Refinished Wood Floors Previously Under Carpet

Refinished Wood Floors Previously Under Carpet

contributed by Shannon @  

The Nest On The Hill

We pulled up the carpet the night we closed, starting in the second bedroom around 8 pm. On a high after closing, I didn't even freak out when Dan pulled back the first corner and said, "There's no wood." All we saw was white. We kept pulling and soon realized that there was wood, but it had been painted white, at least along the walls. 

The floors themselves had been painted a dark brown and then spray painted white as the previous renovators sprayed the walls.  But there was in tact wood, and that was all we were hoping for. We pushed aside our anger toward the person who destroyed these beautiful floors and covered them with hideous carpet and kept pulling. 

After calling several flooring companies and getting a few quotes, we went with the company that made us feel most comfortable. They were extremely knowledgeable and had huge confidence in the fact that the floors would come out beautiful in the end. We hadn't planned on refinishing the first floor, but when we were told they could be restored to their original condition and color, we added that to the list. 

Pulling up the carpet was simple, but the tack strips were a nightmare...so we left those to the professionals. Our apartment lease was up the day before they started working on the floor, so we loaded up all our belongings into the first floor and prepped ourselves to live in 

shambles for a few weeks.

A few days in, the upstairs was sanded and sealed with a few coats of Bona Waterborne . It was ridiculously exciting to see the heart pine looking the way it was supposed to, 94 year old flaws and all.

The water based sealant dried quickly, allowing us a day to move all of our stuff upstairs or to the kitchen so the first floor could be worked on. Though they thought the first floor would be the easy job, a few replaced boards and overly stapled stairs proved to be challenging. There are a few spots that were replaced with cheap boards at some point, but they have been stained to match for the time being. 

We did some painting downstairs in the meantime - more on that later!