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A Not Quite Fix for My Poor Hardwood Floors

aabbbiee — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:30:55 -0800

How can I limit damage to my virtually-unfinished hardwood floors without the trouble/expense of refinishing? I have an 1800 sq foot ranch-style home built in 1994 (in Missouri, USA). All of the flooring is hardwood, with the exception of a small utility room and the two bathrooms. This is a slab home, and the wood is directly on top of the concrete. I cannot be very specific about the type of wood it is- possibly oak? It's very standard early-90s suburban house wood flooring.

When I bought this house in 2006 (at the top of the market, of course), the floors were not in great shape. I didn't care because I own a dog and do not want to live a lifestyle where I have to place a lot of emphasis on keeping my floors scratch-free. My house is not worth what I paid for it, and I've had to put some very expensive work into it (roof, foundation repairs, new a/c, just to start). This is not a house I wanted to own forever. I will likely sell or rent the place out in 5 years.
In addition, refinishing of any part of the house would require refinishing of all the floors of the house, because the wood flows through all the rooms. I have had a casual estimate of $4000 to refinish the floors of the house. This is not chump change for me, and that new a/c unit was installed just two weeks ago, so I am not exactly rolling in it right now.

Until this past weekend, I didn't worry too much about the floors, but they were not in great shape. I cleaned them regularly by sweeping or vacuuming. Maybe once a year I tried to clean them with Murphy's Oil, whereupon it became obvious that they had almost no finish left. The water soaked in and there was a smell of wet wood.

This past weekend, I had the excitement of coming home to find that a washing machine hose had burst (the washing machine was not even in use at the time) and flooded about a third of the house with an inch of water in just forty-five minutes. (Fantastic entertainment for a Saturday night!)

After the immediate cleanup, I am happy to see that there was very little long-term damage to my house. The floorboards have dried out without buckling. We've had very low humidity this week (totally unusual for Missouri in summer) but the new a/c has been very helpful, and I think I removed the water fast enough that there may not be mold damage. Furniture and other possessions were largely untouched. Rugs are all cotton and can be washed. I was remarkably fortunate.

The only thing that was ruined was [whatever was left of] the finish of the hardwood in that part of the house. In the living room, I can see where the water was and where it stopped. It's not a bad stain and it would likely come out with sanding, but the floors are clearly in even worse shape than they were. Refinishing them would fix them perfectly, I'm sure.

I don't want to refinish. See paragraph #2.
What can I do with these floors? My priority is to decrease the amount of damage that my dog and I could incur if we live on pretty-much-unfinished wood floors. Making them pretty is not really my priority. I just want to limit the damage. (I can't put rugs everywhere.)
Google lists different products on the market that swear they will help me, but I don't know enough to tell the useless & destructive from the magic miracle tonic.
Things that involve sanding seem to be a little beyond my comfort zone as far as things I can do myself (and I don't want to hire someone else).
What options beyond refinishing do I have? How should I be cleaning this floor?

Hardwood floor protective coating?

Mid — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:44:52 -0800

How to protect hardwood floors from my dog and child? We are moving into a new house that has very nice new-ish floors. The floors were either refinished or perhaps replaced about 1-2 years ago. They look great. I'm told they are "cherry," if that matters.

In the house we are leaving, the floors are destroyed. Our dog and our kid have just beaten the heck out of them over the years.

So, here's the question: is there anything we can do for the new floors before we move in to protect them? We have talked with a couple of floor guys, who both say that they would put "a couple of coats" on the floors before we move in. But, other people have told me that putting coatings on the floors will just make the eventual scuffs and scratches look worse. I have no idea what kind of coats we are talking about.

Obviously, we will put rugs and runners where we can.

Any clues here? Thanks

How do I remove this strange glue from my previously carpeted hardwood?

bradn — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:37:36 -0800

How do I remove this strange glue from my previously carpeted hardwood? Here's a photo.

Just bought a house, tore out nasty carpet. Other rooms are fine, but in the living room, the outside perimeter of the carpet pad was glued to the floor with dots of this fibrous, brownish glue. "Oops" only makes it harder and doesn't seem to dissolve it at all. Same with laquer thinner. Tried a glue remover specifically meant for carpet glue on hardwood and that didn't work either. Fine sandpaper and steel wool don't take it off, we need something that will dissolve it.

We plan to refinish eventually, but the floor looks terrible with these glue dots all over and I'm not sure we can live with it like this for long. Anyone seen this type of glue before?

Drying hardwood floors

phyrewerx — Mon, 22 May 2006 20:30:21 -0800

How do I dry hardwood flooring? My cousin has a couple of potted plants over hardwood flooring onin her house. She overzelously watered them this week and water has seeped into the flooring darking the areas where the planks meet. Is there a way to dry them and avoid warping?

Hardwood Floor Help

Mid — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 07:31:05 -0800

Hardwood Floor Filter -- How can I spruce up my hardwood floor without a major refinishing project? We have wood floors that have seen better days. They were installed in about 1991 and I do not believe they have been refinished since then. I do not know what type of wood or finish was used (it was before we bought the place), but the guy who rehabed the house before us generally went with basic (not expensive) stuff from a Home Depot-type store. My best guess is that it's a basic maple or pine with a poly coating. If it helps, the wood is like a light brown/honey color. Nothing exotic.

