I did it twice, just to make sure it was good and thorough. Inspected the work carefully and up close as I went, and never got in a hurry. Then made sure everything was super clean, stained the floor and let it dry 24 hours. Then three coats of poly, with proper drying time between coats. It looks professional, but it was my very first one. You can do it too.
Thanks
wilkesjournal Iy
This machine was not made for Sanding down to the bare wood and an orbital sander was NOT made to sand down to the bare wood. For All the damage he has done to the floor and all the divots, dirt and finish left in the floor, because he has no idea of what he's trying to teach...... It's Worth every penny to hire a professional. If this is what you expect form a professional then youd be correct Do it yourself. However if you want the floors to look Great then Hire the professional or live with crap
@@kathleenfreeman9456 As previously stated, I did fine with no professional involved, but I definitely can see and understand why others are better off hiring one!
@@kathleenfreeman9456 Agreed, he didn't even sand the floor completely. Like you stated he left all the divots and even highlighted them when he polyed the floor...
I wanna say thanks for not talking too much. Video was really straight and to the point! I learned a lot!
Wow! You are made to make instructional videos ! Step by step even applying the pads to the machine you have NO IDEA how helpful that was.. and this video in general thanks a lot
Thank you for the cost and time breakdown in this video, it was very helpful. We need to refinish our floors and the cost to hire a professional is outside of our budget.
Good video. Quick, straight to the point, no talking, just exactly what you needed to know .
“When working with polyurethane you need to be fast...” More like when reading the comments you need to be fast. I had to pause almost every time to see what you wrote 😂. Maybe I’m just too slow. Thanks for the vid. Very helpful. Maybe I’ll get brave and do this myself.
Your reading is just fine. A couple of them were just flashes!!!
Here here. Great video though.
I just ripped and old carpet and found beautiful wood floors and well here i am about to do it my self lol thanks for such detailed vid
Thank you so much for making this video! we are about to refinish our wood floors it is about 50+ years old and this video will definitely help, I appreciate you adding the cost breakdown too! Great job on the floor too!
Make sure you sand down further hes didn’t sand down far enough you can still see the old finish left on but over all not too bad
I want to spiff up the wood floor in a rental and this is the best video I've seen... thank you so much for sharing! I don't feel so intimidated now :)
Jinx Winters please don’t do what you see here, you’ll mess your floors up
I am in the process of refinishing old wood floors in a home I bought in Mobile Alabama.
My son is doing it for me, this video is a great help. Thank you for posting.
I can't thank you enough for this video! Sure, there's a lot of things you could have done to do more high-end job as others are stating in the comments, but for the time and budget you allotted yourself the results are way above par. I need to tackle this at my own house blending new unfinished boards into 60 year old red oak. Thanks to your video I see I will be able to hold off until sanding is complete and sanding sealer is applied before I decide if I have to apply stain to get it all to blend better... Hopefully I can leave it natural. Only real problem I foresee is not being able to do all four rooms and three closets in one go. It wouldn't be too big of an issue except that where I see I will need to have is my break point is a doorway where the planks are running long ways through... Will probably end up being a visible blend... Oh well.
I refinished some 120 year old pine flooring last summer. The boards had a lot of cupping and had been painted. I had to sand 400 sq/ft with a 4" hand held restorer drum sander, 3 and 4 inch belt sanders, and vibrator sanders. It was a lot of work especially removing the paint because I had to use 36 grit drums running across the grain at a lower speed so it didn't clog the paper. When I applied the finish I also used the same type applicator as you did but, I poured in a straight line then spread the finish from end to end by dragging the puddle along with the applicator. It worked really well that way. The only areas that got finish applied across the grain were at the ends when the puddle had to be turned to go back to opposite direction. Then the small amount of cross grain application was wiped back in line with grain. It's a very smooth way to apply the finish with less chances of creating any application strokes in the finish.
I LOVE the old look and imperfections. I'M TOTALLY DOING THIS!! I want my floors to look 100 years old and this is fantastic!!!
dude that was a hell of a video! very descriptive and specific you are the man! thank you!
Do not do anything this guy did ! He did everything and i mean everything wrong lol
When sanding, for best results sand in the same direction of the wood grain.
