I'm having the hardwood floors in my house refinished next month and can't decide whether to go with a water or oil based finish. The floors were done many years ago and the house stunk for a while after they were done and have yellowed a little with age.

I have heard that the water based finished doesn't smell and some say it lasts as long as oil and doesn't yellow, and some say it doesn't last too long and can go cloudy.

So, does anyone have any actual experience with floors refinished with an oil based product?

We just had ours done with an oil based stain (can't remember the name, yellow/orange can, got it from Rona...most popular brand anyway). Put polyurethane on top of that a couple of days later. The smell went away a week or so later.

I've done two houses myself now with oil based polyurethane. It is very easy to work with and leaves a beautiful and long lasting floor. The smell dissipates very quickly. You are correct in that your floor will yellow with age with oil based products but I think that floors look better with age. I personally like how the floors "blonde" a little. I don't think that it is that noticeable. Water based products will have an odour as well. If you have previously coated your floor with oil based products and choose to put a water based product on now, you will more than likely have to remove all of the previous finish. If you are having your floors done professionally, then your flooring contractors will be able to advise you on this point. People still comment on how nice our floors look ten years later, but I'm leaning to redoing them sometime soon. I would not hesitate to use an oil based product again.

Just my $0.02. M64

I'm going to be renting a floor sander in a couple of weeks to refinish the family room. I've never done this before and I'd love to hear some tips and tricks!

I don't know what kind of wood it is (not sure how I could tell either) - it came installed in the home some 40 years ago. It's in pretty bad shape with most of the protective coating stripped off, stains all over the place, and some minor warpage from water around the side door.

Personally, I don't think it really matters. Today's water-based finishes are very good. They don't smell as much, they don't yellow over time and they don't go cloudy like they used to. They also dry much faster and thus allow more coats in the same amount of time. However, oil is tried and true and as someone mentioned, the yellowing can be nice on a floor.

If you are using someone, ask him what he recommends, since I would assume he will stand behind whatever he says.

Make sure the wood is thick enough to take a sanding.

Keep the sander moving so it doesn't sand down too much in one spot.

Thanks. The wood is definitely thick enough (about 3/4", I'd say).

One big question...how much dust does sanding kick up?

A lot. Wear a mask. I've seen some sanders with vacuum bags.

I googled floor sanders and found a helpful site...ivieindustries.com.

Thanks. The wood is definitely thick enough (about 3/4", I'd say).

One big question...how much dust does sanding kick up?
Actually, the whole plank may be three-quarters of an inch, but the sandable wear layer is actually much less than that (probably under 1/4"), so don't think that you can sand down the floor too much! Also, keep in mind that if the floor is quite old, it was probably installed with common nails driven in at an angle, and those heads have a nasty habit of being much closer to the surface of the wood than than you think, so you probably have 1/8" or less of a sandable layer. Most of the sanders that you rent nowadays have bags attached which collect the vast majority of the dust. You will still want to seal the room with poly, and I would suggest covering all of the walls as well.

If you are using a drum sander, make sure you keep it moving at all times (especially as you are putting it down), and take your time. I have actually seen these new orbital floor sanders which work well for newbies, but I haven't seen them available to rent anywhere (at least not here in Calgary).

I tried the water-based polyurethane the last time, basically because you can add a new coat every couple of hours. Just apply, wait, light sand, wipe, and repeat. I put on 6 very thin coats and was happy with the results. Time will tell if they are as durable as oil-based.

Actually, the whole plank may be three-quarters of an inch, but the sandable wear layer is actually much less than that (probably under 1/4"), so don't think that you can sand down the floor too much!

Depends if you're using solid hardwood (which it sounds like he is) or engineered hardwood. I've never heard of solid hardwood having a 'wear layer'. But then again, I'm not an expert and would likely contract out refinishing of hardwood floors rather than trying to do it myself.

With solid 3/4" hardwood you could sand down to the tongue and groove part where the nails or staples are but that would take a lot of sanding. Solid hardwood can be sanded many times, while engineered wood is really a wood veneer on a wood backing. I don't think engineered wood can be refinished.

Actually, the usable layer on quality engineered flooring is just as thick as on solid hardwood flooring. Most engineered floors can be resanded over and over just like solid hardwood.

I did 1 of our cabins (fir floor) with a drum sander, 2 of them (pine floors) with a large disc sander, and 2 (pine floors) with a square 24"x24" random orbital sander. The easiest and best job by far was the square random orbital. It was much easier to control, got very close to the walls, and very tight to the corners.
They all produced garbage bags full of saw dust and it got everywhere. Count on vacuuming the entire area top to bottom afterwards. Remove pictures, etc from the walls beforehand and it will save some cleaning.
I used oil based urethane for all of them and felt it gave the best finish. Gloss coats are tougher, so if you put multi coats on, it's worth using gloss for all coats except the final one if you finish with a satin or semi-gloss.
I have to do a couple in the next year or two and I'm dreading it... more for the mess than anything else!

rsambuca, you may want to check out this link re composition and refinishing
http://www.builddirect.com/Hardwood-Floors-Engineered/FAQ_8804.aspx

Check out the forum at hardwoodinstaller.com There are active pros that are very helpful. You may need to register to lurk but the info is excellent.

Oh and make sure you stuff your ducts and cold air returns with towels or something or seal them up very well so no dust gets in there.

Thanks all for the help so far! My fiancée absolutely hates all the dust I kick up when renovating, so boy oh boy is she in for a treat by the sound of it! :)

I checked Home Depot last weekend and the sander they rent did not seem to have a vacuum component to it (I didn't ask, but I don't remember seeing such a thing). Thankfully, Stephenson's rents the unit that Docted referred to and they tout a very powerful vacuum, so that's the one I'll be going with.

The good thing is that the floor cannot be any worse. If I somehow manage to screw it up, it'll just be sanded garbage instead of un-sanded garbage!

The flooring co came today to start the refinishing job in my living/dining room. I got some help from a local kid to move the big furniture. I also put plastic up on the two doorways.

They used 3 or 4 sanders...the big one was a belt sander, was 220 volts and plugged into the dryer receptical.

So today they:
-sanded the floor with the big sander and the smaller sanders for the corners and edges. All the sanders had vacuums.
-sealed the floor and filled the cracks with a lacquer/sawdust mixture they spread on...that stunk
-sanded the floor again with the big sander
-sanded a third time with a big rotating sander...like a floor polisher
-vacuumed up any remaining dust...there wasn't much
-put on two coats of stain.......to give the floor a dark reddish colour...that stunk too.

Dust wasn't really a factor but smell is. This is definitely a summer/windows open job.

Thanks otown, that's a nice little overview of the job. Dust is really our primary concern, so I hope the rental unit is at least close to this pro equipment in that respect.

We haven't chosen the finish yet, but I'm going to try to stick to water-based finishes as they are apparently much more bearable in the odour department.

I'll probably be tackling this job next weekend.