12-01-2006, 03:06 PM
It's extremely hard work to finish it yourself (I've done about 1000 sq ft over the years).
Professionally, it runs $2 - $3 sq ft for sanding and 2 coats of polyurethane. Well worth it.
If you decide to do it, you need to get a good floor scraper to get all the "crud" off. In an ideal situation, you take the baseboards off. You need to go over the floor with a fine tooth comb looking for any nails/metal that will destroy the sandpaper (they're called shiners). Then you start sanding and it is very dusty. You fill any big holes and gaps, and sand some more (multiple grits). The square finish sanders are safer to use than the drum sanders, just take longer, and both weigh up to 100 lbs. The professionals use an extremely high quality sander more like a giant belt sander to prevent gouging the floor (which is common with a drum sander). Many vacuumings to get rid of the dust and then polyurethane, light sand, re-vacuum, then poly again. It's many hours of work...
Professionally, it runs $2 - $3 sq ft for sanding and 2 coats of polyurethane. Well worth it.
If you decide to do it, you need to get a good floor scraper to get all the "crud" off. In an ideal situation, you take the baseboards off. You need to go over the floor with a fine tooth comb looking for any nails/metal that will destroy the sandpaper (they're called shiners). Then you start sanding and it is very dusty. You fill any big holes and gaps, and sand some more (multiple grits). The square finish sanders are safer to use than the drum sanders, just take longer, and both weigh up to 100 lbs. The professionals use an extremely high quality sander more like a giant belt sander to prevent gouging the floor (which is common with a drum sander). Many vacuumings to get rid of the dust and then polyurethane, light sand, re-vacuum, then poly again. It's many hours of work...