Nice Cookies

Hey all,

I’m not sure if this would be the best forum to post this question in (mods can move it if you want).

Me and my wife run a small dance studio with two rooms that are about 900 sq ft each (1800 total).

They have hardwood floating floors and need repolished badly.

We have received quotes to do the work at around $2,500-$3,000 and I called home depot and they rent out a sander for $57/day.

My thoughts are that I may be able to do this myself (I have some decent handyman knowhow).

Has anyone sanded and polished a hardwood floor before? if so, what did you use, any advise you have, how much laquer is necessary, etc.

Thanks in advance OT

Cliffs: Need dance studio hardwood floors sanded and polished. anyone have info on how to do this?
I JUST pulled up the carpet in my living room, sanded down the old stain, put new stain down and clear coat.

This is the 3rd time I’ve done this. Did my mom’s living and dining room, and half my girlfriends mom’s house.

It’s easy. Definitely rent the sander and do it yourself.

If you taking it right down, re-staining and clear coating:

-DO NOT get a drum sander, this will work a whole lot quicker, but if you leave in spot too long it will start to groove the floor. Get the square vibrating one.

-Buy a few extra foam pads, and lots of extra sand paper, of varying grits. You can always bring back what you don’t use. (the rental shop will have all this stuff, and show it too you when you get the sander)

-Do the whole floor with a fairly rough grit (60) if it’s not coming up easy, go more aggressive (40). Once you have the whole floor done, do it all over again with 100 grit. Then wet the whole floor down, let it dry, then go over the whole floor again with either the 100 again, or 220 if you can get it. (You wet it down so the grain rises, then you sand it down to get a really smooth finish.

-Take your time. Go really really slowly, and make sure you get the whole floor. You might want to get a hand held random orbital sander to do around the edges and any low spots that the big sander didn’t get.

-Put stain in a paint tray (disposable liners are great for this) 1 gallon is supposed to do around 1200square feet (it will say on the can) but get a few cans more then you need.

-Buy one of the applicator blocks with pads (screws onto a broom handle) to apply the stain, get one for the clear coat as well.

-Wipe the stain on, along the length of the boards, let it sit for 5-10 minutes depending on how dark you want it, then wipe it off with cotton rags, or old cotton t-shirts. Only do 5 or 6 planks at a time, that way you can still reach to wipe them down. Takes longer, but this way you’re not walking across wet stain.

-After the whole floor is done, and has dried for the amount of time specified on the can, you can clear coat. Again use a paint tray/liner, and buy more then you think you need. You will probably end up using some of it.

-Wipe it on the whole floor, in a thin even coat (make sure you don’t paint yourself into a corner).

-Let dry (you can get "professional" varathane that is supposed to dry in 3-4 hours so you can get a few coats on in one day). Once the first coat is no longer tacky, add a second coat, then let dry and add 3rd.

-If you put too thick of a coat on, or once any coat is dry and you see lap marks or thick spots, you may want to give the whole floor, OR that specific spot a sanding. (You can use the palm sander for this with a light grit sandpaper)
IF you just want to re-clear coat and not re-stain:

-DO NOT get a drum sander, this will work a whole lot quicker, but if you leave in spot too long it will start to groove the floor. Get the square vibrating one.

-Buy a few extra foam pads, and lots of extra sand paper, try to get 100 and 220 grit. Nothing too rough. You can always bring back what you don’t use. (the rental shop will have all this stuff, and show it too you when you get the sander)

-Start off with the 220, If this isn’t removing enough of the clear coat, move down to the 100, but I wouldn’t go much more aggressive then that.

-Take your time. Go really really slowly, and make sure you get the whole floor. You might want to get a hand held random orbital sander to do around the edges and any low spots that the big sander didn’t get.

-Put your varathane in a paint tray/liner, and use one of the applicator blocks/pads that you can buy at home depot (located near the stains).

-Wipe it on the whole floor, in a thin even coat (make sure you don’t paint yourself into a corner).

-You can get "professional" varathane that is supposed to dry in 3-4 hours so you can get a few coats on in one day. Once the first coat is no longer tacky, add a second coat, then let dry and add 3rd.

-If you put too thick of a coat on, or once any coat is dry and you see lap marks or thick spots, you may want to give the whole floor, OR that specific spot a sanding. (You can use the palm sander for this with a light grit sandpaper for spot sanding)

-As long as you put it on thin enough, and try to follow the seams in the boards (don’t over lap boards too much) you shouldn’t have to do much sanding between coats.
that’s one hell of a response. thanks. does it make a difference in the type of wood that I am using? this is a somewhat special type of floor (it’s floating wood, which I think means there is a foam pad underneath it).

I have two rooms that I am trying to do (approximately 20×40ft each). I don’t think that we need to re-stain them though, unless it’s necessary.
lol…you posted my answer b4 I got the question out.
do you nkow how much that varathane costs per gallon, and how many gallons I night need?

No it shouldn’t really matter that it’s a floating floor or not.

Also, you can rent "polishers" from home depot as well. It is possible to just "wax" the floor then run over it with the polisher to give it some more shine. But if the clear coat is in bad shape, I’d probably just go all out and sand/clear coat.

the clear coat is GONE! these floors have not been done in at least 3 years and have zero shine left in them. they also have tap shoes digging in the wood all day long so I am pretty sure that a sand and finish is going to be necessary.

I paid 15 bucks for 1L, which is not quite a quarter of a gallon. The can says that one 1L covers 130-150 square feet.

So a gallon should cover around ~530 square feet.
I think the gallons were around 35 bucks. But the pricing might be different there then it is here. I’d say 40 bucks give or take? Depending on what brand you get and if you get water or oil based.

Is/was there any stain on the floor? Or is it just natural wood with a varnish on it?
all I know is that I saw it before when it was shiny, and now it’s pretty tore up and dull. I don’t think that there is a stain on it. It’s almost a white looking wood.

It’s probably just natural wood. Go with my second post, start off with 100 grit, then wet the floor down, let it dry and go over it with 220 (unless you don’t mind feeling the grain of the wood, but I’d think you’d want it as smooth as possible).
Then clear coat.

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