I have a quickie question. I have hardwoods under my dining room rug. The rug was a wall to wall the old owners put in. I wanted to tear the rug up and expose the hardwoods but ran into a problem. While testing an area to see what kind of shape the hardwoods were in, I noticed that when they installed the wall to wall, that "Kick" machine thingy that stretches the rug gauged the hardwoods all along the wall. Also, the strips that hold the rug in place were nailed into the hardwoods.

My question is this: Is there anything I can do to clean up these gauges and nail holes? Something like a putty? Do I have to replace the boards all together? The rest of the floor looks pretty good in the area I checked so I would like to expose it all.

Thanks...sorry for the long winded explanation! :smash:

yep, putty for the holes, and hope the sander takes care of the gowges.

g-o-u-g-e

i don't care how ya spell it:wall: :bshake: :devil: :devil:

Gouge...that's right! :smash:

Slip - should I use a belt sander or a palm type? Also, should I do the whole floor? It's about 1/16th of an inch deep.

Thanks!

I just assumed you planed on refinishing the whole florr:o
Oh well, do the best you can. I have no idea what kind of shape the floor is in as far as finish.

Rent a floor sander and an edger. It will be money well spent in the long run. Just make sure you put up plastic to seal the room off as it is going to get real dusty. After you are satisfied with the sanding job vacuum the floor really well. Then after you think you got it all do it again. You can put 2 coats of poly on in 1 day. The third coat the next day.

A normal refinish job takes off about 1/32". Unless the gouges are really bad I'd just let the sander take off what it does and let the rest be character. Or putty them and do the same...

I'd also really look into having the floor done professionally. While it's not that difficult, the effort of renting everything and ensuring a good finish is well worth the money. We had a single room done by a local guy for only 400 bucks a few years ago. Well worth it...

-spence

Like spence said...hire a pro. You can cause alot of damage really fast if you don't know what you are doing. I have been in the construction business for about 19 years, and I still hire those jobs out to a flooring specialist.
Brandon

I would recommend renting a floor sander and edger. I have done over every room in my parents house using them, and their floors were wall to wall carpet before as well. Those sanders are heavy duty and will take just about anything out of the floors, just becareful; if you let it stay still long enough you'll end up in the basement. All in All it's a lot of work but well worth it and the floors will come out cherry.

:) If you are doing it yourself you will most likely sand the floor 3 times!!!

1st with a course sand paper, which will take up most of the old finish, if not all!!! Then empty dust bag!!!

2nd sanding is with a medium grit !!! empty dust bag!!!

3rd sanding is with fine grit!!!! Save enough fine dust to patch nail holes etc:

After apllying 1st coat of urathane mix fine dust with urathane, [paste like] fill nail holes, let dry and then sand!!!

If using oil base urathane you should apply 3 coats,fine sanding inbetween each coat!!!

Remember that when using the edger it does not get into the corner as you will notice!!! use a furniture stripper such as 5F5 in the corners scrape and sand !!!! ;) :cool:

Bob,

I am in the flooring business. How deep are the scratches ?
A normal sanding will reduce the thickness about a 1/16" inch with the edging reducing less.

What is the specie of wood. Putty will work. It should be apllied after the 3rd coat of finish with the last coat (4th) following the next day. The reason for this is so any of the distillatees in the putty don't stain the dry floor. It will stain around the putty area. Also, the putty you will buy in the local hardware store doesn't cure rock hard so you can't really sand it perfectly. I put a little on the tip of my finger and spooge it in the defect and then the next day, when we buff before the final coat, it (the excess) is removed before coating. All edges and corners should be scraped with a sharp floor scraper. Nothing else works as well and as quickly.

I wouldn't advise renting and doing it yourself unless you feel you understand the process. Floor finishing is brutal work and a lousy floor at the end of it tastes horrible.

good luck and feel free to contact with any more questions.

HUH! we hired someone to do three bedrooms, hallway and livingroom. The floors came out great and for just over $800 It was money well spent.

Originally posted by Jenn
HUH! we hired someone to do three bedrooms, hallway and livingroom. The floors came out great and for just over $800 It was money well spent.

there ya go :)