DIY-sanded, 1920's, OG heart pine floors. Finish? Fumes?

Hi - TYIA for any help!

We've sanded (roughly, 60-->80 grit) the old growth heart pine (?) thick, wood T&G floors, in two (of 7) rooms of our single floor, small 1920's craftsman retirement bungalow. Heart Pine is a guess as it's not as soft as I'd expect, not being a wood expert.

We're ready to accept the inherited extensive doggy-'P' stains, which we were partially able to mitigate by rented drum, then palm orbital sanding, after using plenty of pet odor products. We do not expect a perfect 'new floor' finish at all. This is a cheap, old house, but charming.

I do want to somewhat match the lovely orange-ish (amber?) color of the remaining good floors.
We do not want a poly-like, light colored, gym floor finish at all. Most posts seem oriented to a light colored, shiny floor. I like the old deep pinkish-ambered floors in the 'good' rooms, and the feel of wood without a plastic coating.

On a fixed budget, we have to do this ourselves, no contractor involved, just as we did the sanding (TY, visiting son-in-law, for the heavy drum work.

Our limited budget also means -no hotel- to escape the inevitable fumes!

The 2 floors are sanded down, and winter is coming.

I'm asking for product and fume venting recommendations.
I was thinking Waterlox, Bona, or "Tried and True." Suggestions invited on that choice. Some say T&T has the least fumes.

Just how bad will the oil-based fumes be? We're doing two rooms.
We could partition off with plastic, and finish, one room at a time, but I'm unsure about how to orient venting fans for lowest risk of detonating the fumes. Exhaust, or Intake? Both? Will fan ventilation overcome the detonation danger from the fans' motor sparks?

We would seal off the floor vents and intake, and not use the central gas heat, and the first room is near the front door, not the (rear) kitchen.
I'm also a little concerned about volatile fumes falling into the basement (water heater etc.) This little old house is not tight (plaster, non insulated,) and leaks a lot.

Houses around here (WV, mountains) all seem to have a partial slab and post construction, with a sort of metal cladding skirt around them, textured like stone block, with some concrete block where there's slab. It's humid here, but the distributed basement(s) is(are) pretty dry. The front half and one side are crawl space. As I said, it's pretty leaky, and maybe that's good.

Maybe we should ventilate the basement(s) as well?
Or would that just add oxygen and make the fumes more volatile?

Thanks,
Rod

 

I'd wait until spring when I could open all the doors and windows and run fans. I'd do it early in the spring while the humidity was still low. Winter is coming on and the floors are sanded. You can cover floors with resin paper to keep them clean until ready to finish.

You are not going to get an exact match to the old floors, no matter what finish you select. The old flooring and finish have ambered with age.

Oil-based polyurethane will amber with age. It's smelly.

Fans should be oriented to blow fumes out the windows. I don't know where you are in the WV mountains, but where I am it's going to be 33 degrees tonight. That's a little too chilly to have the windows open, turn off gas heat and water heater. (BTW, no partial slab and post construction where I'm located in the Monongahelia National Forest.)

You can look for low or no VOC floor finish, but it might limit you to water-based poly which remains clear and does not amber. As far as sheen, there are ranges from matte to high gloss available.

Again, IMO, I'd wait until spring when the house can be opened up and gas appliances turned off. Then, you can grill in the backyard and heat water on a Coleman stove or the grill and rough it in the true Mountaineer spirit for a few days until fumes dissipate. You can also pitch a tent if the fumes are too bad.

 

Thanks twelvepole -

A response from someone familiar with our local climate is so valuable! Being new to the area (hence "neobilly" , as well as to homeowning, I appreciate your help. Luckily I do have some handy skills and tools, though mostly for metalwork (motorsports.) My main advantage is time now that I'm retired.

My problem here is, the wife won't be convinced to live in one room until Spring. The living room, our first project and the one with fewer stains, is as mentioned near the front door, and can better be sealed off or ducted to outside. This is the one we're adamant about using soon.

So, we may have to go with a zero VOC product and some sort of stain (yes, I know - similar issue with the stain.) We anticipated a need for stain anyway, as a slightly darker initial color may help hide the floor's color flaws. But as I mentioned, we don't expect a new-floor look, can't achieve a smooth flat surface anyway, and actually don't want the look in an old house. Its attractions were its charm and the amazingly low price. Oh - and the defunct welder's shop that came with it. That's an issue I've pursued on the garage forum.

The alternative -risking freezing our *'s off- may or may not work, with the iffy weather we've had. We used to have something we called "Indian Summer" in the northeast, and have our fingers crossed.

I've been reading also about the differences between BLO (Linseed) and Tung oil based products. It appears the more desirable Tung oil, rumored lower in VOC's by itself, and available as Waterlox, is unfortunately coupled by them with more toxic heavy metal dryers, probably negating the habitability advantage.

Tried&True appears to be only available on the web, but claims to be VOC. Do you have any experience with it?
I don't see how any oil could be zero VOC as they claim.

