Staining floors this old scares me. I also wanted the natural color of the white pine. Now I'm thinking of just leaving it, even thinking of using water based poly which would leave the wood almost completely unchanged and very pale like the picture above as apposed to oil which will darken/yellow it a bit. Thing is, the reason I bought "reclaimed" wood was to get rid of the ugly patches someone else made on the floors, and while it looks better now being that the wood is the same width/thickness as the original, it still looks like a patch. I understand that wood oxidizes differently, but if you look at the close up above, the wood I was given doesn't even have the same grain as the original pine.

Wood oxidizes at different rates depending on conditions. If that wood was from a barn, it was far more exposed than a floor. ( I hate working in wood, it's too damn organic)

Are you prepared to gel stain the light to match the dark? It's probably more realistic than trying to bleach the dark. Or just leave it as just another "artifact" in a old home.

Hi all, so I had the floors repaired with reclaimed white pine which is what I was told my original floors are. However, after sanding everything down, the reclaimed wood looks very different than the original. The picture below is test patch with sealer applied. The lighter wood is my original floor and the darker is the "reclaimed" wood, again this is with sealer applied. I really need some help/suggestions on getting the two to match. I wanted to go with a clear coat but I think the difference is too noticeable between the two and it would look like a big patch.



In this picture you can see the patch/repair against the rest of the floor. I have a repair like this in every room in the house.

No. I did the paint removal myself. Home Depot sells "Peel Away" in different formulas--numbers. I used peel away 7. You brush it on thickly and cover it for 24 hours with paper that they sell with it. Then it scrapes off and the residue is cleaned with water and steel wool. I know it sounds awful but the stuff doesn't smell or burn you skin at all. It's non-toxic. I saw some workers Hoboken removing the paint from a rowhouse in Hoboken with Peel Away. Boy did I feel sorry for them. It's something you could hire out to cheap labor--there's really no skill involved.....

Awesome! I'm going to give them a call. Did they also do the paint removal for you?

C & M floors (of Hoboken or Jersey City, don't remember which) did 2 rooms downstairs in my Victorian and they used Waterlox. They have experience using it. You could hire someone to "peel-away" the lead painted floor in the other room. It's non-toxic and it would remove the paint between the gaps because it gets rinsed down with water and steel wool and that really gets into those gaps. I did this upstairs in a room in my house.

Thanks again bunny. I had a guy come out yesterday to give me an estimate and once again as expected he said he'd use oil based poly. He wasn't sure about Waterlox and said isn't that for decks? Hmm. I showed him the painted floor and he said he wouldn't be able to get it off because of the paint getting into the wide gaps between the boards. I'm have another guy coming out tomorrow, I'll see what he says.

The painted floors in you 100 year old house are almost certainly lead paint. I would do both rooms at the same time and hire a dustless sanding guy. It's the only safe way to remove the paint and it's actually law now. If you wait and have just the painted floor room done separately, it'll probably cost a lot more. Your pine floors sound thick enough to not worry about another sanding down the road. My pine (or fir) I'm not sure which are in delicate condition and cannot take another sanding. They are the original subfloors, as Brewster mentioned above. but that does diminish their beauty at all, in my opinion. I don't know if you visit the old house blogs like I do but I can tell you that the subfloors were final floors when they were built and not meant to be covered like the new houses nowadays. Most people who value the beauty of an old house will restore these subfloors and enjoy as they were meant to be enjoyed and seen.

Thanks Chris, I'll give them a call. What method did they use on the painted floors? I have a room in the house that has painted floors and I'm going to have that done at a later time. What kind of finish did they use on the pine floor poly?

Thanks bunny. I've heard Waterlox mentioned before but doesn't Waterlox not allow you to use poly down the road if you wanted to because it seals the wood or something like that? Also about the floors not having enough surface, is there a certain portion of the wood that is considered the surface? I ask because the planks in my floor are 1" thick and its seems like you could sand away all you wanted. Thanks again.

I did two floor jobs in Jersey City with KBD from Elizabeth (someone wrote KBJ above but it is KBD). One was pine similiar to yours but in much rougher shape having been painted over for probably 50 years. Another company came and quit after a few hours leaving me in a lurch but KBD did a great job.

Last year in my new house I had an old pipe leak terribly and did bad water damage to my parquet floors which I thought might be beyond repair. The insurance company gave me like $4,500 and I got three estimates to replace some wood beyond repair and sand and refinish the entire living room and dining room to match.

Estimate one was for like $7K from Kocher Floors - he seemed very knowledgable but never got back to insurance company to justify additional cost.

Alpine gave me an estimate of like $1200 plus whatever it costed to replace the damaged area so that was a variable.

KBD gave me an all in estimate to repair/replace what needed to be replaced/sand refinish everything for $1,250. If I wanted to completely scrap the old parquet floors and put down new red oak it would have been $3300.

