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Any advise on how to clean these floors after pulling up carpet would be great or is it time to just get a sander and refinish?

Much thanks in advance.

Charles

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    I'd say time to refinish.
    – keshlam
    Sep 27, 2016 at 21:38
  • depends how much "character" you can tolerate; if it's a formal room, I'd refinish, if it's a mudroom, I'd spot clean the bad stuff, and put a new dark finish on. No matter what you'll have some imperfections showing.
    – SqlACID
    Sep 28, 2016 at 0:35
  • What is the best stuff to use for spot cleaning? Thanks a lot.
    – Charlcb
    Sep 28, 2016 at 17:25

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If you would like the floors to look nice pull the base boards and the tack strip. Rent a large belt sander from the local equipment rental store. Your floor doesn't look to be in two bad of shape and appears to have been oil finished so you may be able to use a less aggressive belts 220 maybe 400 grit. once the first pass is done start saving some of the sawdust, it cam be mixed with carpenters (white glue to form a paste) and fill the holes. Holes never take stain or finish the exact color of the surrounding wood but looks better than a divot in the wood. Oil finishes are much easier than varathane / polyurethane in my opinion but varathane / polyurethane finishes if done correctly are awesome. 1 more plus for oil finish is when the floor starts to show some wear some fresh oil brings the wood back to an almost new look in just a few minutes. The reason to pull the base boards so you can get close to the wall and they will need to be lowered to the floor level. When I do this I cheat by buying a wider baseboard so I don't have to paint the walls, I paint the baseboards outside then when dry attach them and cover the finish nail holes (I am a sloppy painter) so this saves me tons of time and the floors have looked great.

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  • Do not use a belt sander, use a floor sanding machine made for the job. A belt sander is difficult to use without causing divots.
    – Alaska Man
    Sep 28, 2016 at 19:14
  • An industrial belt sander, drum sander from the local rental store is the way pro's do it I have done quite a few.
    – Ed Beal
    Sep 28, 2016 at 20:36
  • I'd echo that a drum sander requires a bit of a gentle touch... things can go really bad really fast if you're not careful. If it's not a huge room, I'd look seriously at the large random orbit sanders that are available for rent.
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Sep 29, 2016 at 12:35

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