Should I refinish wood floor or lay down tile?
Question:I just ripped up the carpet in my kids' playroom and underneath is hardwood flooring. Its got a lot of paint splatter and maybe a few water stains or something. I was going to put down peel n stick vinyl tiles but now I'm wondering if it would be possible to refinish the floor instead? Would it be financially worth it? I just wanted a smooth floor for my kids' toys to roll on and no carpets for stains. If it would cost a lot to refinish it I wouldn't bother, or if it would be a lot of work because I'm doing this on my own. Should I try to refinish it or just put down the vinyl tiles? If you say refinish please tell me what I'd need to do that. Thanks!
Answers:
well i hate to disagree, but it will either be a ton of work or a lot of money. the condition of the floor you describe sounds poor to me and would require a lot of work. AND when i consider what the room is to be used for, VCT doesnt sound like a bad alternative to me.and i would also caution that "peel and stick", is a good bit more work than what the name describes. BUT it can be done cheaper, easier, and make a hell of a play room as opposed to refinishing the wood floors, which i am sure could be, (um), beautiful! that's just my op though..GL with it and leave the wood refinishing to the next genius.
Refinish the floor. Wood floors are beautiful and much more durable than peel & stick tiles. It is easy to refinish hard wood floors, but it is hard work. It will add to the value of your home. In fact, once you have completed your son's room I bet you will be a refinish maniac, and do all the floors.
Places like Lowes can guide you step by step and help you with your water stains and paint spatter.
I say refinish the floor. HW flooring seems to increase the value of the home in most cases.
you can rent a stripper for probably $75 - it's very dusty though, and the finish on the floor plus the paint splatters will be highly toxic - wear a real mask (not one of those paper ones), seal off the room and open a window. You must remove all the dust. You then have the option of using stain and polyurethane or wax to refinish, and then you need to buff it, probably by renting a buffer for another $50 unless you want to break your arms buffing it manually.
Keep the wood.It will raise the value of your house if you sell.Plus it looks better than that cheap tile.All you have to do is rent a floor sander at rent x or what ever you may have for a rental place.And go to your local hardware store and ask what would be good to finish the floor with.It is a little bit of work but it will be a good selling point is you resell.And it just looks better.Hope it helps good luck.
Absolutely refinish.
Hardwood is beautiful and it will
be cheaper, not to mention safer
for a kid. You can rent a good
belt sander and have the job
done in a weekend.
It is easy to use a sander. The
polish is easy also. Go over it
with a buffer and it will last for
several years. I haven't done
anything else to mine since I
refinished 8 years ago. Well,
maybe damp mopping. Easy.
It is not that much work. Refinish the wood. I did it and I am a lot older than you.
Another vote for refinish. I recently refinished my hardwood floors and they turned out to be a real hidden treasure. The last thing you want to do is put those peel and stick tiles down just because they would further damage the hardwood floors and make it more difficult to refinish them later when your cheap-o peel and stick tiles start to come up at the corners (they will). You can rent an easy to use sander from Lowes or Home Depot at a reasonable price. You simply sand the floors, clean up all the dust, stain the wood and seal with polyurethane. It was a lot of work when I did it (about 1800 SQFT of hardwoods) but well worth the effort. I would guess that pulling up the dingy old carpet and refinishing our floors probably added about $10,000 value to my home. Besides that, I don't have to worry about all the dirt/dust collected in carpet. There are some great resources on the internet that give step by step instructions on doing the job. It seems intimidating at first, but anyone can do it. I think the instructions I followed were on the diy website. Good Luck!
Refinish OMG they will be beautiful a full day of work but well worth it! Dont forget those vinyl tiles have glue on them when you take them up glue will remain on you wood floors even worse hard work! Go wood!Good luck!
i'll vote for refinish them too. and just for your information, the proper way to lay down the peel and stick tiles is to put an underlayment of "plywood like" ,1/4-3/8",4x8 sheets down first. then fill the seams with floor leveler, and fill the screw holes with it too, and then seal the underlayment with a sealer so that the tiles will bond well. so to do that is labor intensive, too. i would also suggest that you call and get several quotes on having a pro redo the hardwood, you will get better results, since there is a lot to doing it right. that's what i did about 8 years ago and the floors still look fantastic! the dining room, master bedroom, stairs and upstairs and front halls only cost me about $1,000. and that was with 3 coats of poly. well worth the cost, and time saved, for the end results. good luck, i know you'll enjoy the look when it's done.
Refinish the floors. They are easier to keep clean and will last tons longer than peel and stick tiles. The tires on the cars will grab the edges and there goes your tile. It may cost a little more in the beggining but will pay for it self in the long run. Plus it looks tons better.
If you dont want to spend any money, put down the vinyl tiles...
HOWEVER...i have just put brazilian cherry wood floors in my living room, and i can tell you, all the money, time and heartache involved with a wood floor install, was worth it when i saw the finished product.nothing, absolutely nothing, except maybe granite, terrazo or marble, looks as good as wood on your floor.
again, another vote for refinishing- i did my house one room at a time (due to storage restraints) and it took about one day of sanding, one day of sealer and finish then 3-7 days of really letting it dry. cost was renting the sander, premium quality urathane finish, sand paper, and new filters for the shopvac. (about $200/rm). depending on how badly your floor is stained/damaged, you could use a dark stain color to hide the water spots, if that works for your decor. another option is paint. i tried to sand a wood floor that had 80 years of oil-based porch paint on it. i used a chemical stripper then sanded it but the red and green paint showed through so my only choice was to paint it. in the end i really loved it. i painted a border around the edge and i've even seen checks and swirls too. that could be really fun for a kid's room. the only sanding to be done would be to make sure the floor has no finish on it so the paint will stick and use a good quality clear gloss or satin urathane over the top to save it from damage. it will last at least 3 years before it needs to be updated and if you want to change the color or design, use liquid sandpaper to prep the surface then just re-paint! one note of caution- do not use the home depot "behr premium plus porch and floor paint". it doesn't say it on the can but it takes 4 weeks to fully cure. i found out the hard way. after 2 weeks of dry time we put the furniture back in the room and the chairs stuck to the floor like they were glued down!
the previous owners of our current house put peel and stick tiles in the kitchen and 3 years later we're getting ready to rip them up because they look so dirty, even after an exhausting scrubbing. i would suggest against those tiles.
with the paint you can be really creative but if you are planning on selling in the next few years, just refinishing would increase the value of your home.
We had the same dilemma in our house. We pulled up old carpeting, and had unfinished, stained, icky hardwood floors underneath! We went back and forth on what to do and we finally decided on Pergo. It gave us the look we wanted without the hassle of having all that dust everywhere in the house. When they refinish a hardwood floor, you need to cover everything and you will find dust everywhere for a long time after no matter how careful they are. We have small children too and we did not feel like dealing with all that trouble. My husband and a friend laid the floor in one day and between the two of them, it was a pretty simple job. Cutting out around the door frames can be a little tricky though. My husband and i decided that with small children and animals, the pergo was a better financial decision. If it gets beat up or scratched we can deal with it, rather than spending all that money to refinish hardwood floors. We know that in the future if we decide to do it, they are always there, underneath waiting! The pergo has held up great and it is in our living room, the main room where everyone walks through, sits, eats, etc and out toddler bangs, drops and crashes stuff! At first, it was a bit slippery, but after a day or two, that stopped. We also have it in our bathroom and it has held up wonderfully! Good luck!
considering my past experience with peel and stick tiles, i would say this. PLEASE DO NOT USE THEM. the only good thing about them is, they are easy to lift up and throw out. refinish your floor. you will be happier. been there.
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