We have been redoing our home and decided the wall to wall carpeting had to go. The carpeting was put down by the previous owners. After painting the walls and ceiling, we began to remove the carpeting. We suspected we were going to find some interesting things under the rugs.

Living Room: there are a few stains from previous owners pets. Only one is very dark, about a foot in diameter. There are many other areas where there are stains, probably pet stains.

Dining room: Many stains,we know our cat caused them.

We took the carpet tack strips up and now have to decide what to do- try and refinish these ourselves or have them professionally redone. I am leaning towards having a professional do this work. The carpet tack strips were nailed in and our son carefully removed the strips.

1. Is it possible for a DIY'er to somehow bleach out the stains and then refininsh?

2. Is it possible for a professional to do that?

3. What would sanding do?

4. Is shellac still the finish to use?

5. We are really hoping to save these floors. We understand the pet stains are very bad for a hardwood floor; what is the best thing we can do at this point to refinish these floors?

6. Any idea what this may cost? Ballpark??

The wood pieces are approx. an inch and a half wide. Hardwood floors, when they are in good shape, are really nice.

Any and all suggestions would be VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.

 

Can anyone help?

 

Many floor refinishers will not touch a floor that has pet urine stains. When the sander is set upon the floor, the odor from urine can be breath taking. Some installers, howeer, will take on the challenge and pull boards from inconspicuous areas to replace those that cannot be sanded to remove stains. New boards to replace those may be a challenge for you because the flooring width is 1 1/2". This will tend to be a custom flooring width and require custom milling. Standard strip floors today are 2 1/4" wide. Staining floor with dark stain to camouflage stained floors may be an option. You will need to get at least 3 bids and disucss your options with floor refinishers. As costs tend to area to area and among refinishers, pecially according to the size of the job, it is important to get bids.