Help calm my nerves about Hardwood floors

[rubytue]

Originally Posted by Bydand

Here is a shot I just took of the original 67 year old red oak floors in the living room. Finish is badly worn, but the wood is still in great shape. Proper care and yours will outlast you as well.

We had red oak flooring from 1968 that we refinished about a year ago. My finish choices were either golden pecan or colonial maple. Well, turns out that 40 year old red oak with just poly were so close to the same colors I liked that we skipped the stain. Once you sand the floors, if you pour a little mineral spirits on the floor, you will get the same color as after the poly. Try this trick after you sand and you might save some money

[ellie]

I prefer the satin finish on floors. It seems to hide imperfections and scratches and scuffs that will inevitably occur on any floor. Plus they age more gracefully. It's hard to tell a older satin finish from a new one.

[texdav]

Most wood floors that are old had bound carpeting in the older homes at one time. Most left about 18 inch border. That or more expensive rugs. Coomon to see the carpet hungout to be beaten . That was the reason so many lasted so long.Wall to wall carpet was very uncomon until the slab homes came into practice.In fact many homes had double wood floors. shiplap and then hardwood.

[mrs1885]

It's really personal taste. We've got a medium to dark color on ours and I wish it were lighter. However, they are real wood floors, not the fake stuff you always see these days. They don't even know how old they are, just that they've been there since whenever the house was built. It was built before we had a county courthouse so they aren't any records of when it was put it. The town where the courthouse is located was established in 1909, so they are pretty old. And still in excellent shape. They do need to be refinished, but a quick sanding and new stain and poly and they'll look good as new. And this is with at one point 7 kids, 12 dogs, and 7 cats. They get some heavy use! I love the hardwood floors. Much healthier than carpet and way easier to keep clean!

[EmmieRae]

We REALLY made a bad judgement when we put bamboo flooring in our kitchen and hall. I wouldn't do it again. It's a very soft wood and shows every mark in the world on it. We have 2 dogs and the floor is covered with nail marks!!

[Coldjensens]

I like the stain called "Natural" It just evens out the coloring. It does nto add or change color. We used a two part really smelly top coat product called Glista (Glitsa?). It is normally for commercial uses. We have a 160 pound english mastiff who bounces and slides all over the floor. While there are a few marks, they are very few. We have spilled on and battered this floor. It still holds up.



By the way if you do nto know this already hardwood floors are far cleaner and healthier than carpeting. Sticking a piece of fabric on the floor that you really cannot clean and cannot easily replace was a bad idea to begin with. With some of our rooms, we find that it is cheaper to just buy a new rug on E-bay than it is to have them cleaned. It depends on the size age style and quality of the rug. We bought one rug on E-bay based on coloring and size for about $350 including shipping. When we had it cleaned, they told us it is worth $9000. The moral of the story - buy your rugs used on E-bay.

[Uconn97]

I think the natural look is good too. just put some poly on the oak floors and I think you will be pretty happy with it. We love ours. We have the same - red oak. I would go with a satin or semi-gloss, but nothing shinier than that! Ours are red oak with a semi...