Old wavy hardwood floor, help with refinish

[Drewcartoon]

A little back ground with me and the floor. I've only re-finished 1 hardwood floor,in the apartment building I was living in. it was over all fairly flat and just needed to be re sanded and re coated. How it came out I would give my self a B-, professional I am not, but the owners were pleased. So here I am in a house my wife and I just bought, similar hardwood floors, but a lot worse shape, and I don't want to mess this up. Short of pulling the floor what's the best way to sand/refinish a floor that's exceptionally wavy. Also has been screwed down everywhere in an attempt to flatten the floor because they laid the hardwood the same as the underlay wood instead of across. Hard to see the waves in the picture, but easy to see the neglect in the floor

 

[C.J.]

Hardwood should be laid the same direction as the subfloor and the subfloor should be laid perpendicular to the joists. Are you saying your hardwood is not installed perpendicular to the joists? So the floor dips/ sags between every joist? If that’s the case I honestly don’t know what you can do to fix it without redoing the whole shebang.

How much does the floor dip and sag? We’re you thinking of sanding down the high spots? Depending on how much it dips n sags you might just end up sanding down to the fasteners or more if you’re trying to achieve flat so I don’t really know if that will work. If you’re trying to save that floor as is you might just have to roll with the dips n sags.

 

[Drewcartoon]

I didnt realize that hardwood should be laid parallel with the underlying wood, there is 1in rough cut under the hard wood and they have the barked, or rather now the de barked edges, so not a good underlay. Im ok with the dips and sags and so is the wife. it's an 1850s house and we realize smooth/flat is not an option. Just wondering what would be the most efficient way to sand and refinish. A drum sander like I used for my previous endeavor seems like it's going to be too aggressive and not a good tool for application, is there a sander that contours a little so I'm not taking a ton off the high spots. Or am I doomed to hand/ belt sanding an entire floor

 

[C.J.]

If it’s an old house then maybe the hardwood is laid correctly and the dips n sags are cus the house has settled over the past 170 years. Happens.

As far as trying to sand that floor, you’re gonna want something that will be able to follow the contour of the floor. What that is depends on how much the floor dips n sags. I would try a square buffer or possibly an orbital buffer but the orbital buffer will be tricky to use. The square buffers usually have a shroud that you can hook up to a shop vac for dust containment. You can rent the buffers from HD. They aren’t that aggressive so they will take some extra time and effort but depending on how you move them around the floor they will likely be able to follow the contour. TBH I would try just about anything to avoid having to belt sand or palm sand an entire floor but if the big equipment doesn’t work then you may have to resort to using small sanders. Maybe the buffers will get most of the job done and you only have to hand sand small portions? Post back and let us know what you found that works.

 

[Drewcartoon]

I'll see what HD and our local hardware/rental place has to offer, and go from there, I spent quite some time hand sanding with a belt sander and palm in a few small sections on the last floor I did, definitely want to try and avoid doing more than needed with. Here a couple Picts of that. Also was thinking of pulling all the screws. a few at a time, re counter sinking them and put new in place, good idea or waist of time?

 

[C.J.]

I’m a big fan of using machinery. Standing up and holding a buffer handle beats sanding on your knees any day of the week.

Do you need to remove the screws and rescrew the floor? Is it squeaky? Or is it just something you’re pondering doing just because you’re already doing everything else.

 

[Drewcartoon]

Some of the screws I will have to take out and counter sink otherwise they will be sticking up beyond the wood, to be honest I'm not entirely sure if the screws we're to limit wavyness or to stop squeaking but there sure is a lot.

 

[Tile Tom]

Man, I'm kinda leaning towards just tearing that out and installing new hardwood.
That looks like it would be more a pain than it's worth and the results wouldn't be worth the effort.

Unless the look you're going for is the old beat up hardwood look? Some people like that look.

 

[C.J.]

I was also thinkin rip it up and start over but if the house is from the 1850’s, that could be one hell of a can of worms. Sagging or broken joists, certainly not up to current code and who knows what else one might find that needs attention. Hand sanding that floor may just be the easier of the two options. That’s ok though cus personally I like beat up floors with character.

 

[Drewcartoon]

I would definitely love to tare up the floor and go with new, sure would be nice to have a level floor... but, at this point not in the budget . Going to look at a few rental sanders this weekend and may start the long tedious process of removing and replacing screws, should hopefully be sanding in a couple weeks. Thank you all!! for your help, I'll be sure to post pictures of progress