Recent found old wood floor under 2 subfloors and vinyl floor that i recently removed..Hardwood is in rough shape but not too bad..(some nail holes,gouges) The shiny finish looks to be all worn away..Do I have to sand the entire surface before I stain?, Or can I just apply stain and hope for the best..(Not too sure if the sander would fall through the floor)..Help...Any advice would help!

Jeff
Sounds like a job I had recently. I nailed a series of 2X4's across the floor and made some outriggers for my sander. This helped spread the weight out making it safe to sand without the machine ending up in the basement. i then pulled up the 2X4's and renailed them 90 degrees to the original direction. It resulted in a nice checkerboard pattern.

As for sanding before you stain - you only have to sand the parts of the floor you want to look nice.

Hope this helps.

Pete

Pete,

Your response has me curious. Just what in the world are you talking about? A floor so thin or weak or rotted that you would need "outriggers" to support a sander? Perhaps a new floor is in order instead.

Pete was being a jerk, Gary. His post was facetious.

Man, I thought he was serious! Had me fooled! And worried!

Guys,
I took the original post to be a goof ( and still do), thus my reply.

My appologies, in the event it's serious.

So what are the serious solutions to the questions posed ?

Pete