I thought about it for a while how could the estimates be so different and I finally rolled the dice on KBD and they did a fantastic job. The parquet floors look beautiful and far better than even before the pipe flooded the floors.

While making my decision numerous people told me that Brazillians are know to be excellent and inexpensive wood workers and guess where KBD are from. They must be doing something right as they are in business for a long time and said all equipment/trucks are paid off.

Their # is 908-352-1498.

Waterlox. It's part tung oil and part resin. It's oil-based and smells a lot and takes awhile to cure but it is low-voc now. What's nice is that it's old-school, not plasticy like a polyurethane. Even more important, if it scratches, you can spot wipe with some more and the scratches will go away--you dont' have to sand the whole floor as you would to "refresh" a polyurethane. This can be important because these old floors often don't have enough surface to do another sanding.

Hello! We recently purchased our first home, a 100+ year old cozy little town house with great wide plank pine floors. A local restored wood place from which we ordered a few replacement planks told us it is white pine. The living room floor is in pretty rough shape compared to the rest of the house and we want to have it refinished. I've had two floor guys come take a look and they've both suggested polyurethane, seems like that's the standard. I'd love to hear suggestions as to how to go about refinishing the floor and what products to use. I don't want anyone to damage these beautiful old floors! We also want them to look as close to the rest of the house as possible after they're refinished. Here is a picture of the living room floor now, this is the section we're going to repair with the restored wood planks.

Thanks eckster. Does your floor have a lot of gap space between the boards? I'm wondering if this matters in choosing what kind of finish/product to go with. It seems most floor guys like to use poly, I have yet to hear anyone I've spoken to suggest otherwise.

I'm only doing one room in the house and I want it to match the other rooms as close as possible in color/shine. I'm going to have someone come over for an estimate and I will ask them for some information but if anyone else can chime in I'd appreciate it. Here is a picture of the floor, this is a damage section that I'm going to repair with matching antique white pine.

I ended up laying laminate myself, something I've done plenty of. Closer examination of the floor showed lots of gaps and spacer pieces, it was really meant as a subfloor. Also there was a lot of looseness, which is more effectively treated with screws rather than the nails you'd use of you were sanding. The tenant loves it.

Bryant Floor Service LLC
Phone: (973) 202-4115

The guys name is Booker. He is very good and will probably be the cheapest. I recently bought a house and used him to do all my floors and they came out great. Sometimes he comes across as a little scatter brained but in the end he does a great job, just stick with him. If you tell him the square footage he will quote a price/square foot over the phone. He also does repairs and new installs.

My floors were done with minwax stain (provincial) and then oil based poly. He will use latex poly if you prefer, but Booker likes the oil stuff.

Does anyone have any new recommendations for floor guys? I tried two of the suggestions on this thread, one never got back to me and I haven't been able to reach them since, the other finally came out and gave me an estimate after several missed appointments. I'd like to get another estimate as well as another opinion on how to go about refinishing my old pine floors.

Would love to hear what some of you used on your old floors; water/oil based poly, tung oil, waterlox ?

Thanks!

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It's the kitchen of a rental unit, maybe it's just a bad idea in such a high traffic area. It's a shame, the boards do look in pretty good shape compared to some I've seen.

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I used Conquer for just this type of job. Came out beautiful (and as you all know, i hate everything and everyone)!

A lot depends on the condition of the boards, but they do a great job sanding, filling, etc. Keep in mind the pine is a softwood and will ding easily. Dog nails, high heels, etc. WILL leave marks. If you can live with that, fine.

Anyone have experience with getting old wide pine subfloors sanded & finished? I think these are 5/4 x 5 and are in pretty good shape. I'd rather do that than put down laminate if I have a choice. I just wonder how well they'd turn out and hold up.

Avoid Conquer. They're sloppy. The longer I live with my floors the more I regret I hired them.

See my post #10.

Hey does anyone have any contractor recommendations to refinish my hardwood floors? Also, I was considering Conquer Hardwood Floors. Has anyone ever used them?

looking for someone to sand and refinish hardwood floors - any recommendations? thanks in advance!

you can also check out Mr. Sandless.

Hi Nori,

What is the feedback on the contractors you used? Hope your project went well.

friend of mine from the neighborhood. Does great and honest work.

http://www.dylanwoodfloors.com/

I'm getting my floors sanded and finished tomorrow, will let you know the results. If good, I'll pass on their contact info.

Does anyone know how long it takes for the finish to dry?

For one of the previous posts, if you want them to get the flooring done same day, I would try to get some of the furniture out of the way or try to help move it around while they are installing the floors.

I also recommend ALPINE. Professional, knows Jersey City and reasonable.

We have a similar need as the previous poster, so, just bumping this up a bit... thanks...