u/7bridges

Very detailed writeup about one of the projects that me (healthcare) and husband (electrician) have done on our 1901 foursquare mostly DIY. I include this painful level of detail for anyone inexperienced like me who wanted to know every single step people took to tackle projects.

When we moved in, there was old hardwood in the foyer, dining room, and living room. The DR/LR is Douglas Fir. The foyer looks like oak, which I've been advised is probably not original but maybe postwar. In the DR/LR, there were large areas where the finish was completely worn off, so we decided to go for a full sand and refinish.

The kitchen & little vestibule down to the basement had linoleum flooring probably 20-30 years old. We gutted the kitchen for the remodel, so I had full access to the floor in the room, and I decided to play the floor lottery. If I lost, the plan would have been to tile. I pried up the first layer of linoleum and a layer of subfloor, which revealed... more vinyl/linoleum - but with hardwood planks underneath! Win! This linoleum looked quite old and was adhered right to the dang hardwood underneath. We put on respirators and used an IR heat gun to warm the tiles up, and they peeled away nicely with a prybar.

After getting all the linoleum up, we found the kitchen hardwood floor looked in decent condition. But, the whole room was bordered in thick black adhesive on the wood. I assume this was black mastic adhesive, containing asbestos, so I didn't want to sand it off. I got on my PPE and got the adhesive wet, and then scraped it up using a painter's multitool and a sharper carbide scraper. It was gross, tiring, and time-consuming, but it worked. Took a couple days of work. I left most of the remaining adhesive under where the cabinets were going to be and decided we just wouldn't sand/finish those portions of the floor. Hope I don't regret that in the future.

There were also a zillion staples in the wood. Channel locks and regular pliers broke the staples, which was frustrating, but I got a pair of vice grip pliers which removed them perfectly.

After removing the adhesive, the floor looked ok - some water staining but overall in fine condition. Not sure what type of wood, maybe birch or maple. So, the kitchen floors became part of the planned first floor refinish. I called around for professional quotes and I only got one call back. They told me that I should expect at least $6.50 per square foot, which was outside what the treasury could tolerate. (I think the area totals perhaps 800 sq ft.) So, DIY it would be. I read the very helpful Pete's Hardwood Floors wiki and watched a bunch of videos. Here's how I went about the refinishing. Note that we were not living in the house while doing the project.

First I trawled the floors with a drywall knife to find anything sticking out (nails, staple ends etc). I recessed anything I found with a nail set & a hammer. I swept & mopped.

Went to big box store and rented a drum sander and an edge sander. I chose a sanding sequence of 36 grit, 60 grit, 80 grit. I got 6 sandpapers for each of the grits for the drum sander and 12 each for the edge sander.

I started on the kitchen since it was the hardest wood, and since I felt like I could cover it with tile if I ruined it. The old finish was stubborn and I did a 36 grit diagonal pass with the drum sander before a 36 grit pass with the grain. There were multiple spots where the floorboards were uneven or a bit sunken that the drum sander couldn't get which I went at with a hand sander. I tried to hand sand out the water spots but didn't help much.

The foyer with the oak was similar - hard, a good bit of old damage/discoloration. Again, I probably could have got it looking better if I was more experienced and braver... maybe if I started with 24 grit. I got it looking OK, but rustic.

In the LR/DR with the douglas fir, I did just straight passes with the drum sander. The wood got way cleaner and looked beautiful, but it was noticeably softer. The edger sanding was difficult on the softer wood. The machine itself was heavy and awkward and I made multiple whacks and divots. I tried to feather in the edge sanding, but overall the edges are rather noticeably different than the drum sanded portions. Couple spots of damage that I was too chicken to whack at more. I did these rooms together with the drum sander since they are connected (see pictures) making it easier.

Sanding took about 2 full days. Drum sanding was pretty quick. Edging was slower, and hand sanding added time too. Also, maneuvering around extension cords, changing sandpaper, emptying the sander bags, a bit of sweeping as I went - these all took up time.

After I sanded, I swept the floors and then buffed with a square floor buffer machine, using a 120 grit screen over a red pad. This was quick. I think I could have done more with a more aggressive circular buffer to smooth out the edging border, but I didn't really know how and couldn't figure out the right machine to rent. I was pretty over it at this point and ready to move on. At this point, I recognized that I wasn't going to get it looking perfect or professional without a lot more work, but it would look better than before and the price was right! I also rationalized that that the kitchen & foyer floors were kinda beat up anyway and that "rustic" would be the look.

