On Jun 2, 10:11*pm, startning_new
wrote:
New here and getting started on a recently purchased 1961 house.

I've pulled up all of the old carpet and pad throughout the house, about
1900 sq ft, to reveal the original hardwood floors. The floors in the
bedrooms were finished at some point in the past but appear to have been
covered with carpet for a long time, as they appear to be relatively free
of
any defects [except of course the holes from the staples removed]. In the
formal living room and dining room, however, the oak floors were never
finished. I don't notice any un-level boards but they do retain their
coarse
texture.

At this time, I'm not wanting to pour a huge amount of money into the
floors, as there are some other updates/repairs that I would like to make..
For the living room and dining room, my question is, could I stain them or
put a finish on them and have them look reasonably good without going
through the sanding process? If so, are there particular things to be
aware
of? My main reason for wanting to avoid doing this at the time, in
addition
to the cost and time, is that my wife is pregnant and we don't want to
deal
with the mess of all the particles in the air. If I can get away without
sanding and truly finishing at this point, is there any coating that would
keep the boards from being a "problem" (i.e. dangerous) to our new
daughter
when she starts crawling around in several months.

As an aside, for the bedrooms, which have the finished floors, is there a
good cleaner I should use on them just as general upkeep in transitioning
them for use. Since I'm not refinishing them, I'm not filling the staple
holes, but we will use area rugs.

Thanks for any guidance in advance.

-------------------------------------

Lots of good answers.

step by step we did on a 1906 floor section::

put an 'exiting' exhaust fan in a window to run while creating dust.
Put up some plastic paint drop cloths for curtains at the other
openings to concentrate [and prevent wasting'] the air flow.

use a tumbler sander, not a large disk [get 'swirly patterns with
those]

wood may have a wax residue from years ago, won't show up until you go
to apply finish.

since relatively unfinished, use the finest grade paper, quickly,
gently sand in X pattern on the floors to cut the top, but prevent
unlevelness.

final sanding again using new papers and this time go with the grain
as everyone says.

vacuum floor, walls, everything that dust wants to settle on or cling
to.

then use 'tack' rag/cloth to remove particles, you'd be surprised how
much dust vacuuming leaves behind.

Use oil based finish [I rarely stain, and like to use boiled linseed
oil] and gently pour into throw away container [do not create
bubbles], like the bottom of a cut down water bottle. NEVER return
unused to can, throw away! The brush will pick up contaminants from
the floor, [if you see any large ones, remove from brush] keep your
brush out of the bottom of your reservoir to avoid picking any crud
up.

Apply first primer cut 10-30% [when I know I'll do a lot of coats, I
cut 50%] with thinner and FLOW IT ON! Dip brush, run off excess and
flow on - I've done an 18 by 15 foot room in less than an hour. Do
NOT 'paint' the floor three or four times by brushing and brushing.
Best technique to get even coverage is to flow on at right angle to
grain and then gently brush from unfinished into finished area to coat
completely BUT NO MORE! If you spot a dribble bump, don't worry,
you'll get it next time. As I said flow cross ways, brush with grain
goes incredibly fast.

When finished allow to dry. Keep room dust and bug free [impossible to
do] then Within 24 hours the floor's finish will be hard on tops but
slightly gummy under the surface so be careful. You'll notice as you
walk over the surface you may ease into it leaving foot prints. You'll
also be very dissapointed with all the particulates stuck into the
surface. Don't worry.

Now here is a key: Get 120 - 150 grain wet n dry sandpaper and use a
FLAT HARD block and use a wetting agent [Jet Dry], or a Windex Window
cleaner [Easy Off Window cleaner was the best, but no longer made]
spray cleaner and sand away to flatten the surface and knock off all
those little bumps you'll see, including bugs. The water seems to
harden the surface. and thepaper being wetndry will NOT gum up from
the not quite dried finish. Iused one sheet to do that 15 by 18 foot
section, goes quickly. DO NOT GO DOWN THROUGH THE FINISH to bare
wood. The surface must be abraded, else the next coat does not adhere
well.

When done, dry, vacuum, but you MUST tack rag again.

Next coat, use uncut oil finish, flow on as before. This time you'll
notice almost NO bumps! [I found each coat, got less and less until so
few could flake off with finger nail and become invisible.]

If you want another coat, because it goes so fast, NOW you can use a
soft pad for sanding.

The last coat do not sand. You're done, with a hard surface that can
be invisibly patch repaired if any 'accidents' occur scratches, water,
etc.

Do NOT ever use wax.

The floor finish will last at least 25 years.

I found I could redo heavy traffic areas using slightly cut finish,
and the floor was back to looking new for another 5 years. Just avoid
going down to bare wood at any time. With age, colors change and
start getting color differences that are subtetly noticeable. Not
letting go to bare wood keeps a uniform color.

You should be done in less than 7 days.