The floor has a number of spot areas that are dulled with grey scuffing, nicks, and a few black gouges in places. I'd like to do something to make these areas look nicer, short of sanding and refinishing. I imagine we will have someone refinish the entire floor in about five years, but now is not the right time for us.

The web is full of contradictory advice about what to do. It seems that some products can somehow damage the wood and wreck future refinishing. There's also a giant assortment of different products at the store that all claim to do different things.

Has anyone done this? Thanks.

oilspill + hardwood floor != crazy delicious

Hackworth — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 19:15:35 -0800

oil spill on hardwood floor: cleanable? ok, so i was a dumbass and left a bottle of motor oil sitting in the corner of my room for too long and it leaked on my hardwood floor. now there is a stain, which looks like it's seeped in pretty good. is there any hope of getting that out?

Hardwood floor in the bathroom?

evoo — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 07:10:04 -0800

Experiences with hardwood floors in the bathroom? I have decided I want to install hardwood flooring in my bathroom. If you have ever lived with wooden bathroom floors, please let me know if there is anything I should be aware of. I am about to remodel my bathroom and I want to try wood on the floor. I have done a bunch of research on this subject and I'm still not sure if I want to use actual hardwood or some kind of laminate wood. I'd prefer actual wood, but I'm open to suggestions. I have lots of experience with wooden floors (my whole house, including kitchen, is floored with 100 year-old Fir and Oak) but I've never lived with wood in the bathroom.

The bathroom is relatively small, about 6'X8.5'. There is a tub, vanity and toilet. It is used every day by two adults. It is not very humid and there is never water left standing on the floor. I don't see any reason why I couldn't use wood, but I'd love to hear of other experiences before I go for it.

Also, if you have ever done this yourself, what type of wood would you recommend?

Thanks!

Carpet (glue) bombing...

dersins — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 18:39:35 -0800

RenovationFilter: We just bought an old library out on the great plains. Yes, library. But that's not the point. It's a wonderful, hundred-year-old brick building. The floors are beautiful, straight-grained, old-growth fir. Unfortunately.... ...some time in the mid-1950's, the town decided it would be an excellent idea to glue horrid industrial carpeting directly to the floors. We pulled up the carpet, but there is glue residue covering every square inch of the floor.

First, we tried scraping up the glue with a paint-scraper, to no avail. Next, we got a drum sander with 30-something-grit paper, and the glue just gummed it up within a few feet each time we ran it.

We switched to a 60-something-grit paper to try to sand it off a layer at a time, but we only got a little further before it gummed up completely.

We have well over 1300 square feet of floor to refinish-- is there anything we can do to this glue to weaken it (without harming the floors) so we don't have make multiple passes and go through literally hundreds of sheets of paper (at 2 bucks a pop)?

(FYI, we've tried: acetone, paint thinner, diluted paint thinner left on overnight, plain old powdered dishwasher detergent dissolved in water, and commercial adhesive remover.)

Hardwood flooring

AlexReynolds — Wed, 18 May 2005 17:21:09 -0800

I have a friend who wants to buy a sweet (and cheap!) fixer-upper in an up-and-coming section of Philadelphia. Thing is, she'll need to do a lot of work to renovate it, including putting in new floors... She's got family who've agreed to help with the work, so that'll save on labor. What are good-quality hardwood flooring options, the amount and skill-level of labor involved, and rough pricing? She's interested in the gamut: from Ikea flooring kits to the real stuff. Thanks!

How to Clean Hardwood Floor

curiousleo — Tue, 19 Apr 2005 21:26:42 -0800

I just moved in to newly built condo... I have spent a lot of money to option IN for SHAW Brazilian Cherry Hardwood floor..(100% covered 1300sq.ft (according to my research it maybe engineered Durashield coated ones like most hardwood floors now days)... Just before I moved in I saw a builder employee cleaning the floor.. He told me he is using PINE-SOL type cleaner... It did look shiny at first.... But I have been here for 3weeks now... The white films would not go away... even now my socks are yellowish oil all over when ever i step one or two steps.... foot marks are eveywhere... now it looks dusty and smudged all over... (there is no dust... but looks dusty with smudges).... I tried to clean it off with No-Was Bruce hardwood cleaner.... No luck... I tried little bit of water in the corner with about 5 small towels... it finally came off (it took me about 1 hour to do 6sq.ft..) it was very hard work.... I contacted the manufacturer.. they said NO oil based cleaner or wax should be used on these.. especially Pine-Sol and Pledge.... They said It was coated like clear coats in new cars..never needing wax... so basically putting pine-sol on these type of floor is like spraying Armor-All on paint of new car....At least new car can be washed off with a lot of water and soap... Now I am very UPSET with this situation... I can not move in my new furnitures....I won't... supposely beautiful dark floor is now ruined.... What can I do to clean this... I do not put any more water on this since it may kill the warranty.. especially it bubbles up (possible since bottom layer is still normal wood)..... This is totally the builder's responsibility isn't it...? what can i do to rectify this? I don't think they will replace the whole house's floor.. Can they carefully clean up like i did with the corner...? What would be the legal course... if the builder says it is my responsibility since I signed paper before it was pined on via one of their workers...? Every time I come home...I can't stop my self from getting mad.... I told the builder.. he says he would ask the woodfloor people.. but it didn't sound promising... I was hoping for...."We will get some guys to clean it up for you.. or We will pay for the damages..."