Refinishing Hardwood Floor...

[oldberkeley]

I just bought a 60's ranch-style house. The hardwood floors have been under carpet and are really in pretty good shape. I don't think it's necessary to go through all the work and mess involved in completely sanding them down,restaining and sealing. But I would like to get just the top layer of "whatever" off (wax,varnish???) plus remove some small surface stains and scratches, the apply new poly.

Is there some sort of "in-between" step between doing nothing and complete sanding? Thanks!

[mrcaptainbob]

I would think one of those floor polisher type machines with a mild 'scrubby' type pad would do the trick. That would take the glaze off, and generally smooth it all out without the mess of sanding. Then a good vacuum followed by a wash with dewaxer, and you're good to go.....

[MrStan]

Once, several years back, I rented a house with hardwood fllor hidden under carpet. I pulled back to corner of the carpet, and saw the floors just needed cleaned. Pleasant? NO. When I pulled back a foot or more of the carpet, the adhesive AND foam backing from a previous carpeting job were still on the floor, and GLUED down. I used a plastic putty knife to remove alot of the foam, a windsheild scraper to get a little deeper, and once the foam was gone, I was left with beautiful cherry floors, with gooey black stains all over it. So, I got a whole bunch of those green scouring pads (Not the steel wool kind), a bucket, lots of HOT water and TONS of murphy's oils soap, I took off my shoes, splashed a small section of the floor with the water/oil mixture, and stood on the scouring pads, and just "danced"...well shuffled around. It took a long time, and I did have to some "hands and knees" scrubbing, but it saved me from having to refinish the floors... they really did look beautiful when I was done.