Hardwood floor question

[farmmom]

I pulled up a corner of the carpet in my oldest son's bedroom to find that there is unfinished hardwood flooring underneath. So I thought about sanding sealing and finishing it. My step-dad suggests putting laminate flooring over it. What would you do?

I believe the whole house may be this way. Once I pull up all the orange shag carpet, I want hardwood through the entire house. I know either way will be a lot of work, but which would you do?

[ErinP]

We lived in an old farm house when we first got married (rental). Had this nasty green wall-to-wall everywhere but the kitchen where it had badly worn linoleum.
We made the same discovery. Nice hardwood flooring that had never been touched. No glue residue, no old varnish, nothing.

We tore out the carpet in the two bedrooms and the hall and finished the floors. They came out beautifully. Ten years later, I still mourn having to leave that house.

[Hank]

We pulled up our carpet and found old hardwood floors ( house built in '60s).
Did not sand, just cleaned with good hardwood floor cleaner and then went over with a Minwax brand product from Home Depot. It has stain and sealer all in one. Put it on with paint brushes. I think we used "light walnut" color. This was just dark enough to hide any bad looking spots on wood (kinda made them blend in). It has been 6 yrs. and they still look great. People always ask who we hired to "refinish" our floors. LOL
It was a lot cheaper and easier than a total refinishing.

Hank
PS; Just updated new photos on web site, if anyone would like to see them...
http://www.doublemfarmandchuckwagon.webs.com

[calliemoonbeam]

Why put laminate over a perfectly good real wood floor? I'd kill to have real wood. I just moved here two years ago, and there was laminate already down in the biggest room. I don't know if it's just really cheap or if all laminate is that way, but it has chipped and cracked, and the seams have separated in places. I live alone and have no animals, so it's not that it's been abused. I absolutely hate it and would never spend my money on it! If I can't afford real wood, I'll just stick with carpet or tile, although I don't like them either, lol.

Once I moved into a rental house where they had torn up the carpets because the previous renters let their dogs pee and poop and ruin them, but the landlady wasn't willing to spend any money for more carpet or refinishing the wood floors. I did basically the same thing Hank described, although mine had some stains and a lot of paint splatters that I also took up with some very fine steel wool. The next time the property manager came by he couldn't believe I didn't spend tons of money having them done! They were beautiful and easy to take care of. I loved them.

[Joshie]

How old is the house? Could the wood you saw be the subfloor? Some 100 year old houses have wide plank boards used as subfloor. If it is a real hardwood floor....why in the world would you put laminate over it? Hardwood is the way to go!

[Sawmill Jim]

I would see about putting a clear sealer over it if it is oak do a small spot . Clear will bring the grain out and looks really nice too . Have never understood why you would put a color stain over a good wood .

[farmmom]

Ok, to answer some of the questions. The house was built in 1954. My step dad thinks it will just be "easier" to do the laminate. I really want to refinish, but he has a way of making me feel very stupid if I don't do things his way. I'm getting a second opinion on if the wood is in good enough condition to finish. It looks completely untouched. It's pine according to my sd but it's kind of dark for pine imo.

I thought I might need to sand it, but after reading here, it sure looks like there's and easier way to do it!

[txquilter]

Sand and refinish them! I would never put laminate over real wood flooring.

You might even just considered buffing and putting a new coat of poly on them if they don't look too bad.

[salmonslayer]

Hank, I got one thing to say about yer blog....looks like good eats and I want your tractor!

[glenn amolenaar]

Pine or Oak or any wood flooring is well worth the investment to keep and enjoy. I'm sorry but your SD is wrong to make you feel you have to cover it with laminate. Enjoy the real wood and use throw rugs. That is as long as it is not the subfloor.
Glenn

[haypoint]

Laminate is fairly costly, good laminate is quite expensive. I's rather have old carpet than the average laminate.

Sanding and finishing a hardwood floor is more work than slaping down some laminate. But I'd rather put in the extra work than lay laninate over it.

If you have big dogs, they'll scratch up both laminate or hardwood.

[7thswan]

There is no way I'd put laminate over wood. I put laminate down and can't wait to pull it out and put wood down.

[Hank]

Sawmill Jim, the problem for us was the fact that it wasn't "good wood". It was old floors with a lot of bad places. The stain was very light and helped hide the "ugly parts" without hiding to much of the "good parts". LOL We just didn't want to spend the time or money, or clean up the mess, of sanding and refinishing.
salmonslayer, thanks for the kind words. "Little Red" hasn't been that clean in two years. LOL

Hank
http://www.doublemfarmandchuckwagon.webs.com

[Cheribelle]

I HATE my laminate floors! Another vote for definitley finish the wood you have!

