hard wood floors

Be patient, them thar fumes will disorient ya.

I think that's why people started covering floors with carpet....LOL

This is the first I have seen this thread, seams to happen a lot.
Anyway.....what I do when staining something old is I sand it down nice then I wet it to get the grain to pop then dampen it with a damp towel so that the stain will get into the wood better. I never leave an area without wiping up all the stain first.

Sand the whole room.
Wipe down the whole room with a damp towel to let the grain pop.
Sand the whole room again with 220.
At the starting point "damp" towel about 5ft of the board then stain while another person wipes up right after the person that is staining.
You only want to work about 4 to 5 boards at a time if there 2 3/4 inches wide so say about 8 to 10 inches total width and then work those boards all the way down to the end then work your way back up to the other end.
Yes it's hard work thats why they get big bucks for doing it right.

http://www.hometime.com/Howto/projects/ ... oor_6b.htm
http://www.hometime.com/Howto/projects/ ... loor_7.htm

This is the first I have seen this thread, seams to happen a lot.
Anyway.....what I do when staining something old is I sand it down nice then I wet it to get the grain to pop then dampen it with a damp towel so that the stain will get into the wood better. I never leave an area without wiping up all the stain first.

Sand the whole room.
Wipe down the whole room with a damp towel to let the grain pop.
Sand the whole room again with 220.
At the starting point "damp" towel about 5ft of the board then stain while another person wipes up right after the person that is staining.
You only want to work about 4 to 5 boards at a time if there 2 3/4 inches wide so say about 8 to 10 inches total width and then work those boards all the way down to the end then work your way back up to the other end.
Yes it's hard work thats why they get big bucks for doing it right.

http://www.hometime.com/Howto/projects/ ... oor_6b.htm
http://www.hometime.com/Howto/projects/ ... loor_7.htm

Anyone could do it right by researching the How Too's market & have the energy & inclination.The reason pro's charge so much is because they know the person is too lazy to do it themselfs--as is the way I charge for jobs--silly huh??--not in my world--where-as if someone just needs a hand,I charge next to or nothing--maybe that's why I've ended up at the tail end of Appalachia. Anyway,none of this applies to STING, I believe he is kickin ass & taking names on this project --or he's dropped dead on us

Not yet Dead On Arrival -- but close -- preoccupied with being a Muckie Muck at my real job - this too will pass

I have spent too much time on the floor - thought about pics to post but with two rooms now in finish - I am struggling with the third

I am not a wood guy - so I applied the stain too heavy on this one - attempting to get a more even finish

between the sand scratches the popped and being too dark red - I am resanding with a 6 inch DA and 80 grit

I am going to practice your damp towel advice when I get this botched up job off - I think Ill try to re-sand with something finer to remove the 80 DA marks


This is the kind of job that you get three bids -- the first two guys didn't l;eave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling - the third apparently wanted me to buy him a new van for cash. The floors were carpeted a long time ago - the house was family owned for many years - two owners had it for a very short time before me - one removed the carpet - story has it because it was a rooming house for a summer. But when the carpet was removed the floor must have been sanded with 2 grit paper on a drum and a disk - The gouges reminisce of the grand canyon. One floor guy said he figured to get it level he would expose the tong and groove - so ..... I am removing the corruption with a buffer - an 8 inch electronic rpm limited at 700 rpm and 36 grit paper - then coming back with 80 on the buffer and ( I was ) burnishing that with the 6 inch da and 80 = the music room apparently still sported the original finish and it Carmelised the disk in 30 seconds so I scraped the floor by hand first. The gouges were from instruments moved over the years and also were quite large.

my solution doesn't completely level the floor as a drum sanding would - but it makes it look better

Still learning -- still experimenting - each room appears to have the same wood = 1-1/4 wide intermixed dark and light hard hard something or other with an edge design of intersecting pcs and pattern == ecchhhh - but each sands and stains differently.

its not threaded black pipe. At least this way I cannot be dissatisfied with the lowest bidders work - I have beer.

Here is one of the various interruptions I had today

STING, wood is not an absolute. But I'll tell ya, the longer you look at it at this stage,the more critical you'll get--bettererrr is good. In a month after completion,you'll get mucho compliments--of course in my case,nobody likes me,soooo I never have any visitors to look at my work. Soooo, on occassion,I pat myself on the butt & say "that looks great.

80 grit sand paper is not a good place to stop sanding you need to at least go to 220 grit some of us even go to 400 but you have to have the right mindset for sanding that long. Ok well you have to have no mind, yep thats what ya need to go to 400, no mind....

Also You-Tube has some great videos that people have put on to show how to do it and how not to do it.

I guess the biggest thing is to get help when staining. The final coats of polyurethanes is a snap now days with the new brushes/cloth squeegees. Just pour and keep moving with the grain. Check You-tube you can see how easy it is.

The better the wood looks prior to finish the better the job will look at the end of the day.

Sand to 400

That advice appeals as much as suggesting Dielectric unions in a wet system

But I appreciate all the tidbits you have offered. My biggest issue is - even with my bifocals I just cannot see the scratchs liek I once could - so dealing with denial I was attempting to use a black guide coat, but it was sticking in the woos and I was anguishing that it would show - so I quit

Is there a way to apply the oil base stain I am wanting to use but in a frugal way and really thin to raise the sand scratches so I can see them to sand out with --- maybe 120 or 150 _ I do have a lot of 180 to use up but like you say - sanding is making me

M I N d l E S S


Really go to 220 ???? I did the music room in 80 and it don't look bad - but what do I know - I better go visit that floor in a bright light and sober.

You dampen the wood then apply stain --- Isn't that like mixing water and oil?

Why mess with stain??? Leave the wood "Au Naterale" with character. Use a flat or semi-gloss finish. A gloss finish will highlite the defects/imperfections.
I've had good luck with water-based finishes recently. Not much smell at all.

I already finished some "less abused" floors with just a red shellac

I like the color

Pretty floor

I would like to use a drum sander but estimate the rental and paper close to a grand - plus I don't have planned time to rent and optimize the time - so estimate of rental fee is a hopeful guess. I have about 2000 sq more to due after this, and now believe mechanic ones' estimation of possible sand thru with the drum machine is plausible.

so Ill keep at it with my 8 and 6 inch disks when I have an hour or two. Almost every day.

I stained my new red oak floors with golden oak. I would of liked the natural finish more, but the variations in the color of the red oak seemed like they would of stuck out like a soar thumb.Darker wood from closer to the stump and more redish, the mills don't throw much out. Seems to help blend them together. I went as low as 220 on the sandpaper, once they are used , they seem to cut like 400. On oak, stain darkens the grain more than anything else.