Then came obsessive cleaning. I swept briskly with a broom and vacuumed up the dirt, then went over with a shop vac with a brush vacuum attachment, then swept again, then a very lightly dampened microfiber mop. Other prep included closing the windows (we left one open by accident 🙁 which did create some dust)

Next was sealer. Me and my husband tag teamed this. I went around the edges with the foam edger and he rolled on the rest right behind me. I used one bottle of amberizer for the gallon of sealer we used in the foyer and kitchen, no tint for the douglas fir. 90 minutes after this coat of sealer, per the manufacturer instructions, we mixed and applied the first coat of Supra AT. When the application was initially finished there were a bunch of streak marks and parts of the edges were really obvious, so I was worried we screwed it up. Happily it all evened out in just a couple hours.

Then 3 hours later, we were ready to buff before the second coat. We did unfortunately have some dust bits that had gotten into the finish which I picked out with my fingernails and gently buffed, which seemed to work. Then we buffed the floor with 120 grit sandpaper on a pole sander, then cleaned again (swept, vacuumed and mopped with lightly damped microfiber mop). I think we could have used the floor buffer machine to do this but I wondered if it would be too aggressive or prone to error. Then we did the second coat. Next day it looked just beautiful. Couple bits of errant dust stuck in there but overall very happy. We walked on it a little with socks the next day which mfr instructions say is ok. Now leaving it be to cure for a couple weeks.

In the kitchen, there was much more specks that got into the finish. This is because the room is gutted and despite our best efforts to clean, the open walls are just weeping dust. I might go back and buff the floors again and recoat with another coat of Supra AT in the future, but leaving it be for now.

I read a lot about different products for sealing and finishing the floors. The r/hardwoodfloors sub was helpful for this. I ultimately chose Loba products because they seem to have a reputation for being easy to work with and durable. I decided to do one coat of EasyPrime and two coats of Supra AT in the satin finish. I also liked that I could use the amber tint in any of the coats to get my desired color. I may go back and add another coat of Supra AT with amberizer in it in the kitchen. The floors are a bit cooler than I'd hoped. However altogether I'm happy with the results!

Materials for project, about 800 sq ft or so. Costs for what we spent, but we had some things already on hand:

• Preparation: prybar, hammer, infrared heat gun, carbide scraper, painter's multitool, rags, bucket, nail set

• Drum sander + 6x 36, 60, and 80 grit sandpaper $350

• Edge sander + 12x 36, 60, and 80 grit sandpaper $325

• Electric hand sander + 60 & 80 grit sandpaper

• Buffer + red pad + 120 grit sanding screen $170

• Wet-dry vac with brush vacuum attachment

• Microfiber mop

• Pole sander with 120 grit sandpaper

• 2 gallons Loba Easyprime sealer, 4 gallons Loba Supra AT Satin finish, 1 bottle Loba amberizer - $870

• 3/8 nap roller on a pole - used 3 rollers $15

• Foam edger $20

Extra notes

We did the floors before painting the walls or redoing the baseboards. UGH. This was due to timeline and limitations in PTO days… We needed the floors done prior to moving in, but we will be able to do the other stuff while we are living there. We are protecting the floor with construction paper and plastic in the meanwhile. Wish it would have worked out to do this differently.

I should have done samples with the amberizer in differing amounts, but I didn’t because I’m a bum.

Over the past 2.5 months, we have accomplished the following on a mostly DIY basis. I'll make more detailed posts about each aspect of our renovations in the future, because I find it so helpful to read from others.

To summarize, me (healthcare) and husband (electrician) purchased a 1901 foursquare that had been converted into a 2-unit rental in the 1970s, and it was a landlord special needing some love. We decided to try to level the house some, update & internalize the electric, add drywall over the cracked plaster, replace most of the existing trim (beat-up and covered in chipping peeling lead paint), and redo some of the hardwood floors. We also wanted to update the kitchen, which evolved into a full-gut job. Here is our progress with some notes.

Jacking: House was off-kilter. We slowly jacked the house up a couple inches in several spots with jacks and steel shims, it is much improved although not perfect. Casualty was the water heater which sprung a leak and added an unexpected $1800 expense. It was 10 years old so could be worse. This was the first order of business since we didn't want to mess up other work we'd do after.

