. I am in need of some answers to a few questions so I can make this project a success. I am removing ceramic tiles in our kitchen that were cracking and popping out. The tile was to the point were it was coming up on its own. The house is a late 20s bungalow before the there was linoleum from maybe 50s the floor under the tile we found is a maple hardwood. The rest of the floor in the house is all original hardwood oak I believe so we want to restore the maple and update the rest of the kitchen.

Concerns I have are
1 The tile was put down with thinset directly on the hardwood. After removing a large portion of the tile I used a floor scraper to remove the thinset most of it came right up effortlessly. There is layer of what feels like paper/ thin cardboard that is not completely coming up only thin patchy areas left and I don't want to get to aggressive with the scraper so as not to gouge the wood.

is it alright to start the sanding process with very thin patches of this product still on the floor?

2. The floor looks to be uneven in areas not bad but I noticed when I was doing some scraping while sitting on the floor. Also the edges on the boards are just little higher or lower than the one next to it.

How should this be addressed? Will it working out after sanding sanding?

My options for floor sanders are a square buff sander, I was recommended to use this because it is much easier to use, but I do not think it will be aggressive enough. I am really leaning toward renting a drum sander and starting with a 60 grit. I would be nervous to use the drum sander but I am pretty good at mowing the lawn(joke) I have a random orbital sander for the edges.

3. In a doorway that leads to our back stairs there is decent sized gap in the floor about 3/4" that looks like it was filled in with cement maybe during the tile job a few pieces broke out during the scraping. It is pretty deep at lest 1" deep maybe more.

What do I do with this?

I have a few pics if I can figure out how to get them from iPad to post..


Thank you for any advice.

You definitely need a drum sander, since a buffer is not gonna do it and you'll have to start with a 24 grit, if not a 16, based on what I understand from your description.

Tha damaged boards, as well as the "cement" area, can be replaced with new boards

Thanks for the advice.. I wouldn't have thought to start with a 16 or 24 grit and feel better knowing that someone agrees a square buff is not going to cut it.

Any advice on what to do with the 3/4" gap in boards.. It's right under the door that leads to our basement and filled with cement that has come out in a few chunks. Is wood putty right for the job? It would take a lot since the gap is about 1" deep by 3/4" wide. Do I try and fit very thin strip of board in this gap?.

Kitchen - door - 3' of landing then stairs.. The maple continues to the landing but the stairs are not going to be finished they have old linoleum on them ( saving the stairs for another time)

Wood putty is not the solution. Either insert a strip of wood and glue/nail it in place, or remove and replace the stair nosing and first board if necessary.

The best thing to do there is, if I understand the layout of the problem correctly, take out the last board, clean the cement and replace with a board that's 3/4" wider than the rest. once you are done refinishing the floor no one will notice the difference in width.

Dumitavi .. Sorry must have read right past that part in ur 1st reply.

Thanks to all for the advice my lazy alter ego was telling me that putty might just work.. Glad I didn't listen to him Home Depot has the maple went there today and could replace the boards they would have to be longer not wider to make up for the gap (like "chickensalad" mentioned) .. Better idea than putty and than putting one board horizontal between boards going vertical..

Just curious if anyone would know how much sand paper this project might use.. The total area including small pantry and short hall is about 144 sq ft. I just want to make sure I have enough sand paper on hand to do the job without having to run out and get I suppose I could always return unused.. Will be using drum sander rental from Home Depot staring with 24 grit working up to 120 and 5" sanding disks for random orbital to do the edging.

The home depot rental works on 110. Get ready for a long project. As for the papers, is hard to estimate from here, but I'd sugest buying 4-5, 24 grit and one of the other ones.

On the edgers, buy couple packs for the orbital sander on the first paper. For the other ones you should be good with less than a box per grit. ?