I'll be checking today whether it's available at the local woodworking supply (where I could return it if it wasn't usable.) We'll be cautious by trying a small amount first.
The 'local' does carry Waterlox (and accepts the Golden Mountaineer card.

Thanks again,
Rod

 

I am currently going through the exact same thing here on Long Island. Nights have been in the 30's.

We basically sanded, stained and poly'd ( three coats) a roughly 300 square ft room with all Cabot interior products. The floor is exactly like yours; vintage heart pine.

Cabot has a new line of interior products that are low VOC as required by New York Law ( not sure about the law in your state). While both staining and putting on the poly we cracked the windows in the room with one window fan running. I also left plastic up around the room openings. The smell was almost non exsistant. We were able to remove the fan late at night and just keep the windows cracked with no ill effects.

Prior to using there line, I called Cabot directly, they were extremely helpful. I would definately recommend Cabot to anyone considering to refinish wood floors. I am very pleased with the results.

 

Thanks Mranieri -

We went with Tried&True, and had a similar experience. VERY few fumes, and what there were, proved not to be unpleasant or dangerous. We even used the central heating except when tack-ragging with solvent beforehand. I don't know if I'd try that with any product containing poly and solvents or dryers, especially sleeping in the house during the process.

We got the T&T at a place that also carried Waterlox, but were steered from WL by stories of the stench, corroborated by the obviously knowledgeable salesman, who gave us many tips that proved true. The smell of T&T is very pleasant and short lived, and it's essentially food grade pure oil, made "boiled" by actual heating only, no dryers or solvents.
Even the varnish coat has only pine resins added, and a different heating process in formulation.
We still used vapor respirators, but I'm probably paranoid. Sleeping in the little house the whole time has produced no issues, and my wife is asthmatic and very sensitive to perfumes and insecticides.

We've done one coat of Danish Oil and one of Varnish Oil on the better room (LR,) and Danish on the badly stained room (DR) so far. Both products darkened the wood even more than we hoped, and we're very pleased with the satin finish of the burnished wood. It really does glow, and matches the rooms with the old finish (shellac?) beautifully. We'd bought a little stain to try, but saw it was unnecessary. As we have no children or dogs, we can have and appreciate a soft, non-slick floor. I do miss the convenience of Manhattan, where I lived for 25 years, but the slow life is working for us now. And if you never have reason to rush, you don't spill This allowed us to avoid poly.

Applying the first coat (Danish Oil) was much harder in the room with really bad stains and many different kinds of wood, probably mixed in repairs over the house's 80 years. The coarser grained woods, and especially the few oak boards, took much rubbing to get the oil to sink into the grain. However the old pine was a dream to work on, and looks beautiful in the lesser-stained (and less patched) living room.

We applied the finish as suggested by the seller, heating the oil, and using fingers and (many) nitrile gloves. The product went farther than I could have imagined. A quart of Danish oil did both rooms (one coat) with some left over! A quart of varnish oil did one room, one coat.

One issue that arose with these old floors was the constant shedding of dried up crack filler, now that wood has started to shrink with the early winter temps and dryness. That slowed things down and was pretty annoying. We're a little confused about how (or whether) to replace the filler. The cracks are not huge.

The next steps will be the first varnish oil coat on the badly stained floor. The PO had let three dogs use it extensively for a urinal, with carpet over the floor which we had removed (ourselves, and with great disgust) first thing. We can't afford to replace or have the floor repaired, the T&G is an honest inch thick!

At least the urine smell has been eliminated, using petstore products, but the stains are large, numerous, and very, very dark. Sanding didn't work that well, they're too deep. We may experiment with stain and accept a very dark floor. It's too early in the curing process to tell, but we'd rather stain it really dark than paint it. OTOH we'll probably wait until we can salvage other wood and patch it eventually. (I just looked at it again and it's lighter this morning.)

We'll live with it for now, cover the stains as well as possible with area rugs, and hope for better times when we can find wood to replace the many bad sections. There's a sun porch in front that needs its floor replaced and we can salvage some of that wood.

The house was a huge bargain and we're obviously willing to put up with a lot of DIY. Being retired, we're on a fixed income but have all the time in the world (fingers crossed.)

We had previously Danish Oiled the LR. Yesterday the two of us prepared and varnished (and wiped down) the Danish oiled LR (Better floor,) and D.O.'d almost all of the (BAD) DR, in one day. At the moment we're hurting, and taking a day off after yesterday's marathon. We'll still make our holiday deadline of getting to use those rooms for the first time.

The first coat with T&T, due to prep (tacking, vac'ing many times, rag and clothing safety management) takes by far the most time but is the most rewarding, as you watch the wood change spectacularly for the better under your fingers, up close and personal. I think this is the way to appreciate nice old wood, though it's hard, slow work and wouldn't work for those without the unlimited schedule of the retired.

Rod

 

Wow Rod, that sounds like alot of work!!! I am sure your shoulders were feeling it! I agree though, the hard work on these old homes has it's rewards.

Enjoy your retirement.........but dont work to hard!

Mark