Electric: internalized the surface mount electric in the bedrooms and attic and added some receptacles. Added ceiling fan boxes in the bedrooms. Added bunch of cat5e. Added wired smoke detectors. Completely redid the kitchen electric for our remodel. Next up: adding a receptacle or two in the foyer, and later, we will redo the electric in the living & dining room.

Windows: We tore the window trim off of 3/4 of windows in the house so far. We insulated them with a combination of low expansion foam insulation and cut up R15 strips. Next up: trim them out! Purchased 3.25 inch colonial trim to keep with the original style.

Drywall: we have hung drywall over plaster in 2/3 of the house - 3 bedrooms, vestibule, one set of stairs, most of the foyer, and the attic. Slower process to deal with weird angles and the whole dang house being uneven. Nearing completion on mudding the bedrooms. Mudding sucks and we suck at it, but it's sanding out nicely. Next up: completing the foyer (partly done) and kitchen. Later we will do the same in the dining room and living room.

Floors: First finished project - refinished hardwood floors on first story of the house! They were bare in the foyer, living room, and dining room, but the kitchen had several layers of old vinyl to remove, plus one million staples and adhesive to deal with. We rented equipment from a big box store and used Loba products to finish. Next up: The attic has painted floorboards, which I'm debating whether to strip or to repaint. I'm leaving the 2nd floor wide pine boards alone.

Stairs: Ripped up old carpet from two sets of stairs, one from the 1st to 2nd story, one from the 2nd story to the attic. So far have spent endless hours taking out staples and removing old random crap. On the 1st-2nd story stairs, the risers and treads are just completely beat to shit, and the banister/spindles need replaced as well (unstable, unsafe). Next up: I want to try to gently sand to even, fill the bigger holes, and then paint them, and replace the banister/spindles but keep the original posts. But this has become a huge time sink and I might end up re-carpeting over them, tragically.

Kitchen: Big project. We decided to knock out part of the load-bearing wall between the kitchen & dining room to open up the space and put in a peninsula. Got this spec'd by an architect and permitted. The wall is out, the new beam is in. Kitchen is currently completely gutted, the electric has been completed, and plumber is pending to recess the current sticking-out gas line to the stove. We ordered cabinets from Ikea to install. Next up: inspections, which of course is causing the project to be delayed. Then, insulation drywall, painting, and cabinets.

Basement: Cleaned out tons of old trash, took down old ceiling and wall and shelving, and took down/redid some of the extensive, unhinged electrical wiring we found. Added ducting for a radon remediation system. Next up: More rewiring, more cleaning... so much more cleaning.

Other: Knocked out an original opening between the foyer and living room which had been drywalled over to separate the two rental units. This was easy because it wasn't load bearing and we just had to uncover the original opening. Insulated the unfinished portion of the attic and have added other new insulation as able throughout the house.

What we decided to delay: The bathrooms are functional so even though I hate them, they are on the backburner. We also delayed mudding, painting & trimming the attic til later in favor of finishing the first two stories, but the drywall is up, windows are insulated, and the electric is done, which is nice. Facelifting the dining and living room electric/trim/walls. 2nd-3rd story stairs - don't need to use these for now and could work on this while living there.

Hiccups & time sinks so far:

Inspection delays for the kitchen - got the structural remodel inspected, but now have to get an electrical inspection as well since our house is classified as a multifamily home, which we forgot since we are using it as a single-family. Nothing is square, everything takes longer - drywall, mudding, doors, you name it. Scraping up old adhesive from the kitchen floorboards was very time consuming. Had to redo some ducting in the kitchen to accommodate our peninsula. Aforementioned water heater leak & repair. Stairs are a huge time sink and god they look terrible haha. Basement - All the time spent cleaning it out so far could have been done later, but we only had the dumpster for a limited time, so we kind of had to do it then, which diverted time from other projects. Tried to strip the paint off of the colonial bay window casing in the living room with an IR stripper. Fail, now have to salvage to prep to repaint.

Imperfect and definitely a DIY job on a timeline, but pleased with how they turned out! There were three types of wood. Believe they are all original. Douglas Fir in the big long two room block, no idea about kitchen (maybe maple?) or foyer (maybe oak?) Used drum sander, edge sander, and buffer rented from big box store to prep. Loba Easyprime and 2 coats of Loba Supra AT on top. 4 days work.