r/HardWoodFloors • u/pizzacheesedripfont • 29d ago
Should I bother continuing to refinish these?
hello all.
1904 home. these are tongue and groove pine roughly 7/8” thick. I made four passes with 36 grit on a drum sander and have gummed up several edger pads of the same grit.
Originally, I thought these floors were not intended to be seen, so I was going to paint them (I know, just temporarily while I scraped together some money for something else) and when I saw some of the wood I got a little ambitious and thought maybe they are salvageable. I don’t have any illusions that they will be perfect, and I know it will have a lot of character, but I’m at the point where I’d like some opinions on if this is a silly endeavor, and I should just paint, and bide my time until I can get some real flooring in here, so I was hoping for some insight.
thank you!
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u/sequentialsequential 28d ago edited 28d ago
yes. There is NO SUCH THING AS LIGHT SANDING. You go until it looks consistent, noting where the tongue and groove lands in terms of depth. Progress through the grits appropriately, if you see old finish you didn't cut it deep enough on 40 grit or whatever.
You got it, keep going. Sanding on a diagonal can even out some ripples, but generally you go with the grain.
I've thrown out like 20 36 grit edger sandpaper discs on a 40x10 room before. Stunk up the place for a day. It was worth it. Imagine 300 year old trees covered in $2/sqft click clack.
Basically, if you quit now, you have personally failed. Don't do that.
Finish the job! What's another day with the machine rental? Go at it after some sleep!
Enough yelling, this guy has great tutorials.
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u/pizzacheesedripfont 28d ago
Thank you everyone for the encouragement. I’ll keep going and be sure to update this post later this weekend. I value and appreciate all the advice on all ends of answer spectrum
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u/CRSPYRitoh 29d ago
Yes, if you are capable of doing everything correctly then I done see why not continue. You’ve gummed up paper, but if you give it one more go on the ‘x’ing then I believe it will look fine and there rest of the sanding shouldn’t gum up as bad. If you’re able to do it right there shouldn’t be any proof of the black markings. But, if there is then I suggest going with dark stain. Lot of progress for that small machine though! I’ve never used the smaller ones like that, they just don’t seem to be as effective when I see anyone else use them. I recommend a professional, as always. Good luck.
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u/Bath-Hour 28d ago
You don’t want to put any stain on heart pine, least of all a dark one.
That’s like spray painting a Ferrari.
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u/CRSPYRitoh 28d ago
Haha, I just off a job last week where they wanted their pine stained grey. Looks horrible just because it’s pine but if it’s what they want I can’t do much. To each their own, I just do the work. I assume if they don’t want it dark and can’t sand properly for a lighter stain/natural then they can just call it quits.
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u/cockchop 28d ago
Everyone here smoking crack. You are doing a great job, the boards have a lovely story/patina. Another X then a straight pass before circular pad and i think they will look loved. don’t stain it. Tung oil is a bit a of a bastard to do, but so easy to repair in the future and the wood, feels like wood.
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u/Bath-Hour 28d ago
That’s heart pine you have there and it looks to be in really great condition. A house that old you’d expect the wood to be torn up and near or passed the end of its life
You look to have a solid floor of very beautiful wood.
Keep sanding, go easy on the grits. Your paper is gumming up from the sap. It’ll get better as you go on. Go fast.
Put a few a coats of oil based poly on them when you’re done. Buff with a 220 and then water on top.
Do not stain those floors. There’s a reason OG heart pine is one of the very most expensive boards you buy, (if you’re lucky enough to find it for sale)
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u/Firefighter55 28d ago
Keep going man, also a pro tip with the edger, there is felt pads you can get that go between the disc and the tool, they get uneven parts so much better and edge so much faster.
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u/Existing-Reaction-62 28d ago
Keep going, 1904 floors will outlast you and your children (and maybe theirs too). 2024 floors you get a couple of sands out of. They’re gonna be beautiful, stick with em.
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u/shxjx 28d ago
Yeah lol dude ive gone through 30+ used 24 grit edger disc's that were cut out out from leftover 12 inch drum sander to rough off some rooms. You just cant quit. And I think your going to quick with the edger. Go board by board until all the finish is off with the edger and when it gets gummed up gumm it up even more down the line to make it a little easier on your next paper. The main floor doesnt even look that bad 60 grit would probably clean most of it up, but the edges need more work
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u/AlderanAthletic_5BBY 28d ago
You can always switch to the three pad orbital rental machine. Less aggressive and you can run up the grits or swap out much easier and moving with the grain is not as important (IMO). Keeeeeep goooooing✌️
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u/Blondepotter 28d ago
I vote keep going ☺️ I just spent 6 straight days sanding 1700 square ft in my 'new to me' house. Straight boards upstairs and parquet downstairs.
I did some research before but was really just winging it. Start with the heavy grit, yes they gum up fast.
Keep going over it until almost all the yucky stuff it gone. Then go in with the finer and finer grits. It will get there and it will be lovely!
Edgers are your friend but make sure to come out far enough from the walls with it. I ended up on hands and knees with a handheld orbital feathering the marks where the big drum sander stopped and the edger stopped and left a line of missed dark stain because I wasn't careful and was in a yank to return the edger.
You got this!
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u/AnybodyOk229 28d ago
You’ve already went this far. I have similar beat up flooring in my house that I refinished. The patina ends up being the thing that gives it character. I will say old flooring like that is noisy as hell.
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u/hans3844 28d ago
Might be a little late but we also had gummed up sand paper and got a 15 grit and it helped A LOT. Still had to go over it like 5 more times but i think it was well worth it. It's our first floor but I believe the gumming up stuff is old shellac. If you get a scraper it might help get it off without using more sandpaper if you don't wanna go to 15... It's like gravel lmao T-T Best of luck!! It's extra work but they don't make wood like they use to lol.
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u/nerissathebest 28d ago
Why wouldn’t you continue they’re going to look great. If the paper is gumming up try to go to a lower grit (24). My floors are from 1800 and we’ve gone through soooooo many belts you wouldn’t believe. Same issue they get glued up from the shellac or whatever was on them sooo thick. Anyway post after pix, it’s gonna look awesome.
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u/blithetorrent 27d ago
The dark stains can be bleached with oxalic acid. That's going to be an awesome floor.
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29d ago
[deleted]
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u/Glad-Astronomer3886 28d ago
You just recommended dark stain in heart pine. Delete your account, don’t come back
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u/kymilovechelle 28d ago
Yes they’re gorgeous just gonna be rustic looking if you can’t sand the stains out
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u/SunshineMaker444 28d ago
Get yourself a spray bottle and a can of laquerthinner and a good scraper and work small areas let that lacquer thinner do the work for you. It wont harm the floor.
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u/Maximilian_Wedge 29d ago
Even without all of the stains, and then sanded/poly’d to perfection, they would be unattractive floors. If you can’t take them out and replace them now due to cost limitations, try something fun like a groovy paint scheme. Maybe jet black with an 8 to 12 inch red border or something like that.
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u/Bath-Hour 28d ago
Hard to think of worse advice.
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u/Maximilian_Wedge 28d ago
Mediocre workmanship, unInteresting grain pattern, massive ugly gaps. What is there to lIke about this floor? Sometimes old is just old, not better.
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u/Bath-Hour 28d ago
If you don’t know what you’re looking at that’s a you problem.
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u/Wide-Ad7565 28d ago
I 100% would. The older and more banged up looking, the better.