Floors, floors, and floors

Well, we took a big step and decided to do the floor refinishing ourselves. We did quite a bit of research on exactly what finish we wanted on our fir floors, what sander to use and the techniques we needed to master. i poked around quite a bit to see how much a pro would cost. We were looking at around 2500 bucks for three rooms. We did those three rooms for about 600-700 bucks. We ended up renting a drum sander and an edge sander from the local rental store. I've heard horror stories about drum sanders, but it actually ended up being pretty manageable. The edger on the other hand was a little pocket rocket (at about 30 pounds), and took off on you pretty easily. As for the floor finish, we decided upon a product called Waterlox. We used this product for two coats of original finish and two coats of satin finish.Well enough ramble, on to the photos:

Ryan on his first pass with the drum sander in the second bedroom.


Removing tar from the cracks after the first pass with the sander.


The A-team!


Sarah on cleanup duty.


The floors after the final pass with the drum sander. We ended up doing five passes. Two passes with 40 grit, One pass with 60 grit, a pass with 80 grit and one pass with 120 grit. Pretty amazing how light they are!


Sarah on duty with the waterlox, first coat in the office.


Ryan edging in the office.