Resurfacing old wood floor

Hello I’m looking for information on how to proceed with resurfacing the floor in the pictures I have attached, I know I have to rent a drum sander and edge sander and apart from pulling all the flooring up how can I fix issues you see in pictures. We purchased the house 10year ago and I suspect previous owner installed floor himself and over the years I think planks have shrunk and I know the middle of the knots have popped out, we are thinking of going to a darker stain before applying finish coat. Would I be able to get away with a stainable wood filler of some sorts to fill the gaps, your suggestions will be appreciated thanks.

 

First, come to love the word "patina".

With popped knots if there is no subfloor I go below and attach a scrap of wood to the bottom to block off the hole. Leaving the hole open to collect dirt is the easiest. You can also drill out the popped knot to make a nice round hole and soak a wood plug in glue and hammer it in the hole then sand flush and finish. I've not had great luck with putty type fillers for popped knots. If you go high tech with epoxy it can hold but then it won't take stain so it's a color matching problem.

 

When you use a darker stain.... the gaps are not as noticeable.

 

I agree that the less filler you use the better. What species of wood is it?

It's easy to get in trouble using a drum sander! It doesn't take much with a drum sander to sand off too much in spots and get a wavy floor While a good bit slower a buffer/orbiter type floor sander is more diy friendly.

 

Hello All sorry for delay I had to cancel this project last year so I am re-addressing it this year as the coating is starting to peel on the floor, I am no expert in types of wood use but I have attached picture of a spare piece I found from when previous owner installed. I am looking to do the following buy some more so I can remove pieces where knot holes have popped and refinish, biggest question is staining as I’m not sure type of wood and if stain would take or just add Polyurethane and go natural (wife would like a darker color). I will be renting a square sander starting with 32grit and going up reason being 1-ease and 2-seen to many screwups with drum sander, I did try the finger nail test on back of spare piece and it left no impression so I hope that means it a hardwood variety. Anyway, I would appreciate some more info if anyone can help thanks as always in advance

 

Maybe douglas fir or birch ?? that isn't a flooring wood we see here in the southeast. Probably the simplest thing to do would be to take your spare piece to your local hardwood distributor.

 

I would guess Birch or Maple.

 

Wrench in the works took it to the big 3 box stores showed them the sample all said Birch but all said I need name of manufacture as they all mill different so my plan is to cut the sample and make sawdust then make a wood paste and fill and sand knot holes, has anyone else ever done this and how did it look. We will be staining a darker color and then satin poly on top.

 

The middle pic in post #5 looks like it might be prefinished flooring, if so I wouldn't recommend filling in the beveled part - that is too much filler both for looks and wear ability.

 

No decided against filling joints just he knots

 

I'm only familiar with the oak paste but suspect it would also work with your floor. I've even used joint compound in a pinch. Since that isn't a type of flooring used around here I'd suggest going to your local hardwood distributor and ask them what most folks use.

 

UPDATE:

Have stripped floor with drum and flat orbital sander and today rented an edge sander but running to this please see picture, I have a belt sander, orbital palm sander and a sheet sander. Not sure which would be best and what grit to use this simple job getting to be a P.I.A LOL.

 

Not sure I understand - the drum sander should have flattened the flooring. The edger is used next to the wall and other places the drum sander won't fit.

 

yes drum sander worked well and edger also on straight wall, problem area's is door space (4 off) and top of stairs. the drawing was just for visual as the edger wasnt able to get between planks. tried with 40 and 60 git, did start working away with 5inch orbital but lowest grit for hook and loop pads i could find was 60grit.

 

I'm still confused. The edger should be able to get most of the flooring in the door opening. A sharp pull scraper can be useful in the corners. What do you mean by the top of the stairs? An edger works well on landings but the treads get sanded with an orbital sander.

 

Update 2
So, we decided not to stain and go with the amber tone of the Min Wax polyurethane satin finish, we used synthetic mop/brush and applied two coats, and this morning we can see stroke marks so wondering if there is a roller that would work better and if it will hide brush marks.

 

I prefer to use a lambswool pad on floors. The lap marks are caused by an extra coat at the lap. If you keep a wet edge it's a lot less likely to happen. A light sanding and another coat applied properly is the fix.

 

we could not find lamps wool applicator in any store near us, the poly is very sticky when applying didnt know if it should be thinned out before applying

 

Normally you don't want to thin the poly but occasionally it's needed - usually because of temp/humidity or the porosity of the wood. The only drawback to thinning it slightly is the protective 'paint' film will be a tad thinner.

 

ok what about anding with 180 grit and water based poly on top? its -6c here and house humidity is at 45% with temp set at 68

 

180 grit is ok, don't forget to wipe up the dust. I would not apply water based poly over top of oil base poly! It might not adhere well.

 

Found a product called Finitech and water based poly sanded with 120 grit and damp mopped the floors before applying, went on a lot easi.er than oil based so all done and the wife is happy and that's all that counts LOL.Not the best job but being it was 1st time and a learning experience. Thanks to all for for your help.

 

Looks good
Did you use that coating in place of the oil base minwax or on top of it?

 

went to a store that just sells hardwood floors they said use on top of oil poly just light sand area with 120g clean dust up and apply it worked great now onto painting the walls etc LOL

 

I hope they know what they are talking about, I've always been leery of applying a water based coating over oil base poly.

 

from their website

https://www.finitec-inc.com/EN/FaqFinition.htm