Please help us decide which way to go with our home wood flooring

February 2, 2020 3:04 PM

Due to a family member moving out and plans to replace some main living area furniture, we think it would be wise to do something about our wood flooring before moving forward. Our home was built in the early 1970s, purchased by us in 1986, we immediately pulled up the contractor grade wall to wall carpeting and have done *nothing* to the floors since. Links to photos and more details after the break.

We basically are trying to decide between:

1. having the wood floors professionally fixed/improved in some way
2. putting down area rugs so the wood floors act as an accent or contrast
3. going with wall to wall carpeting.

Please see the photos to get an idea of what we're dealing with (some problem areas mentioned below photos).

Pros/cons:

• the area rugs we could do ourselves, and would probably be cheapest
• Past AskMeFi questions make fairly clear that wood floor fixing/finishing is easiest done when moving in or out, not while still living in the home
• Covering the floors with wall to wall carpet might remove a possible selling point if/when we sell the home (except perhaps the half flight of steps that could be fixed as a small job).

All opinions and wisdom welcome. Thanks in advance!

posted by forthright to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

Your floors look good! No serious issues, good quality as far as anyone can see from the photos.
What I would do is to get someone to sand it all down and then apply a treatment you find is compatible with your taste. You can choose anything. I wish I could do a dark matte treatment in my apartment in the city where I have high ceilings and lots of color, but my landlord will only accept "natural". At our family farm, I've painted everything white, and I love that because it reflects light in low-ceilinged spaces. But it is something that needs constant (every second day) cleaning and I know I have to repaint soon.
From your pictures, I'd suggest sanding down and applying a white stain in a matte treatment, then covering the most used areas with area rugs. On the stair a robust carpet that doesn't go wall to wall.
posted by mumimor at 3:22 PM on February 2, 2020 [3 favorites]

I think if you are worried about resale, fix the floors and then use area rugs to protect them while you still live there. Or at least get quotes so you’ll be prepared to negotiate that cost/credit when you sell.
posted by janell at 3:23 PM on February 2, 2020 [2 favorites]

I’d just have them sanded and refinished. It would be disruptive, but there are waterborne finishes now that avoid the overwhelming smell issues associated with traditional varnishes.
posted by jon1270 at 3:27 PM on February 2, 2020 [4 favorites]

For safety, I'd put a professionally-installed runner on the steps. Maybe get some area rugs that match that.
posted by amtho at 3:27 PM on February 2, 2020 [4 favorites]

Also your cats and dogs will be more comfortable going up/down the steps.
posted by amtho at 3:28 PM on February 2, 2020 [3 favorites]

Some of the stuff you list as concerns (scratches, general wear) can be completely addressed by sanding and refinishing. Discoloration like on the stairs is more hit or miss - depends on how deep it goes and the color of finish you pick. It will be improved but not necessarily totally removed. Other concerns like the different directions of flooring might be considered "character" - part of the home's history of changes. The threshold is more challenging - I think it would look better if the transition from one flooring to another wasn't a big round shape. Having a squared off transition would make it easier to install a crisp threshold.

If I were you I would get some quotes for refinishing before making up my mind. See which of your concerns they say they can address, and decide if it seems worth it to you.

I had the floors refinished in my house before I moved in, and I was very happy with it, but my primary complaint was that the floors were and unappealing (to me) dark red color with a moderate amount of water and scratching.
posted by jeoc at 4:12 PM on February 2, 2020 [2 favorites]

To speak to the question of how to live in a space with this work going on - we borrowed a large covered vehicle trailer from a friend and moved most of our stuff into it. We use plastic zip walls to airtight off the tiled and carpeted areas (bathrooms, kitchen, upstairs office and TV room).
We have a travel trailer, so we pulled it around back, hooked up to power and water and sliced in that while the work was being done.
It was disruptive but worth it.
posted by hilaryjade at 6:16 PM on February 2, 2020

You could get a few flooring people in to give estimates for sanding and refinishing. Water based finishes don't smell as bad and dry faster, leading to less disruption. Some folks have sanders that also vacuum up a lot of the dust, but there still will be some. There's only a certain number of times that a floor can be sanded before it wears it down too much. An alternative is to have them screen and coat, which buffs the old finish and adds a new coat on top. That only works if the new and old finishes are compatible, but it's less expensive and doesn't take a layer of wood off the floor. They probably could put in a new board or stain an existing one to make the transition to the boards that are going the other way look more intentional. But area rugs are good too.
posted by SandiBeech at 7:48 AM on February 3, 2020

All I can say is - do not try to do the sanding yourself! We had floors exactly like that (house built in 67) upstairs only and we sanded and stained and sealed. In the end, it looks OK but it's not good enough for resale. We only noticed when we were doing the staining that there were gouge marks from being inexperienced with the sander we rented from Home Depot and those marks ended up taking on a darker colour stain than the other parts. I think it's pretty much impossible to do the sanding properly yourself.

So, if I had to to it all over, I would either a) Get a professional to do the sanding. Then do the staining yourself if you're brave. It's not actually that hard. The hard part is getting a nice, even coat of polyurethane without bubbles to seal the floor. Or, b) put in engineered hardwood, if you can sit that on top. I'm sure that option would be cheaper than refinishing the floors, but I have no idea if it's a good or bad idea.
posted by kitcat at 10:07 AM on February 3, 2020

We did a water-based seal on the 1940s oak floor in our house. Boards are somewhat stained from decades of hiding under layers of linoleum and carpet, some sections are replacement wood (because the flooring was too damaged or actually just straight up plywood), but stained to match. It has a character that can't be beat! It's not glass smooth lacquer but it also was inexpensive to have done and looks nice. Your floors look like with the same treatment they'd be awesome.
posted by caution live frogs at 1:13 PM on February 3, 2020