Apparently, such is not necessary for equipment that exacts and orbital sanding pattern.
you are completely right sara
Watching him sand against the grain is hard to watch.
@@gruffsbadmojo With a random orbit sander it doesn't matter what direction you go. This is why most homeowners go this route because its really hard to screw up. Again, with random orbit you can go any direction you want. Doesn;t have to be with the grain.
Aren't you suppose to go diagonally to avoid uneven sanding?
I just ripped up my moms old carpet and I plan on sanding tomorrow. Thank you for the visual steps! Going to Home Depot in the am 😉
+Tisha Berna Great! Good luck!
Tisha Berna howd it go
howd it go?
Howd it go?
A$AP Ladyboy was going to ask the same question. Maybe didn’t go as expected.
I 100% appreciate your video. I rented the square buffer and returned for the circular sander. So much quicker. I am about to use the miniwax complete and I appreciated your video. Helped a lot thank you.
I'm looking to buy a house and I may have to redo some hardwood floors. This video is great. I could watch videos of men working on houses all day!
Great tutorial! Unlike some where all they do is talk about doing the job...you did showing step by step, kudos!
I was really surprised at the end when you said it was price over quality - I think it looks stunning! I love that it retains its original character while looking way more polished and clean. I purchased a home two years ago and recently discovered original hardwood underneath the carpet in the entire home. It's from the 1950's and beat to hell, so I'm going to refinish it this coming summer and will be using this video as a reference. Thanks!
Its too fast to follow.
It is a good job for a rental. For higher quality, he knows to remove the shoe molding and also, screen that second coat then do a final third coat. Also would fill more of the gaps.
Lol if only more people liked character in their floors, people get beat to shit floors and expect them to look like they are prefinished at the end
Meg Kaye
Jerney Geier you’re right. it’s the little imperfections that I like especially when they’ve been sealed in. Our house is almost 100 years old. It wouldn’t look right if it had brand new perfect hardwoods.
Good job! We did our floors with one big difference, we sanded it against the grain like you did and it really screwed up everything. After we applied the stain, the irregularities of sanding really came out. We had to resand. Thus, sand w/ the grain!
mosichat yes I would say ways sand with the grain
It doesn't matter which way you sand with a random orbital because the sanding disk will always be spinning with and against the grain randomly.
Ditto!!!lololo
Also sanding with a large square buffing sander like that is using the wrong tool.
Correct sand with the grain and one more thing. Did anyone notice the divets in the floor and odd spots in closet and kitchen when he did the walk through after being finished. I learned the hard way.
just fyi, if you had the sanding skirt that was suppose to be on that square buff sander you would have had next to no dust flying around the room but still use the dust mask for sure cuz you dont know whats been on that floor and is now airborne. great job!
I’m doing this for my mom and I did everything pretty much EXACTLY the way you did. I haven’t done the poly yet though.
ruclips.net/video/mHiF8xwjRGI/видео.html
Do you hate your mom ? because this guys is making a mockery of refinishing floors
Why do you hate your mom?
If your goal was to make sure she never asks you to do anything again, it was a good plan
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO and all the hard work you did! I am going to mop my terrible wooden old floors that renters ruined and put down carpet!!!
So far this is one of my favorite videos. We need to restore our hardwood floors and we want to takr this project on buuut i suffer from respiratory problems sooo i dont think i can help my hubby 😥... I'll end up in the hospital. Definitely will show this to my husband-its very self explanatory..easy to follow.
#1 The heavier grit sandpaper is much, much more effective using a drum sander instead of an orbital sander like you were trying to use. The big drums sanders DO require you operate them correctly so that you don't scar the floor but are much more effective on your first pass with the
36/40 grit paper.
Thanks for posting this video. You took the time to cover all the work to be done, including the cost breakdown. Great job!
IDontKnow HowToMakeBagels he cover all the work needed done but no the cabinets ,walls etc ..😀
Very good results. Especially when you see the before/after still. We just bought a 50 year old house, original hardwoods, which badly need refinishing. We're DIY since we don't have the moola and DH is very handy. Initially, we rented the orbital, but found out by trial-and-error, it's the wrong one; we need the drum sander. We have approximately 1,500 square feet to tackle. In another video, I notice the DIY guy use a watering can to disperse the polyurethane. Like you, we purchased the gloss, but because I like super shiny wood floors. Loved how yours came out and thank you for the demo.
