newbie floor sanding question

[j.l.]

Hi,

I'm new round here and a *complete* DIY novice (so please bear with me if I get terminology etc wrong ).

My first question regards the wooden floor in the living room of a house I've recently moved into.

I've read the 'what's in a name' sticky at the top of the forum and think my floor is wood engineered - I found a small gap by the fireplace and it looks like the top layer of wood is about 3mm thick.

I'm not sure how the wood has been treated (oil/lacquer/varnish etc...) is there any way to tell?

I would like to re-treat the floor for two reasons 1) it's quite a 'yellow-y' colour at the moment and 2) it's quite worn in places, an example is shown in the following pic...

Is hiring out a floor sander the way to go with wood engineered floors? I don't want to sand too much floor off

Many thanks,

Jamie

 

[j.l.]

oops didn't realise that pic was so big

 

[wanabechippie]

Hey Jamie. Welcome to the forum!

If the flooring is engineered, and it sounds like it is, you can hire a floor refinishing sander to strip off the old varnish/lacquer as well as most ingrained guck. I've hired one before - great kit, just make sure you buy loads of sanding sheets (60grit - 180grit) to go with it. You'll need them! I went through 15 sheets to re-finish my 25sq/m living room. Most hire shops will sell you them 'sale-or-return' so any left over, you should be able to take back.

With engineered flooring, you can usually strip it 2-3 times before you run out of wood (depending on how brutal you are with the sander and the manufacturer).

If the wood flooring is pine then it will probably turn yellowy/orange again if you re-cover it with clear floor varnish. If you don't want the yellowy finish, you could try a coloured stain and varnish.

I've never had much luck with wood stains, so I'll leave it to the higher beings here to advise you further if colour's what you're after

 

[j.l.]

thanks for the tips wanabechippie, really appreciate them.

 

[wanabechippie]

Nae probs!

Always nice to be able to put back what i've taken out.

 

[Symptoms]

Jamie - looks like oak from the pic. Probably lacquered judging from the wear mark. How to tell lac from oil - put a little olive oil on a bit of kitchen roll & dab on floor (where there's a decent bit of existing finish), if it lac the olive oil will 'sit' on the surface and, if it's an oiled surface the olive will 'rub-in'. If it's a oiled floor, local repair, re-oil (not with olive!!). Lac finish, follow wana's sanding advice.