Should I try and sand and refinish my own hardwood floors

Old Hardwood Floor Refinishing

Crossing Off Hardwood Floor Finish

After people find out that I have 25 years of experience sanding, installing and refinishing hardwood floors; people always ask me the same question..........should I really attempt to sand and refinish my own hardwood floors?

 Well the answer is simple; you get what you pay for.

 Simple right? Well most people decide that they can go ahead and save a few bucks doing it themselves and go out and talk to a part time sales person at the big box store, purchase all the goodies and machines to sand and refinish their own hardwood floors.

Well lets take a realistic look at the "Do it yourself" approach and decide for yourself if  "getting what you pay for" is really the best option for re-sanding and finishing your hardwood floors.

Ok, lets start out with the basic costs from a typical rental store: These would be the average costs for refinishing cost for a 300 square foot floor.

• 110 Drum Floor Sander-       $65.00 Daily x 3 days
• 110 Edger Floor Sander-       $40.00 Daily x 3 days
• 110 Buffer Floor Sander-      $50.00 Daily x 2 days
• 110 Floor Vacuum-               $20.00 Daily x 3 days
• Drum Sander Paper-             $10.00 a sheet x 8 sheets
• Floor Edger Sand Paper-      $1.00 a sheet x 30 sheets
• Floor Buffer Screens-           $6.00 a sheet x 2 sheets
• Floor Finish -                        $35.00 a gallons x 3 gallons
• Floor Finish Applicator -       $5.00   x 2 applicators
• Hook scraper for corners-    $7.00                                   

          Grand total for this 300 square foot job: $659.00

We wont even count your time and gas into the equation.

Now lets take a look at the real average cost of having a qualified professional do your wood floor.

• 220 10 inch belt sander
• Professional edger
• Sanding
• Real Swedish no wax finish
• Dust containment

Total cost- 300 square foot x $2.25 = $675.00

Now lets talk a little about the guy or gal that still ends up saying "well I just want the satisfaction of doing my own wood floors".

Well here are some other points to consider regarding rental equipment and what you can expect the final result to look like.

While your gender shouldn't affect you ability to sand a floor, your lack of training will. You can not just pick up the floor sanding trade in a weekend. It is strictly hands on training, and I doubt that the "rental guy" has spent more than an hour or two running and fine tuning the machines that he swears will do a beautiful job; in the hands of a novice.

The "toy" sanders they rent at all tool rentals stores will not; in most cases; do a decent job of sanding your floors. They tend to be underpowered and leave what we professionals call "chatter" or swirls in your final product.

Unfortunately chatter is not usually visible until you apply the coats of finish and they appear to look like shadows or dips in the wood surface.

 The "toy" sanders they rent are 110 volt drum sanders that run a 6 inch piece of paper.

These machines are extremely underpowered and lack the weight to cut your floor flat or get the finish off without multiple passes and many sheets of sand paper.

In contrast; most professional sander machines are 220 volt machines that run a continual 10 inch sheet of industrial strength sand paper. These machines are professionally balanced and weigh on average of 250 pounds.

These machines cost upwards of $7000.00 and are designed to leave a flat, smooth and chatter free final sand on your wood floors.

Just a word about these "orbital buffers" that are being rented......please don't get me started; they are a waste of money. If they really worked, I would go out and sell my $25,00.00 worth of equipment and buy one.

A final word about floor finishes.

Now days you have pretty much two chooses.

Water based and the good old fashion 2 part epoxy type Swedish floor finishes; please do not even consider polyurethane....this is not a hard non waxing floor finish and in my opinion a complete waste of money.

For a home owner who wants to go "green" or someone simply does not want the toxic smelling epoxy finish; there are several brands of high quality water based floor finishes available. You can contact your local floor professional to find out what he or she recommends for your specific wood type.

However, if you want the good old rock solid non waxing floor finish that has been tried and true; I would recommend either a product called Synteko, or a product called Glitsa Bocca.

These are extremely hard long lasting anti scuff type floor finishes; however these types of finishes are cross linked and only a professional floor finisher with experience can put these down without leaving lap marks or puddles.

The bottom line is..."you get what you pay for" and in my 25 years of experience it just does not pay to try and sand your own floors. Save your money and the headaches; call your local floor proffesional.

If you have any questions regarding your wood floor, please feel free to drop me a line and I will give you my best advise based on my 25 years of experience.

bill@willamettehardwoodfloorsinc.com
And feel free to check out our company's website to see what others are saying about our company.

  www.willamettehardwoodfloors.com

Do it yourself Sanding

 

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