I thought this video was AWESOME. I'm redoing my daughters room just took up carpet to find Hardwood floors underneath. Your video inspires me. Thanks
Thank you so much for this video! And for all the helpful comments from viewers!
i was taking out carpet cause of bad allergy problems and was gonna put a better carpet down. then i found inhad a beautiful wood floor under 🤣 amazing 😍 i think imma refinish it.
From my experience.. setting up a negative air exhaust fan with filters would of been effective with post work clean up.. it’ll exhaust out the window to trap particulates from the old stain and sealer.. also maybe some painters type drop cloth with tape on one-side to keep baseboards and painted surfaces from clean up after as well-
All in all, 👍🏻 great information and content. Greatly appreciate it as I know others will as well
nice to see a video of a real do it yourselfer. now i feel like i can do this myself with decent results
Me and my wife are finding a fixer upper, and you've helped me alot with floors alone. I'll definitely keep this video in mind.
After watching this, I'm going with laminate,thanks for the demostration
I'm Not sure me too!
I wouldn’t blame you. Sanding is terrible work. Very unhealthy as well.
Thank you for making this video!!! Beautiful results. Simply stunning! You've given me the courage to try this on my own. Thank you!
in negotiations on a home purchase and about 1000sq foot needs refinished + 1 flight of steps. so trying to gauge the cost of doing it myself. this videos really helped me out!
Thank you. Just bought an old house. Discovered wood floors under the carpet. So excited. This is doable.!!
This was a nice straight to the point video. Thank you.
Love it! Fast and to the point. No gibberish because I want to see myself talk video. Lol!
I'm looking to restore some hardwood floors as well. You convinced me when I noticed your mate by the home depot bills. Nicely done!
I know you keep saying that it's not pretty, but I think it is. You did a fantastic job and am impressed with the cost. We bought our post-WWII cape cod this past July and last night I got curious about what may be underneath the carpet in the living room... Surprise! It was beautiful original hardwood floor. It has seen better days, so we've been discussing hiring someone to refinish them. Seeing as your video has made me hopeful that we can do it ourselves.
I am in the middle of refinishing my floor. Doing the job myself.
Thank you for sharing and good job.
Hey reread how’d it go
Using saw dust + glue to fill in gaps in floor! DROP. THE. MIC.!!! Awesome tip and great video. Thank you
Thanks!
+dvbdvbdvb i have a question if I wanted to make the wood darker what would i do after i sand it and oil it down because i want my floors to be dark like a walnut wood
Lavonte Wright Between the sanding and before the finish you will need to stain the wood. You will need a lighter color wood to start with and applying the stain homogeneously would be the challenge, I would recommend you finding your hardwood floor species and staining and finishing some samples before you work on the floor so that you can see how much stain and color would satisfy you and how they look once you apply the finish. The key will be color consistency so that you don't end up with patches of stain in different places.
Lavonte Wright no you would buy a dark color poly. They come in a few shades.
daze lol it's hard to really tell as it was stained before... I don't trully know
Nice just bought an old house was planning on carpet but after watching this I think I'm planning on this route.. might just carpet some rooms that will save me tons of money.. Thanks for the vids!!!
Great video. Very detailed and makes sense to show not only video but expenses.
The dust and wood glue tricks pretty sweet. I have a lot of those to be done. Thanks so much for the video ✌🏻
Awesome job. It looks pretty darn good for its intended use. I have rentals with wood floors also. I will use your method instead of the other option of painting which doesn't look as good.
Great vid, I'll be doing the floors at a rental I purchased last month. Overall, 720 sqft the estimates I got were from $1800 to $2300, but I'd rather pocket the money and sweat it out a weekend. Keep up the good work
Thanks a lot. Your own video isthe most comprehensive concentrating one i ve ever seen.
This was excellent. I need to refinish some of my old floors and I thought you did a great job. I will be replaying this many times over the next few days. Thanks!
