Hello,

I live in a 90 year old American Foursquare and we'd like to refinish
the front porch. I'd really appreciate any advice or input, or any
info about how much of a can of worms we're opening up.

Currently, the porch is covered with a green astro-turf like carpet.
Underneath the carpet, there is a layer of what appears to be a yellow
adhesive, which is broken down and no longer sticks to the carpet.
Underneath of that, the porch was once painted gray.

I've inspected the wood and it appears to be in very good shape, both
on the surface and in the crawl space.

I've done a pretty good deal of wood-working but I must admit, since
the porch is outside I'm a little out of my league. I've also never
refinished a floor. I would assume, the procedure would involve
chemically stripping the porch, replacing damaged boards (if any),
sanding, staining, and some kind of marine polyurethane?

Does anyone have experience with such a task?

Thanks,

Jim

On Mar 20, 10:18*am, wrote:
Hello,

I live in a 90 year old American Foursquare and we'd like to refinish
the front porch. I'd really appreciate any advice or input, or any
info about how much of a can of worms we're opening up.

Currently, the porch is covered with a green astro-turf like carpet.
Underneath the carpet, there is a layer of what appears to be a yellow
adhesive, which is broken down and no longer sticks to the carpet.
Underneath of that, the porch was once painted gray.

I've inspected the wood and it appears to be in very good shape, both
on the surface and in the crawl space.

I've done a pretty good deal of wood-working but I must admit, since
the porch is outside I'm a little out of my league. I've also never
refinished a floor. I would assume, the procedure would involve
chemically stripping the porch, replacing damaged boards (if any),
sanding, staining, and some kind of marine polyurethane?

Does anyone have experience with such a task?

Thanks,

Jim

Quickest might be rent a floor sander and sand off glue, get extra
rolls of course paper, then stain with exterior porch oil stain. on an
exterior floor a clear Marine poly will last a few years then need
removal, alot of work in a few years. If the porch is covered paint
will hold up but I would stain it this year.

"ransley" wrote

Quickest might be rent a floor sander and sand off glue, get extra
rolls of course paper, then stain with exterior porch oil stain. on an
exterior floor a clear Marine poly will last a few years then need
removal, alot of work in a few years. If the porch is covered paint
will hold up but I would stain it this year.

Concur. I have done similar (Habitat for Humanity volunteer, refinishing
work). It's actually easier to just sand down than mess with chemical
strippers which *may* cause problems later with older but still firm woods.

If you have to replace any wood, it will have a different coloration so a
darker stain is a better bet overall. I had to also replace several
spindles (cosmetic, not truely load bearing, but collectively held up the
railing). Puppy chewed g. Anyways, it was easy to get the fellow who
knew how match up patterns, to wood work that. Due to coloration however,
we painted all spindles and used stain on the rest. There were 2 steps, one
of which needed to be replaced but I replaced both. Reason being I wanted a
perfect stain match between them. (Only takes about 30 mins to replace the
top portion of a stair, if that and I'd done it many times so for me, 30
mins for both). Then, deck needed 5-7 planks replaced (I forget exactly)
but we sanded down, replaced, resanded, then dark oak stain on railing,
stairs, deck. Painted 'spindles' to match trim of house. Because I'm not
particularily big or strong, one of the guys ran the floor sander for me
while I fixed something else (wood trim along a back screened porch, and a
dog house roof if memory serves). It was about a 12x6 porch on the front of
the house. I think it took him perhaps 2 hours? Not sure. I am sure it
would take longer with a hand sander.

Yes, oil based stain please and later if desiring to paint, oil based paint
if legal for your area (some I gather now dont allow that?). If older wood,
it will be soaking up some stain so very likely to need 3-4 coats. Dont
worry, thats making the wood heathier.

wrote:

Hello,

I live in a 90 year old American Foursquare and we'd like to refinish
the front porch. I'd really appreciate any advice or input, or any
info about how much of a can of worms we're opening up.

