Pine Floor Refinishing Question - HELP!

[Aaron Hamilton]

I have a 60 year old house w/ the original 3 X 3/4" T&G pine planks throughout. They painted them with a really dark paint and I'm about to tackle sanding them back to the wood and refinishing them.

So... 2 questions.

1. Do you think a square pad sander, orbital "buffer" sander, or belt sander would be best? (belt sander + pine = really freakin' scary)

2. What is the best finish to use to get the look of the old patina but make them somewhat durable. (worn pine is endearing so I'm not concerned about having bulletproof pine)

TIA
Aaron

[Larry Conely]

Tool rental stores have a special purpose belt sander or rotary sander (like a buffer with a sandpaper disc). They also have a special-purpose trim sander that is excellent. The fir floors below were done with a belt sander and trim sander.

Larry

[Aaron Hamilton]

Larry,
Did you have any problems with the belt sander gouging or leaving visible lines on the floor, or did you go back over it with the orbital sander?

[Dick Sylvan]

I just put down an oak floor in my garage (workshop) and sanded it with a handheld PC 6" ROS (grinder style) because I was afraid of gouging. Finished it with Bona Mega and was pleased with the results.

[Larry Conely]

The "before" floor had a layer of carpet, a layer of vinyl tile and then a layer of glued-down tar paper removed. I scraped off most of the tar paper on my hands and knees with a 3/4 inch wood chisel. I had rented a power tile remover but it did not do the job. The sanding started with an extremely course 60 grit paper to get off the remaining glue and tar paper. Every pass of successively finer grit paper was overlapped to diminish the chance of gouging being exaggerated. There was a lot of touch-up with the trim sander.

Larry

[Christof Grohs]

I would investigate the cost of hiring a professional floor sanding comapny to sand the floor and then you apply finish to save $. There are a couple of us here that do floors for a living and I'd bet they would agree with me when I tell you this could be turn out to be a big mess...not really a DIY friendly floor...Dick's new Oak floor in his workshop yes, old painted pine through an entire house, no. You will consume as much $ in tool rental and abrasive costs as just having a crew come and knock it out in a couple days.

THINGS TO CONSIDER

1.there is probably lead in the old paint/finish/residue, rental equipment will not contain dust
2.probably wax or shellac on the floor that will clog the paper
3 the heat from the clogged sandpaper will get the sap flowing to clog your paper even further and create an uneven appearance.
4. if you rent tools, and realize halfway through that you should have taken this post more serious you will still have to pay the professional floor guys the same amount of money
5. you have better things to do with your time

If you do decide to do it, we are here for ya.

c.

[Josiah Bartlett]

I grew up in a house with pine floors and helped my father re-finish them. They were never painted, but they were extremely soft. You may have trouble getting the paint out of all the gouges.

I would use one of the orbital sanders, not a drum sander. You will eat right through the floor with one.

Also, make sure you use a finish that can flex a bit. The finish my dad used (some kind of urethane, I think) couldn't flex enough and failed after a few years.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
I used a U-Sand to strip an old oak floor last winter.
It has 4 - 6" ROSing pads and weighs close to 150lbs.
It does the job without any, and I mean any, dust whatsoever.

It's slower than a drum type, but far less likely to gouge, even using 36 grit paper. It's faster than a pad type, and much easier to control than a large single disk model.

Check it out at u-sand.com

I rented mine for Home Depot.
Total cost of rental and sanding disks was ~ $150.00

[Jason Roehl]

I have to say, as someone who refinishes floors, there is a lot of misinformation in this thread. Much of my experience has come from sanding 2"x8" T&G white pine floors in log homes from "construction dirty" to beautifully finished.

First off, with a bunch of paint on the floor, no grit is too aggressive. I would start with either 12 or 24 grit. Anything finer will be painstakingly slow and clog quickly. What you really need is a good belt sander (floor type, not handheld). We have a 12"/7.5HP Super Hummel. An 8" belt sander would be more common. They will not "sand through the floor", unless you are completely oblivious to what you are doing. A rental drum sander could be used, but they are set up to only go from right-to-left or left-to-right across the room. Using it the wrong way will put gouges in the floor. A square-pad sander is out of the question. I don't even know why they are made. They don't work. The larger random-orbit type sanders could work, but again, they will be slow, and you might find it difficult to get the aggressive grits you need to get through that paint without clogging.

I'm with Christof...let the pros do it. At $2.50-4.00/s.f., it could be cheaper in the end. Remember to factor in what YOUR time is worth, because you'll be at it for days. We just did 950 s.f. of oak in a rental house and had about 5 man-days into it. (There are others who do it quicker, but...)

As for finish, I would make your first coat or two SealCoat shellac. It will impart a slight amber tone, then topcoat that with at least 2 coats of Bona Mega (made by BonaKemi). Mega stays fairly flexible, which works well with the soft pine. As for patina, well, after about a year, that pine will darken back up.

[Aaron Hamilton]

Wow...well....at least I now have a healthy respect for what I'm in for. Hiring a pro is out of the question - There is over 1000 sq ft of flooring and we don't have the cash to pay the quoted 3.00 p/sqft. I can rent a sander for $50 a day and get belts or pads for under $10 (even if I have to buy 50 of them).

As for the lead - that's a great heads up - I wouldn't have thought of that. I guess I'm going to rent a belt type sander ( I live minutes from the rental place), and some 30 grit and see what I'm working with.