Hi. We've lived in our house for a little over 3 years. Our daughter has health issues and has vomited on our carpet so many times that we MUST take it out. Under the carpet is oak flooring with many scratches, tack strip, staples etc. For all we know, there could be rot marks or pet stains under there from previous owners. We can't afford new carpeting.

We would love to get the hardwood refinished, but I don't see how we can do it (regardless of the costs involved in hiring someone or doing it ourselves). Our living room and hallway are about 400 square feet. The hall connects the kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedrooms. In order to stay off the floor during the process, we'd have to put our furniture in the garage and move out with our child and 3 cats for a couple of weeks. That's not going to happen. We could get a floating floor installed if we had the cash... but we don't.

Here are some images of our floor. Can anybody make any recommendations? Can this be fixed up without being refinished? Can we buff this out? Can we use a wood soap? Thanks in advance!













I gave it a wipe down with orange glo spray before photographing it. The finish is actually pretty orange looking like that. I'm not fond of the color, but it's better than vomit stains.

its not in the greates shape, but definatley could worked with. most/possibly all of those scratched will come out. with enough effort all of them can.


400 feet would take 2 guys about 4-6 hours to sand, amd stain. With a quick dry stain, and waterbased finish the whole project could be wrapped up in three days (and water base dries faster, and has almost no odor.) with one long day there could be a shot at it only taking 2 days to resand it all..........

That's with 3 coats of poly and sanding in between each coat? And that's enough time for it to dry before putting furniture back on it and walking and living on it? I had been told otherwise. ??

its with a 3 coat finish.


sand stain on day one, come come back a few hours later and apply first coat of water based poly. come back on day two, buff vacum and final coat. (traffic can be buffed after 4 hrs) could realisitcly apply 2 coats of traffic on 2nd day, for a 4 coat finish.

you could sand stain/ and come back 3 hrs later and apply first coat or oil based poly urethane at the end of the first day. then come back mid day on the second dayand buff and final coat again with oil. but that wouldnt dry until early am. Ive had customers move furnature back the folowing day (not rugs or china hutches though) same goes for waterbased.

Jay is correct that many people move in the day after the last coat is put on. However, while the finish is dry to the touch, it has not reached it's full cure and hardness and is more easily damaged. So considerable care needs to be used for the first week or so after the final coat. It's possible that two men could refinish 400 feet in that time frame of 6 hours. But time needs to be allotted for removal of the furniture and all those staples and tack strips. At least another couple of hours for that alone. But in theory, you job could be completed in 3 days and you could walk on it on the fourth and move furniture back in 7 using BONA Traffic or similar. Depending on your location, figure spending about $1,500.00 +. Good carpet will cost nearly as much and be more difficult to clean.

How do I find somebody qualified in my area? I tried one of those contractor lead websites and nobody contacted us (this was months ago).

I just can't fathom not being able to put my furniture back for a week or more. I run a portraiture business out of my home. My clients need a place to sit, and I need a place to process digital images. A week without a sofa and a computer desk is just not practical for us. At least a floating floor would be done in a few hours and wouldn't further damage the hardwood for somebody with the time and money to restore it in the future.

All I can afford right now is to live with disgusting carpet or buff out what we've got. I need a quick and inexpensive solution for the short term.

p.s.

Thank you for the informative replies. The only refinishers I've been able to get to return my calls are craig's list vendors. These are the ones quoting me a 2-week job.

I called a wholesale flooring supply company that sells to all the installers/pros and got 2 solid names. I asked who they would have do their floors if they needed it done. How about get it done on late thursday fri and saturday and pull the strips and staples yourself? You should request dustless!

Quick and inexpensive Good luck