About 15 years ago I stripped (sanded) and refinished our solid red oak plank flooring (traditional about 7/8" x 2" or thereabouts). Came out fine except that on the first coat of finish (water-based poly) I didn't have the "sweeping" motion of applicator down real well so I ended up with a few "puddles" that are a bit dark. Now, due to remodeling, we also have some areas that need to be re-done after some closets were pulled up and I'll be putting down some salvage material out of another bedroom being converted to a bath. This material was salvaged by sawing from underneath with a long "sawzall" blade so it's nice and flat underneath (one of the tougher jobs I've ever had to do but it came out much better than trying to pull nails).

Here's what I'd like to do to refinish the floor:

1. Install salvaged flooring into areas pulled up where old closets were. I'm sure there will be some slight thickness variation so this area (about 4' x 12') I'll likely sand down bare with a floor sander.
2. Sand down the other areas that used to have puddles. I may try an orbital sander (hand held electric) on these areas since they're fairly small.
3. Seal all bare areas.
4. Put down one (maybe two?) coats of the same type of finish as the last refinishing on the salvaged/sanded areas.
5. Do a light sanding over the entire floor (#150 screen).
6. Put down another coat of finish over the entire floor.

Good plan or any recommendations on doing it differently? I would really HATE to have to sand down the whole entire floor since 90% of it looks really nice. Wood should match well since it's all from the original construction.

Thanks for any help,
Biederboat

 

While you can refinish just one room, it's next to impossible to refinish just a portion of a room. Once sanded down to raw wood you'd need 2-3 coats of poly [sanding and removing dust between coats] but already finished rooms can be lightly sanded with 1 coat of poly to freshen it up.

 

Thanks, I may have not explained it correctly. I would do an initial finish to "build up" the repaired areas but then do one to two coats over the entire floor. Would that work okay? I wouldn't have some areas with no refinishing at all.

Thanks,
BB

 

I've seen people spot-stain or spot-poly like this and have it work but it's beyond my skill level to pull it off.

 

Was the hardwood stained? or just poly'd?
Since you used water based poly previously it is important to use it again. Oil base poly changes the color of the wood whereas water based only changes the sheen.

 

Marksr, no stain and I would for sure use the same type again (water-based satin). I'm not 100% certain I can identify and/or locate the same brand. I know I got it at Home Depot and I believe it was "Behr" but I'm thinking the last time I was there they didn't carry it anymore?

 

Since you are coating the entire floor the brand isn't important. If you take a bare piece of wood and apply oil base poly to half and water based to the other half you will have 2 different colors of wood - that's why it's important to use the same type of poly, especially for the 1st coat. There still may be some difference in color where you patched the flooring but it should be minimal.

 

Thanks, I was fairly certain I'd be okay but just wanted to check. The basic process I'm doing isn't too different than touching up a bad area of a door before repainting the entire thing. I'll be okay wit a little bit of mismatch with I'm thinking would be due to slight color variatioins between the two finishes (although in theory they are "clear") and the age of the finished.

Thanks again,
BB