I don't normally post to the various forums I've learned from, but this one has been so incredibly valuable, I figured I should return what I could. Hopefully, someone can make use of this info. In any event, thanks a TON to those of you that have been so helpful to those of us seeking advice here!

My journey into hardwood floor refinishing began a few weeks ago when I decided to get started on a long overdue renovation of our guest bedroom (about 170 sq ft) and family room (about 285 sq ft). The plan from the start was to rip up the carpet that has been in place since we moved in to our 1960's era home in the SF Bay Area and restore the original oak strip flooring (2 inch by 1/4 inch) that's been hiding under it. As per standard DIY practice, I surfed around the Net to come up to speed on the basics, and settled on the idea of renting a drum sander and going for it. The local home improvement warehouse was the source of the tools and materials required, and although they suggested the U-Sander, I had already decided to go the old-school way and take my chances with the big drum unit. Although there was considerable wear, deterioriation, and left-over glue and base material from a long-forgotten application of square linoleum tiles on top of the wood in the guest bedroom, the drum sander quickly and easily cut it down to very clean and pretty red oak. The old orange finish was gone and replaced by such a nice bright tone of natural wood, I was thrilled with the possibilities not only for this room, but also for the soon to be restored family room floor, too. I found the drum sander to be fairly intuitive to use, and I carefully followed the standard sanding regimen and then applied a water based sealer and four coats of satin finish (Parks Pro) using a synthetic felt-like applicator. In all, the sanding and finishing took about a day and a half, and the results were, to me, astounding. With the new floor and the other restorations in the room, it has been transformed into a clean and comfortable study/guest room (good riddence stinky old carpet!). With my striking results, I was now ready to get started on the family room.

That is, until I ripped up the carpet in that room and discovered a thoroughly (and deeply, as discovered by some preliminary sanding) stained original oak flooring. I wasn't willing to take a chance that I'd find something during the sanding that would require me to replace boards, so I decided to instead rip it all out and replace the entire floor (in retrospect, this was probably over-kill, but its too late now to bother discussing). Several visits to the local flooring stores and Web surfing the online suppliers had me chasing my tail on what to do...pre-finished, or unfinished....try to match the rest of the oak in the house or select a different wood...exotics, domestics, bamboo...round and round I went, finally actually purchasing pre-finished 5/8 by 4 inch Imperial Teak from Lumber Liquidators. It was darker than desired, but very pretty and incredibly hard (we have a dog). However, after getting back home and doing some post-purchase research, I discovered that Imperial Teak is nothing more than a Lumber Liquidator's trademark, apparently, and re-visiting them the next day to ascertain details on the flooring I just purchased proved futile. The helpful but mostly clueless sales associate insisted it was un-stained Brazilian Teak, but there was clearly a dark stain on it, a fact which was finally proved by another of their employees taking a pocket knife and scraping away the finish to reveal the truth. Anyway, dismayed by the uncertainties of just what this stuff was, I decided to cancel the purchase and continue shopping, which they were completely happy to accomodate. It was during this period of perusing the LL showroom that I noticed the various flooring they had installed in the showroom, and it all looked awful. The site-finished flooring I was accustomed to can look pretty scruffy when mis-treated, but the pre-finished stuff they had down, while clearly un-cared for, was just depressing to look at in this condition. At that point I decided that I would go ahead and install un-finished wood and do the finishing myself. I have the time to do it, and know that I would someday regret compromising on this. So, as much as I wanted to rest on the specific wood selection given my tail chase up to this point, I was irresistably drawn to the unfinished Brazilian Cherry sample they (LL) had on hand, and was blown away by the stuff when visually inspecting the bundles they had in the warehouse. Okay, let's do this, I thought.

For the next seven days, while the wood was acclimating in my family room, I managed to discover this forum and really get a lesson in floor finishing theory. One thing I didn't do was measure the moisture levels. However, we have very mild and fairly constant humidity here, so I'm hopeful that this issue wont present a problem. I nailed it down with 2-inch cleats and a rented pneumatic nailer. This phase took about 12 to 14 hours, including the face nailing on the last couple rows. I then waited 4 or 5 days for things to further acclimate before sanding. I couldn't find specific info on this waiting period, hopefully I didn't rush it. I decided to try the U-Sander for the sanding. IMO, while it may not be fast enough for the pro's that need to make a living doing this sort of thing, for the DIY'er, its a no-brainer. I spent a full day (10 hours or so) to run through 36, 40, 80, filler, and 120 grit sanding. The majority of this time was with the 36-grit, getting the overwood down and everything nice and flat. And flat it is. The drum may be significantly faster in the right hands, but I can't imagine the result being any flatter (no offense). As for dust, well previous posts to the contrary, there is definately significant dust raised by the U-Sander. By all means, use a mask and seal the area. I did discover a few noticable circular sanding marks from the RO action of the U-Sander, and hand-sanded them away without much trouble. If I had to do it again, I'd definately go with the U-Sander (or similar) again.

Ah, the finish...Bona Traffic Satin for me, although I probably would have chosen the Semi-gloss after reading this forum (I had already ordered the stuff before I discovered the relative differences in Bona's gloss spectrum discussed here). I bought 2 gallons, expecting to do 2 coats of Traffic over the de-waxed shellac seal coat, but decided instead to stretch it to 3 coats, which was easily accomplished with plenty to spare. I didn't abrade until before the 3rd coat of Traffic (pole-sander with 220 grit). I used the Purdy White Dove 3/8 nap rollers. I dunked the roller in a 5-gallon bucket containing the mixed Traffic, let it run off for 10 seconds or so, lifted it without dripping into my working area, then rolled slowly back and forth just like painting, only at about 1/2 the speed, and always picking the roller up and moving it beyond my furthest push stroke and pulling any puddle remnant toward me and my leading edge before moving on to the next 3 foot by 4 foot section. Also, I never applied any pressure to the roller, just letting the weight of the wet roller do what it would. Yep, it was orange-peely and bubbly at first, but it quickly leveled itself. This technique resulted in a nice, consistent finish with no lap marks or build-up and I couldn't be happier with the result. Also, I rather like the look and feel of the Traffic Satin, and I'm sure it will better hide the inevitable dog-marks.

It was a ton of work, but very rewarding. The floor is stunning, and I owe a great debt of gratitude to the contributing members of this forum.

Thanks for your tremendous help, and happy flooring!

Bob

Hi Bob,

I'm glad everything has worked out for you. And thanks for the well written report.