Thanks so much! This video just gave me the courage to DIY and I’m excited and now look forward to it.
hey great video man, thanks for all the details and time put into this!it was great! i like how real it is, i live in texas too and yeah labour is a wallet killer. this is great, thankz again!
thanks*
This is incredibly helpful as I am planning on refinishing my very old wood floor in my home!! Thanks!
Fantastic breakdown of a potentially daunting task.
Thank you for clarifying that. I am used to furniture refinishing, and even with an orbiter sander we go with the grain but it is a little more tedious than floors.. I did not realize that. Thank you.( I really wasn't trying to be a jerk... or a know it all, which I can admit, I didn't know it all! Lol
Good video. Matches my experience refinishing a red oak floor laid in the '30s. That square-cornered sander is great for older floors as it doesn't dig in as aggressively as drum or belt sanders. Dust bag doesn't hold much. Lot of dust comes up, so clear the room, mask off doorways, wear a mask, goggles, hat and gloves. Tested a section with 60 grit paper just to see how the floor would respond to sanding. Coarser 36 grit was the best option to remove the old varnish and stain, then went to 60 and 80 to finish. Hand sanders for the edges and corners. Stained with Varathane Provincial, good medium brown tone. One tip - the pads you stick sandpaper get dusty. Get extras or beat the dust out when changing paper to keep the adhesive sticking.
like how some say to stain it darker to hide the imperfections but it brings them out out would of been easy with a drum sander and a edger they rent them too along with a buffer
Good video, but I have now decided I am not trying this myself. :-) Thank you.
Great video- thanks! I learned a lot from you, thanks for sharing your work.
Good call... Because he DESTROYED these floors.
@@Floridaman8783 Seeing the end product just destroyed my soul.
@@TornadoRex. Dude. Terrible. Straight destruction status lol
I was going to hire someone to do as some jobs aren't worth aggravation but due COVID-19 looks I may be tackling this myself with home depot rentals. I did my second floor with great results as you did, i know a rental so get your frugality but i still would sanded more. If going through all of this work why not make beautiful, all you needed was another rental for drum sander & papers in beginning then follow up with one you did. Still great job and goes to show with a little time anything can be done.
Hey thats awesome! I know this was from 2015, but awesome way to cut costs with the DIY refinish. Thanks for the close documentation too. I feel I can tackle this chore now.
it blows my mind that it's so common to find hardwood floors covered by ugly outdated and cheap looking floor coverings.
thanks for the vid, I think I can do this.
I really appreciate this video. Thanks for taking the time!
Love the old look but it looking new and shiny! I have an old house from early 1900’s with the original hard wood floors that im wanted to seal to keep the old look and the character its got along with the wear an tear of it! Great knowing it can all be done at a low cost! Been sanding for a few days with my palm sander thats all i have to sand all of the floors but thats fine! Looks great! The difference is really amazing
My floors are in good shape but a light sanding would do wonders. I thought about using a hand sander because my rooms are small and less cost, danger of damaging my floors with uncontrolled sanding. Plus I own a hand sander. How did yours come out?
@@WakandaBabe it turned out pretty good took the broom an swept the sanding dust into the cracks then just used some polyurethane an brushes all over the floor good and thick an let it dry.
@@maroonz71goon49 Thanks. My floorboards are very tight...no spaces at all. Really good shape for being old (house was built in 1927.) Thanks again for the update.
hey man this was a GTREAT video very helpful and informative Ive been wanting to do my floors and havnt had the courage ro but after watching you Im feeling like I can do it
thanks!
All very helpful! I’ll be working on a floor of a late 1930’s home this weekend 😎
This video was very helpful and you explained it great thank you
I’ve been looking at working on the oak flooring in my new place. This gave me a few ideas
Nice work mate. I will be restoring my wooden floors as well. I will use this video as a guide. :) Thanks mate.
Great job ,,, thanks , nice to see it done before i do it. I did not know home depot rented such a machine ,,,,, thank you.
6:50 - so you went with the glossy polyurethane when you WERE FULLY AWARE that using a satin finish helps hide the imperfections? because the satin cost more? was it like triple the cost?
Awesome video! We are about to purchase a very large old home with wood floors that are in desperate need of refinishing! This gave us a good idea of what to prepare for!
