First time homeowner refinishes floors without massively screwing them up
Just wanted to share some photos of my DIY because I’m proud of it. They’re not perfect and I’ve made a few mistakes but hey, they look pretty good to me. This is a project that I don’t think I’d take on myself again and I’m glad I’m a teacher with the summers off because I don’t know how I would have done this while working full time.
1960 Ranch with what I believe is red oak original to the home. I sanded with a drum sander, 36, 80, 120 and an orbital to go around the edges. One coat Bona ClearSeal and two coats Bona Traffic HD in satin. I sanded with an orbital palm sander after sealing at 220 grit — I do not recommend this method because it took forever but it definitely needed a sand and I didn’t feel like renting another piece of equipment.
I still have to paint (which in hindsight I should’ve done before the floors but that’s another lesson learned) and install quarter round shoe molding.
This was all carpeted, can you believe? I’m putting the before pics at the end.