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Have you done this? Where I live its cheaper to rip it out and replace it with new wood flooring. Plus, the factory finishes are considerably harder and more sc

Have you done this? Where I live its cheaper to rip it out and replace it with new wood flooring. Plus, the factory finishes are considerably harder and more scratch resistant than what you can get put down in place. I've actually wondered if a better plan for wood flooring is to treat it like my deck, a simple yearly oil based coating vs a hard finish. Of course the out gassing from something like that is probably a health hazard. Instead, I treat it more like carpet, aka I figure every decade or two it needs to be replaced. In my rentals I've been using an engineered laminate which is extremely robust. I picked it because I got a whole bunch of samples, took them home and then took a screw driver and started scratching the heck out of them until I found one that I couldn't scratch. I think its far superior and looks nearly as good as the real wood in the house I live in. I install it floating, but pull up the baseboards and replace them at the same time so it looks original. It has a bit of a hollow noise if you knock on it (despite being 3/4"), but I don't think there is a way to avoid that without glueing it down, which just adds cost when it needs to be replaced.

alkonaut 6y ago
Yes. What do you pay for the flooring vs the work? I pay $100+ per square meter for the floor (aroud $10 per sq foot) and sanding is 1/10th to 1/5 that ($10 to $20 per square meter or $1-2 per sq foot) with the costlier ones having a better finish that more resembles the factory one.
- StillBored 6y ago
  It depends... IIRC, It seems i'm probably paying a lot less than you are for the flooring/install. OTOH, the two times I've gotten quotes to sand and finish a floor its been more than just ripping out and putting in something else. I guess it would be pretty inexpensive to rent a sander and do it myself (or hire unskilled labor) but i'm not sure I trust the latter, and the former sounds like the kind of frustration I don't need more of. I've tangentially helped people sand their decks and its was a PITA. In Austin, there are a lot of people who can install wood flooring, and they are crazy fast, and it turns out that makes them pretty inexpensive. That is part of the reason I do floating floors in the rentals. The removal costs for a glued down floor, or "well installed" linoleum, is many multiples what it costs to put the new flooring in.
war1025 6y ago
> I've actually wondered if a better plan for wood flooring is to treat it like my deck, a simple yearly oil based coating vs a hard finish. We just put in a wood floor and went with Tung oil [1] as the finish. I don't know how well it'll hold up, but what sold me on the idea is that you can just re-apply the oil as needed. We have three young kids, so who knows how well it'll hold up. I guess we'll find out. [1] https://www.realmilkpaint.com/shop/oils/half-and-half/ https://www.realmilkpaint.com/shop/oils/half-and-half/

alkonaut 6y ago

Yes. What do you pay for the flooring vs the work? I pay $100+ per square meter for the floor (aroud $10 per sq foot) and sanding is 1/10th to 1/5 that ($10 to $20 per square meter or $1-2 per sq foot) with the costlier ones having a better finish that more resembles the factory one.

StillBored 6y ago
It depends... IIRC, It seems i'm probably paying a lot less than you are for the flooring/install. OTOH, the two times I've gotten quotes to sand and finish a floor its been more than just ripping out and putting in something else. I guess it would be pretty inexpensive to rent a sander and do it myself (or hire unskilled labor) but i'm not sure I trust the latter, and the former sounds like the kind of frustration I don't need more of. I've tangentially helped people sand their decks and its was a PITA. In Austin, there are a lot of people who can install wood flooring, and they are crazy fast, and it turns out that makes them pretty inexpensive. That is part of the reason I do floating floors in the rentals. The removal costs for a glued down floor, or "well installed" linoleum, is many multiples what it costs to put the new flooring in.

war1025 6y ago

> I've actually wondered if a better plan for wood flooring is to treat it like my deck, a simple yearly oil based coating vs a hard finish. We just put in a wood floor and went with Tung oil [1] as the finish. I don't know how well it'll hold up, but what sold me on the idea is that you can just re-apply the oil as needed. We have three young kids, so who knows how well it'll hold up. I guess we'll find out. [1] https://www.realmilkpaint.com/shop/oils/half-and-half/ https://www.realmilkpaint.com/shop/oils/half-and-half/