Awesome I have a bed room I need to rip carpet out of and do this to can’t wait
Needed this for an old floor like this. Thanks.
Prep before doing this Job is very important to save time on cleaning and painting the walls and baseboards
I bought the same sander from someone on classifieds for $400. I did find at Home Depot 20 grit which was awesome for taking the first coat off and taking it back to bare wood. Also yes the dust collection is not good so I just hooked my shop vacuum on the outlet hose and it worked great!! I did sand the edges before each sand working my way up from 20g to 120g sandpaper. It worked well because my hand sander and the square sander sand at different rated thus keeping down the different sanding pattern to a minimum. If you start with the 20g you'll notice a huge difference on how quickly it takes off the old finish and stain compared to the 30+g. Don't skip grits to get done quicker you'll not get the finish you are looking for if you do that.
Most of the "pros" in my city of Baltimore do not do a better job than rushed amateurs, and would certainly not do significantly better than you nor I. It was worthwhile that you saved yourself a lot of money. The floor looks good from 5 or 6 feet of height.
Solid wood floors are usually more than a half inch thick. Especially old ones. You could completely strip it, or pull up a board in a closet to check the thickness if you can’t get a knife blade between the boards anywhere there’s a bigger seam.
Brother I feel your pain. This is backbreaking work especially with such abused old floors. We just went through the exact same process with almost the exact same floor, except we live in Spain and everything from home depots is more expensive (just our rental sander cost almost 80 bucks for one day!). Excellent job, congrats!
Great video. Give me confidence I can tackle with patience and great preparation
Thanks so much! Awesome video and great job. I'm going to give it a shot with my floors. Hope I do as good as you did. Thanks again. Best video I found.
Hey Maria, this is not fun work and a little dangerous to boot. I can do them for you easily.
There are some good tips in here, I'll give you that. Especially the tip about the homemade wood filler using glue and sawdust is a nice one. But, the biggest problem here is your general approach. Don't use a finishing sander, in this basically a oversized palm sander, to start with. You're not going to get the scratches and the marks out of the floor, because it doesn't remove enough wood. You should have used a belt or a drum sander for that, to get the floor level and all the scratches out. And then finished fine sanding it with the machine you're starting with. You can clearly see a lot of old finish and marks in the floor when you start putting the finish on it, especially around the edges. Otherwise, nice video!
It pained me to still be able to see the old finish underneath after all of that work.
The best video. I was looking everywhere, but this is the best. Thank you I don't need to see more videos.
Pretty good for a quick job on a rental, thanks for making the video.
Bravo👏👏 well done thank you for inspiring and educating one who has floors as such wood from the same year and would like to delight her mother but sprucing up her floors.
You can use a 20 X 20 X 1 furnace filter on a box fan for cheap and easy dust collection
great video. I feel I can do this now. thanks for sharing and the floors looked great !
Digologist trust me it’s not as easy as it looks!
Very thorough thank you for sharing and well done on saving so much money comared to paying someone to do it
Awesome we are buying our first home and the floor need some love this video helped us
If you are watching this, check out using the Diamabrush mastic removal tool instead of sandpaper. it never plugs up with gunk. They rent it at most home depots and some Sherwin williams paint suppliers
Good video, but I have now decided I am not trying this myself. :-) Thank you.
Nice work!
Thank you!
Edward Huber please don’t, hire a professional!!
Wow amazing work! Only question is, does the wood need to be sanded with a smaller grit on the last pass? Like 80 or 100, so the wood is not too porous.Thank you for the detailed video, very nicely done,I plan on doing this myself soon.
Im about to do mine in april. House is 100 years old with original wood floors. It looks pretty good under carpet. There are 3 of us going to tackle this.
I love the distressed wood floors and I think this looks gorgeous! You did an awesome job.
wow! you did an excellent job. This is very encouraging for DIYrs thanks!
Yes, not a pro job, but, from the pictures it looks like the only imperfections are natural(opposed to sanding marks and scratches) which gives it a nice rustic look. Kudos to the DIY guy!
I hate brand new shiny hardwood. Love the character of a duller floor with imperfections.
Thanks so much for this!!! Very detailed
Haters are gonna hate.....I’m doing my rentals myself. Thanks for posting! Looks great!