Hi, I just got some used oak, tongue and groove flooring, about 400 sq. ft. worth.(1/2â X 2 ¼ â X 6â) It will be enough to do my living room and bedroom. It needs to be striped and then stained and waxed. Is it better to do the work, before or after itâs laid down? I have a joiner and a planner. Iâve got to pull the nails and clean up some mold too. Itâs been sitting outside, under plastic for ten or more years. Itâs got mold in places, but not much, how can I kill it? Once itâs down, how should I treat it? I know, lots of questions, but figured you folks would know⦠Thanks, lacyj
THe easiest way to strip it since it is up and you have a plainer is to just run it through the plainer. a water/bleach mix will help stop the mold. after you can stain it before you lay it and you could finishs it too I might finish it after it is down or at least the last coat or two to fill in all the cracks. Go to your local lowes/home depot/ menards ect and read the cans and see what they think will work best for you. I used to do this for a living and that is how I would do it
Once you have your floor down, think about this. We finished our wood floor in southern California (my cousin did the same in Ohio) by fine sanding it down, washing it very very very well, then we applied a marine grade urethane to seal the floor. (It's what they use on yachts -- can take years of salt air abuse and about 20 years of foot traffic). All I ever had to do clean it was run a damp mop over it and it always had a perfect shine. Your local paint store or yacht/boating supply house can order the sealant for you and show you the different finishes/colors available. I highly recommend it -- it made caring for the floor so easy. BW
Lacy let me know how hard it is to put down. Always wanted hard wood floors, didnt discover we had them in old house tell just before we moved. We have them in our house in washington and I love them. Cant wait to get ride of carpet in living room and dinning room and put some down[ oh well all it takes is money].
I would lay it first, then rent a drum sander. If it's in good shape, you'll kill all your birds with one stone-stripping, planing and sanding. Seven or eight coats of WATER-BASED polyurethane can be put on in a day with a wool pad and you're golden. There's no reason to use the oil-based stuff anymore, especially if you have kids, pets, or are even slightly sensitive to fumes. Plus, the water-based stuff doesn't yellow over time. Just make sure you bring the wood into the rooms you'll be using it in and let it sit for a couple of weeks before laying it.
Hey Kathy, Does that mean, you're not a calif. girl anymore? Boy, I wish I'd met you, before you moved... I got the flooring for FREE, great score... Keep your eyes open and read the local Buy-N-Sell papers, you might get somethin' great too... So far, for the new house: A bunch of 12" x 12" tile, for the bathroom@ $.33 cents a piece, have extra... Vinyl wall paper, that matches bathroom tile, two double rolls, $5.00. Brand new bath sink, still in the box $10.00. Toilet, on sale, no box, home depot, $29.00. Tile for the kitchen, 6" x 6", red, quarry tile,enough for 2/3rds of kitchen, free. 6" X 6" cream colored tile to add a pattern to the kitchen and finish it off, for about $10.00. Pantry door, floor display, home depot, $40.00, regular price, $329.99, says pantry on it, in etched glass. Bedroom, wallpaper, yard sale, $1.50 a roll, got 6 rolls, more than enough. Green, w/floral, old fashioned lookin' I got a bunch of oak pallets at a yard sale, the guy even delivered, on a pouring down, rainy day, for free. He was moving, wanted them Out-Of-There. Hope to use them for hallway flooring or waines coat. One even said Kodak on it. Will make a plank type table out of it, for the kitchen. Here's a pic, of me, sittin on sheetrock. The Sheetrock is hung, now. It's about 1/2 taped. Bet you didn't know it weighs 60 lbs. a piece. Got 125 sheets delivered, to the driveway. Had to carry them inside,(up stairs) before it rained. That's 3 1/2 ton, 7,500 lbs. Not easy for these OLD bones. The sheetrock is hung in the bedroom, that's where the picture is taken from, lookin' into the living room, w/vaulted ceiling. Those are pocket doors, on the bedroom. The oak flooring will go, into these two rooms. Still need to find something to use as, waines coat, for both rooms, want to put chair rail and picture rails, in both rooms. (Need that wood, too) lacyj
Oh no I still live in california, we bought the house my grandfather built by hand which is in Tacoma about ten years ago. My aunt just wanted to sell it off so my mom ,hubby and I bought it and my mom lives in it. Some day it will pass down to my son. It is a great house, we have the original price list of what he used to build the house plus the original hand drawn plans. It has thick old growth wood floors and is a great old house.To cold and wet in Washinton for me though. Your house looks like its coming along great. You should be a professional shopper as you seem to have a gift for finding good deals.you will have to post more pic of the inside as you get it done, looks great!
As fin29 said it's important to bring the flooring into the room you're going to lay it down in for a couple of weeks because of shrinkage. You want it to shrink before you lay it down. Up
Boy, I just got it alll stacked on the porch, too. Well, now to make room inside for all this wood. Thanks, lacyj
The used oak T&G flooring is down. It took about two weeks to do. We ran it all through the planer, because it was different thicknesses. It wasn't straight either, so there was alot of stuff, we couldn't use. We ended up with about 200 sq. ft. worth. There may be enough to do the hall, we'll see. It was hard work. If it had been new material, it probably would have taken, two or three days to lay it. DH had to really work at keeping it straight. NOW, I hope no one ever spills a drink on it, it may explode...ha... We will still need to rent a floor sander and decide on the finish. Any suggestions?
This is what it looked like, before it was planed. We got enough for the hall, still haven't found an orbital sander, tho...will have to check in the adjoining counties, for a rental.
We put in a hickory floor and used this stain http://www.environmentalhomecenter.com/shop.mv?CatCode=PRODUCT&ProdCode=TT_FURN_FINISH Downside, it's pricey! We have a chemically sensitive family member so are doing this cottage as low tox as possible. I have to say though that the floor is absolutely lovely to the touch now that it's dried! It's not a shiney finish, you still feel the texture of the smooth sanded wood. Nicer than any wood floor we have done before. I love the feel of it against my feet! This place is so nice, you go in and smell wood.. not chemicals. I can't say yet how it will stand up over time though... Grandma
i agree with everything you said except iff you dont have experence with a drum sander you can ruin the floor they now rent disk sanders you cant ruin the floor with them
We haven't sanded it yet, 'cause we're looking to rent an orbital sander. We will probably have to get one from A big city, over an hour away. It's not real high, on the list right now. We're looking for used kitchen cabinets now, so we can start on the kitchen. If thekitchen is mostly finished, we can legally, MOVE-IN, not that we haven't already...
Have you looked into www.freecycle.org for a group in your area? You might find someone on there who is remodeling and has cabinets. We got free cabinets from someone near us who was remodling a home. You might also check around with realtors and let them know what you are looking for so when someone sells a fixer upper to investors they can pass the word along. I know that when my in-laws place sells someone will probably update the kitchen in there (it's clear from the 70's after all ) and is likely to send some nice cupboards to the dump Grandma
I won't disagree with the theory, except that we had no experience with one and it went great. However, since lacy planed them already, ostensibly removing all or most of the original finish, the orbital would be the way to go. Lacy--don't let anyone tell you you need oil-based products to finish your floors. We've done many projects and water-based is THE ONLY way to go, and we've done both. The oil will yellow over time (the look of which some people like), takes DAYS sometimes to cure, and the smell is unbearable, not to mention the mess on your tools, etc.. We can put down 7 or 8 coats of water-based in a lazy day, and with two toddlers, two big dogs, and always wearing our shoes in the house, it holds up great.