Currently, the porch is covered with a green astro-turf like carpet.
Underneath the carpet, there is a layer of what appears to be a yellow
adhesive, which is broken down and no longer sticks to the carpet.
Underneath of that, the porch was once painted gray.

I've inspected the wood and it appears to be in very good shape, both
on the surface and in the crawl space.

I've done a pretty good deal of wood-working but I must admit, since
the porch is outside I'm a little out of my league. I've also never
refinished a floor. I would assume, the procedure would involve
chemically stripping the porch, replacing damaged boards (if any),
sanding, staining, and some kind of marine polyurethane?

Does anyone have experience with such a task?

Thanks,

Jim


With the time, effort and expense of doing what you propose, it would
probably be much
more economical to rip up the old wood and put down a new floor. I have
never done
what you describe, but have refinished lots of furniture.

On Mar 20, 10:18*am, wrote:
Hello,

I live in a 90 year old American Foursquare and we'd like to refinish
the front porch. I'd really appreciate any advice or input, or any
info about how much of a can of worms we're opening up.

Currently, the porch is covered with a green astro-turf like carpet.
Underneath the carpet, there is a layer of what appears to be a yellow
adhesive, which is broken down and no longer sticks to the carpet.
Underneath of that, the porch was once painted gray.

I've inspected the wood and it appears to be in very good shape, both
on the surface and in the crawl space.

I've done a pretty good deal of wood-working but I must admit, since
the porch is outside I'm a little out of my league. I've also never
refinished a floor. I would assume, the procedure would involve
chemically stripping the porch, replacing damaged boards (if any),
sanding, staining, and some kind of marine polyurethane?

Does anyone have experience with such a task?

Thanks,

Jim

Be sure to hit all nails down as you see them and try not to sand
them, a long steel rod hit with a hammer helps to keep you from
bending over every 5 minutes

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Regardless, of what I do it'll
probably have to wait for a few months until we can have a dry week
where it doesn't drop below 50 deg.

I do have another question though... I still haven't examined their
condition (but they feel solid) but how exactly would somebody strip/
clean concrete stairs? Mine at the very least will have the remnants
of adhesive and may have possibly been painted in the past.

Thanks,

Jim

On Mar 21, 10:12*am, wrote:
Thanks everyone for all the advice. Regardless, of what I do it'll
probably have to wait for a few months until we can have a dry week
where it doesn't drop below 50 deg.

I do have another question though... *I still haven't examined their
condition (but they feel solid) but how exactly would somebody strip/
clean concrete stairs? Mine at the very least will have the remnants
of adhesive and may have possibly been painted in the past.

Thanks,

Jim

Sandblast

On Mar 21, 1:46�pm, ransley wrote:
On Mar 21, 10:12�am, wrote:

Thanks everyone for all the advice. Regardless, of what I do it'll
probably have to wait for a few months until we can have a dry week
where it doesn't drop below 50 deg.

I do have another question though... �I still haven't examined their
condition (but they feel solid) but how exactly would somebody strip/
clean concrete stairs? Mine at the very least will have the remnants
of adhesive and may have possibly been painted in the past.

Thanks,

Jim

Sandblast

methyl stripper then sandblast

stripping is faster than sandblasting the entire thing

wrote:

On Mar 21, 1:46�pm, ransley wrote:


On Mar 21, 10:12�am, wrote:



Thanks everyone for all the advice. Regardless, of what I do it'll
probably have to wait for a few months until we can have a dry week
where it doesn't drop below 50 deg.


I do have another question though... �I still haven't examined their
condition (but they feel solid) but how exactly would somebody strip/
clean concrete stairs? Mine at the very least will have the remnants
of adhesive and may have possibly been painted in the past.


Thanks,


Jim


Sandblast



methyl stripper then sandblast

stripping is faster than sandblasting the entire thing


Ever used paint remover on concrete?