Refinish Hardwood Floors or Re-Carpet

[Cliff]

hey, ive got a sears carlin and the upstairs has had hideous mismatched carpet in each room and the landing hallway area, dirty white carpet, forest green, and aqua blue. Quite the combo. Ive been gearing up to re-carpet when I noticed what appears to be original hardwood flooring in one of the bedroom closets. From the looks of it there was originally hardwood, then it was painted yellow, then it was painted gray, then someone put sticky paper and glue pver everything, then they put weird fake wood vinyl like tiling...sort of a cheap parquey floor look, then over that went the hideous carpet. Im wonder if it would even be possible, with all the disgusting black glue and scraping i would need to do, and unknown knowledgeof what co ditonanything is in underneath, if it would evenbe possibleor a good use pf. y time to take o trying to refinish the floors? Obviously it would be easier to just have the giys from lowes come and recarpet everything with some better quality carpet all the same color but if there is original wood underneath everything thats pretty neat. thoughts?

[sooth]

Cliff, it all depends on how much work you're willing to put in. For me, it's a no brainer, since I love old hardwood, and HATE carpet (and I'm allergic to the dust that it traps). It's possible that some of the rooms are in better shape than others (no glue), but either way, you'll probably need to have everything sanded down and refinished, etc.

You might want to check several areas on the same floor, by looking around edges of floor registers before starting anything.

More than likely, though, the original floor will be in mostly good shape, and might need a few small areas patched, but I think it would look much nicer with the original floor back.

[CivilWarHome]

I go for refinishing the floors!

[nowwhat?]

Curiousity killed the cat! I always want to see whats underneath stuff and have gotten into a few messes because of it...lol. Start peeking under various spots and keep going. It would be nice to get all that crap off anyway. If it gets too much for you, you can always decide to carpet later. Test for asbestos.

[cadrad]

My entry hall, stair hall, vestibule(had) and dining room (has) those cheesy dark brown oak look parquet tile stuck down with gooey black mastic. I used a heat gun to remove the tile, then to remove the majority of the goo. I then used an adhesive remover i bought at a big box store. you put it on, let is sit, then scrub it off and wipe with more remover. comes off pretty good, but areas where the finish was worn were discolored until sanding. they look pretty good overall, I'm sure they would look better with a full sand/stain/refinish, but I havn't gottent that far yet. It is a messy, smelly, tedious process to remove the goo, though. A little different from yours, as mine were finished wood, not paint under the goo. It there is a paper layer, you may do ok with laying down towels and then pouring hot water over them, letting it sit for 15 minutes or so, and then scraping it off. That was the case in one area of the stair hall that had old sheet linoleum with a paper backing. I would think about it for a while though. A lot of times, depending on the age/original expense of the house the upstairs always did not use hardwood or a super good quality of wood for floors that were intended to be painted or covered with linoleum. I also think I perfer carpet in bedrooms(a battle I am not winning, since my house has beautiful oak floors up and down)

[JRC]

It there is a paper layer, you may do ok with laying down towels and then pouring hot water over them, letting it sit for 15 minutes or so, and then scraping it off.

Whoo-hoo!!! I didn't know about that trick! I'll have to try it in my bathroom.

[Kansas. 1911.]

Refinish the floors. And hope for a break here and there.

At least commit to the hallway and staircase. It's a smaller area with a big visual payoff. And show us pictures, please.

[khwils]

I love carpeting, it saves the wooden floors for us! At my local Menards they rent a circular floor machine although I believe it is for cleaning/waxing floors etc... They do have a couple of attachments, one looks like a big wire brush while the other looks like a big scrub brush. I always thought this might be a solution similar to your issue. I know sand paper would immediately gum up but these might do the trick?? No experience, just a thought.

Kurt

[lupinfarm]

Cliff..My advise is `Go the distance` when you are a PO, which happens to us all eventually( death or moving on) the new owners will look at the lovely floors and smile and have only nice thoughts about you.
Please show us pictures of the before and after.

[Texas_Ranger]

@Kurt: yes, I once read a recommendation to use a pad sander with a wire brush disc weighted down with two heavy bags of concrete to remove paint and other crap from wood floors. Might be worth a try.