Last year when we had our house on the market we tore up the ugly carpet and found hardwood floors underneath. There were some stains and one area had buckled, so they sawed a line in the wood so that there would be room for it to breathe and expand.

For $2,000 we hired a guy to come in and strip, stain and seal the whole thing. (I think abbout 900 sq ft.) He also took up the bad boards in the hall and fixed that area.

Within a week after that being done the house was SOLD.

I recommended him to the guy who had a house for sale down the street. His house was on the market for 2 months longer than mine. He let the guy refinish the floor. Within a week after it being done the house was SOLD.


It's well worth it to get the hardwood fixed right.

[Hooligan]

We pulled up the old carpets in an old house we had once to find hardwood underneath. A two foot wide strip around the perimeter had been finished but the rest had never even been sanded. (I guess originally they had carpet in the center and left the perimeter exposed)

We paid a guy to come and and sand and finish the two floors, maybe 600 sq ft. Came out great and cost less the 200 hundred bucks.

[Sawmill Jim]

Originally Posted by Hank

Sawmill Jim, the problem for us was the fact that it wasn't "good wood". It was old floors with a lot of bad places. The stain was very light and helped hide the "ugly parts" without hiding to much of the "good parts". LOL We just didn't want to spend the time or money, or clean up the mess, of sanding and refinishing.
salmonslayer, thanks for the kind words. "Little Red" hasn't been that clean in two years. LOL

Hank
http://www.doublemfarmandchuckwagon.webs.com

Yep is a fine art of making it look good and blending everything .
Sanded a floor once with a belt sander a small one took a while but was on a budget

[Pink_Carnation]

Pine is a soft wood which doesn't make for the best flooring....but it also depends on how soft it is. Our old house had softwood floors in 2 bedrooms and things like heavy furniture and lots of walking can leave marks and dents that lead to splinters.

Until you have the carpet up you really won't know what you have....one side might be ruined.

[Joshie]

If your house is a 50s house I'd be surprised if it is pine. I would also be surprised if it was a subfloor. You might find nice, wide planks in a 100 year old house that was meant to be used as subfloor.

I'd have someone who knows wood come look at it and give you an estimate of how much they'd charge to refinish. I will say that I've chemically stripped wood floors instead of sanding them. I then put a varnish over that. Personally, I'm not a great fan of poly as it's very hard and brittle. If you drop things on the floor it tends to crack the finish and shows up much worse than dropped things show up on varnished floors.

By the way, I've had fir and I've had pine floors and I've loved them both. They have an unbelievable character. I just wouldn't expect to see that in a 1950s house.

If you choose to put the finish on yourself and decide to use varnish, please use at least four to six coats and sand between each coat. You should also lightly sand the top coat for a smooth finish. This won't show on a varnished floor. If you decide to use poly you can't sand the last coat as it shows up and looks scratched.

A friend of mine purchased Pergo flooring. It was very expensive, comparable to wood flooring. She says it looks like vinyl.

[Andreozzi]

I cannot imagine doing laminate on hard wood! I was given an estimate of close to $10,000 to do my house (minus bathroom) 1600 sq. ft. The would I picked out was the most expensive (unfortunately but I liked the multi colored thin boards). That was a price I could not even come close to affording. One day I couldn't stand my son's carpeting (in his room) any longer (old gold shag) very stained (before we bought the house) and added to after. Out of desperation (and disgust) I decided a cement floor or anything under that carpet was better than what was on top. I found hard wood! I was so ecstatic I called my DH at work and started pulling carpet and have NO regrets! We live in a town that used to have many wood/saw mills, environmental issues changed that but our house is old (no date is actually recorded).
We cannot afford to have them refinished right now (times even turned harder). There is some red paint (assuming paint-spots...) in the hall and the hall looks bad, but the rest of the house looks great and that is without doing anything to refurbish. Personally, "I LOVE the nostalgic lived in LOOK." The hall has me wondering... it looks like it might have a story to tell, and where I live that wouldn't exactly be surprising. The living room and bedrooms, the wood is great and I would NEVER consider covering them up again. Good luck with what ever you decide, but make sure it is YOUR decision or you may always have regrets.