A tale of two floor coatings ...

Hi everyone. We have a lovely 135 y.o. house we are (slowly) renovating.
The bedroom we are currently working onis getting close to being finished and generally has come up well.
We have re-plastered, re-picture railed and painted ... but we had first pulled up the carpet, sanded and CFP'd the floor.
So, from the first picture, it came up "pretty nice" :)
However, there we some problems. :(

• there were some bad sanding gouges.
• the plaster board put in some scratches
• the lathen plaster had some gravel in it (more scratches)
• all the ladders etc added (wait for it ...) more scratches.

So, we spent yesterday sanding with a Makita Orbital and Finishing Sander and we finally got the 3 month old CFP up. (See second and third thumbnail)
This morning, the new coat looks great :)
I think next time, I'll do the floors last.
Has anyone else made the same mistake ???

Stephen and Karen

I've got a simmilar story with my kitchen. I basically assumed that by the end of the kitchen reno the floor would probably need a light sand and another coat. It sort of made sense to sand the floor while the kitchen cabinets were all out. The poly at least protects the floor while your messing around with the rest of the reno.

BTW
I'll assume that you are doing multiple coats on the floor and are giving a light sand between coats.

Yes, a very light sand is the usual - nothing worse than sanding a coat right out ! We usually use some 1200 grit wet/dry and about 3 coats.
Karen rolls it on, and I tip it off with a brush

Can't floors be so annoying !

Stephen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spreyton22

Yes, a very light sand is the usual - nothing worse than sanding a coat right out ! We usually use some 1200 grit wet/dry and about 3 coats.
Karen rolls it on, and I tip it off with a brush

Can't floors be so annoying !

Stephen

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love em

Thanks for the reply - but just gotta ask - what do you love ? - the pains the floors can be - or the husband / wife varnish combo ? - can't think of any others !
We have the rest of the house to go - so any advice ...

The best advise is to wait untill all other trades are done. then do your floor. Make sure that all nails are punched at least 4mm below the top surface. This is a must. It does take time , but persistance will pay off. I have been doing it for years , so i am used to it, but i do know that it is a daunting task for the DIY home renovater. yse a strong grit first, 24grit is fine, first i will ask the question. Are you sanding the floor yourself or are you getting a pro in ?

My only advise is to use a "satin" finish not a high gloss. Gloss looks good when it first goes on, but can start too look pretty scuffed up in high traffic areas fairly quick. The "satin" finishes tend to look alot more even over time and show the wear less than a gloss finish. Otherwise, take your time, preparation is eveything. Punch and fill well, pay attention to the corners and around doors etc a poor job around the edges will let the whole job down.

Larry,
We are - or should I say, we have done the floors ourselves, and apart from the "wrong way around", they have come up very well !

Pau1 - We tend to use Satin" for everything - it's a prefered option for poly-urathane finishes for us. And the floors are no exception.

Punching, filling etc - all done, as suggested. We used a flexible caulk for a few of the larger gaps, in the appropriate colour.

Putting on a second coat this afternoon !

Cheers,
Stephen

Soon you will be sitting back admiring your handy work, with knowledge of the amount of work we go through to get the results.

Hi Stephen and Karen!

I guess that this is one mistake that you'll only ever make once :eek: Glad to see that the outcome is looking good.

Now you can settle back with some Dickens for a while :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pau1

My only advise is to use a "satin" finish not a high gloss. Gloss looks good when it first goes on, but can start too look pretty scuffed up in high traffic areas fairly quick. The "satin" finishes tend to look alot more even over time and show the wear less than a gloss finish. Otherwise, take your time, preparation is eveything. Punch and fill well, pay attention to the corners and around doors etc a poor job around the edges will let the whole job down.

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The satin finish should only be used as a topcoat. Gloss on the two undercoats. This way you get a deeper luster without any haziness or clouding.

I can't believe you did the whole floor with a ROS:eek:, but well done!!!!

Here's a picture of the finished floor !:) :) :)

We're pretty happy with it and we'll leave the room alone for a few more days.
Next job is sanding the door (cedar) and coating it and making the new skirting board - I've bought a router bit to make mdf skirting boards, and we are making them about 230mm high ( a sheet of 3600x1200 mdf rips up nicely in 5 lengths )

We'll keep you upto date !

Interesting what opinions you mget on doing your floors Stephen.I like the 2 full and last satin idea.I've done our home in full gloss and I'm happy with it.I will be doing renovated cottage floors in a few mths[I ve just replaced 6 rooms with new boards and bearers,sod off a job as a lot of the old bearers were put on bits of concrete or wood in random fashion.Anyway to polying.I did mine with a lambs wool cover the first time and did'nt wash the fluff out in water the first time.Needless to say I did'nt make the same mistake twice.Would it be better useing a roller,what do the experts think?:rolleyes:.Peter.

Hi and thanks for all the feedback !!
We applied the CFP like this:

• Karen applies the CFP with a 100mm roller on a ceiling pole
• I follow behind with a good 65mm brush and "tip it off" to remove any air bubbles, and other roller irregularities
• The roller is a foam Rota Cotta - sold for enamel paints

Karen says if you use a fluffy lambs wool roller, one paint seller suggested covering the roller with packing tape to remove the flufff.
Wind it on, sticky side down, and then peel it off to remove loose fluff.

Our sympathies about your task !!!

Is there a good ortho surgeon for our knees ?
Mates Rates for four new knees:D

Jeeeeze mate , yo cuda bought some knee pads

Yeah we know.....we did use those garden kneeling pad thingys!!! But after a while the lower back gave up.....then it was bums on the floor for a while ....then back on the knees....Gawd this sounds like some kinky sex positions....with lots pain thrown in!!!!
One of the worst things was that in the first lot of varnishing there were lots of Smithy's leg hairs stuck on the floor.....next time he wore trousers instead of shorts!!!!
Cheers Karen.:)

eeeeeeeuuuuuuuu !!!!!!!!!!!

I am not as brave as you Spreyton22, and will be getting a sanding company to polish my floors. The thing is when I bought my house the people before me polished the kitchen, entrance and one bedroom so I only have half the house to do.

The existing polishing job is a bit slopping with the corners not quite right and the nail holes made a bit too big possibly by a blunt puncher. I don't know which company did the job but in my situation, do you think I will be able to get someone to match the colour and finish of the rooms to be done with the existing sanding job? Or will I have to get the whole lot done so it all looks the same?

Also does anyone know if I can save money by punching the holes and filling them myself?

Lastly very roughly how much should it cost to have the floors polished in an average sized 3 bedroom house?

Thanks

Kerry

I had my floorboards sanded and polished by a Korean guy at $19 sq/m.

They work mainly in South East Melbourne. Mine was a 2 bed unit at Bonbeach. Lounge/dining and two bedrooms came to 45 sq/m, so it cost $850 cash.

Nice friendly guy. Has done a few properties for family and friends aswell.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kerryv

I don't know which company did the job but in my situation, do you think I will be able to get someone to match the colour and finish of the rooms to be done with the existing sanding job? Or will I have to get the whole lot done so it all looks the same?

Also does anyone know if I can save money by punching the holes and filling them myself?

Kerry

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I'm not sure about the matching - I just going to hope all of the timber is the same and use the same sealer (CFP).

Cheers !

Stephen

Bugga, my bloke in SA is charging me $25m2 and i have done all the filling