Any thoughts on 5/16 vs 3/4 hardwood floors?
The laws of diminishing returns have led me to reconsider refinishing my 100 yr old maple floors. With the amount of split or rotted boards, the time spend preping,repairing, splicing may outweigh the [potential] cost benefits of sanding and refinishing.
The thought of all the dust and fumes (at 1/3 or 1/4 the cost) tells me is not worth it. Also having to relocate my family for at least a week is a tough pill to swallow. Ive started to think that pre finished hardwood is the best alternative and NEW floors will certainly look better than refininished old floors. the existing gaps are pretty bad. And… I can certainly use the old floors elswhere in the home (closets/ future addition) when they are cleaned up.
I’ll be dooing this myself and the prospect of trying to keep dust down (the whole house minus bath and kitchen is hardwood floored) and attempt to finish old hard maple has me scared.
I know that prefinished floors have a warrantee and refinishing durring my stay in the house will not come into play. I also know that sanding 5/16 floors in the future is not really possible. Are there any other reasons why I should not consider 5/16 prefinished solid hardwood?
Replies
Some old house orginally had 3/8".
What are you going to do with baseboards and the like. Going back with the same as was there might simplifiy the installation.
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I have already done some splicing of the original floors as I altered the floor plan in october. The original floors are 3/4 (minus 1 or two sandings). Along with moving walls and door ways, I replaced all the base boards and moulding.
Because its always been the plan to do something with the floors, I havent gotten any further than priming the moulding (most of it was pre primed) so I had planned on removing it and reinstalling after the floors are in.
joemilw
You are correct in that there is a point of deminishing returns on resanding old floors.Based on your description I think you are there..
However with the proper equipment the majority of the dust etc. will come from demolution and clean up of the old floors.
Not the install and sanding of the new ones.. . I've used those new square pad floor sanders with great success. they aren't as dusty as the old circular type, and I can sand and finish 500 sq.ft. and be walking on it in one day..
Prefinished flooring is a cheap alternative however once damaged that floor is not easily repaired. Nor will you get the number of resandingings out of thinner flooring that you can out out of the standard 3/4 inch.. that may not matter to you.. it depends on how long you intend to stay..
<Not the install and sanding of the new ones.. . I've used those new square pad floor sanders with great success. they aren't as dusty as the old circular type, and I can sand and finish 500 sq.ft. and be walking on it in one day..>Frenchy, I love ya man, and I know you'll defend that statement til your dead...but unless you're sanding new pine, that just ain't gonna happen... or unless you don't care if the floor is smooth, and the finish isn't done. I guess it's time for a good shellacking, right?<G>This guys got maple floors that are in rough shape... oy!Joe, there's nothing wrong with 5/16" pre-finished... there, I said it. Winterlude, Winterlude, my little daisy,
Winterlude by the telephone wire,
Winterlude, it's makin' me lazy,
Come on, sit by the logs in the fire.
The moonlight reflects from the window
Where the snowflakes, they cover the sand.
Come out tonight, ev'rything will be tight,
Winterlude, this dude thinks you're grand.
Snort,
Did you misunderstand what I said? I wasn't suggesting he save his old flooring.. I suggested new flooring.. but instead of those old circular sanders use the new square pad sanders.. (I think 20"x24")
My floor was really rough. I'm sure the ridges were more than 1/4 inch high in some cases because I milled my own flooring and someplace managed to use two differant thickness planks.* On top of that as you can see in my pictures I pegged all the screws which while I chiseled them off they dis wind up proud in almost all cases.
Now I started about 9:00 sanding and returned the sander around 1:00 for a 1/2 days rental. then finishing it was about another 2 hours. and I was walking on it that evening..
True this was black walnut which I'm sure is softer than maple or oak.. but in all probability my floor needed a lot more sanding than the average store bought floor would.. (that's pure guesswork) I started with 24 grit paper and used up two of them but the rest was quick buzz over..
*But my flooring wound up more than 3/4 inch thick and I placed the spline in the bottom third in an attempt to leave me with more room to sand in the future, spline not tongue and groove which I'll never do again I don't care if I do wind up with 1/2 narrower boards for my efforts..
Frenchy, I've used the square orbital sander to completely finish one new floor, maybe 1000sq'... select southern yellow pine... milled pretty closely. Took forever, 2 days.I saw someone try it on a new oak floor, took it back after 2hrs.I've finished and refinished, and been around a lot of floors being finished and re-finished... the bumblebee is great for re-finishing, if the wood is not in tough shape.Maybe you were using something other than shellac, and the fumes made things like time a little hazy?Besides, didn't you just post somewhere on here that your floors aren't finished yet?<G> If dogs run free, then what must be,
Must be, and that is all.
True love can make a blade of grass
Stand up straight and tall.
In harmony with the cosmic sea,
True love needs no company,
It can cure the soul, it can make it whole,
If dogs run free.