Newsgroups: misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: wood floor or carpet?
From: vraniak@joiner.com
Date: 27 Aug 92 12:58:02 -0600
Organization: Joiner Software, Inc.

My wife and I did our 15x26 living room and 13x13 dining room.  The living room
was oak and the dining room maple.

>>What are the chances of the woodfloor being trashed?
> 
> Although it is possible that the floor underneath looks as if someone
> has been stabling elephants in the living-room, the carpet was most
> likely put in for esthetic reasons.  Carpet is easier to care for then
> hardwood, and warmer on bare feet.  At certain times it has been
> considered a "richer" look.  In my experience the floor underneath
> will only need relatively minor work or will be well and truly trashed.

I agree.  Carpeting was considered "classy" and wood floors were not.  The
chances are that the floor isn't trashed.

>>How do you find out (any easy tricks?)
> 
> You are going to have to rip up ALL the old carpet either way.  YOu are
> quite likely going to have to live with whatever you find under there
> for a few days no matter what.

Again I agree.  It's better to pull the entire carpet up and then decide on your
course of action.  Pulling up a small section may reveal the only good or bad
section of the floor and cause you to make a decision ($) you regret.

>>How hard is it to refinish it yourself?
> 
> I've known several people who did it.  It's not DIFFICULT, just
> labor intensive.

Exactly.  It's very labor intensive.  A saving grace for us was that my wife's
uncle used to refinish floors so he was able to give us some pointers.  A good
tool to have is a small scraper so that you can remove the varnish from corners
and under unmoveable objects (like heat registers).  After scraping, hand sand
with medium, then fine grit sandpaper.  Depending on the type of finish
you use, you might want to consider vacating the premises after each coat.  We
used a poly finish.  We thought that after 10 hours of drying we would be safe
to stay home.  When we woke up the next morning, our eyes were burning and our
lungs hurt.  Needless to say we didn't stay there after the next two
applications.

>>Do the marks from
>>the carpet strips show very much and what is the best way to deal with
>>them?
> 
> The strips are only at the edge, and don't show much.  If the carpet is
> WELL installed, there should not even be many staples where the pad was
> joined.  Cheap or shoddy installers do alot more damage to the flooring.

Hopefully the carpet installers didn't use glue.  We had a three foot strip of
glue around the entire perimeter of the two rooms.  We also had wall to wall
glue in a hallway we are currently refinishing.  If there is glue you might be
charged more by a refinisher.  If you are doing it yourself then you will
probably want to scrape the glue off of the floor before sanding.  If you don't
you will use a LOT of sandpaper as the glue will gunk up the paper.

Even after doing the two rooms I'm willing to do the rest of the house.  There
is definitely a satisfaction at looking at the rooms and knowing that we did
it ourselves.

Good Luck,

Mike Vraniak
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