Refinishing floorboards

yumyums

We'd like to refinish the floorboards in our hallway to make them a darker/richer colour. They currently appear to be in good condition and look like this:


I assume we will have to sand in order to remove whatever finish is already on there?

I've been reading about different types of finishes. Does anyone have any views on what is best: varnish, polyurethane, hard wax oil, etc?

Do you think this is achievable as a DIY job or should we get someone in to do it for us?

Thanks for any help

Ionkontrol

Sand them and then apply a hardwax oil with a brush or roller. Easy DIY.

http://www.osmouk.com/previewpage.cfm?bookid=book001&chapter=5&page=108

paddyrg

If you want a natural darkener, you can do a patch test with a small amount of potassium permanganate (available from some hardware or koi carp supply places!). It is purple in its natural state, but with water, it gives a very natural browning to organic materials (wood, rope, cotton, etc). It's widely used in film and TV for ageing. It's incredibly concentrated, an ounce will likely do your whole floor. I think the reason it looks so natural is because it's an oxidiser, or actually interacts with the wood as an acceleration of the natural (surface) ageing process.

yumyums

Thanks for the replies
Have looked at the price of hiring a sander and it's quite steep but I assume we should be able to sand it all in a day? Would we need a floor sander and an edge sander?
The osmo oil looks good but takes quite a while to dry - would we have to do half the hall at a time? (or be trapped in the house!!)

Edwardia

If you sand the floor you make it softer and more vulnerable to wear. In our old house what we did was:

1. Go over the floor carefully, removing extraneous nails and staples, carpet gripper and paint blobs
2. Scrub floor using white vinegar (suggest getting it via wholesaler eg Bookers) and nylon scourers as this will clean without raising grain.
3. Get yourself large quantity of kitchen towel to get dirt off recommend 6 rolls for 99p at 99p Stores
4. When clean and dry use wood dye if you want a particular colour recommend Screwfix paricularly the mahogany
5. Paint on shellac (natural product stinks when wet only so ventilate whole house dries really fast though)
6. When dry, wax - recommend Liberon waxes