Refinishing Small Wood Floor: Sanding & Odor?

[bwringer]

It's not technically a garage floor, but what the heck; might as well see if the GJ Hive Mind can offer some wisdom:

I have an smallish entryway, about 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 feet. (Which works out to 46.75 square feet) with a wood parquet floor in good physical shape, but looking tired and dingy. The existing finish is very thin; basically the wood was stained many years ago, but there's not a layer of varnish or clear.

Two questions come to mind when thinking about refinishing it as a winter project:

- Is there a good finish that doesn't stink for a long time? Or would it be best to wait until spring/summer so we can air the place out? We've painted rooms several times in the winter, and the odor isn't a problem at all. High quality latex interior paint nowadays has only a very slight and rather pleasant odor (I'd swear the stuff I usually use has a slight vanilla scent -- Pittsburgh Grand Distinction.)

- How big a sander should I use? I have a small 1/4 sheet sander -- can I get through this floor in an hour or two of drudgery, or should I rent or buy a larger sander? I've never sanded a floor before, so I have no concept of how long it'll take or how nuts I'll be before it's done.


Many thanks! I know motorcycles and cars, but I'm almost completely clueless with house stuff.

 

[mike93lx]

I had half my house redone recently with Bona water based poly. Absolutely no odor and will definitely be what is used in the future.

For that small of an area, I would probably go at it with a palm sander, although a larger 6 or 7 inch would probably be purchased for the project.

Use high quality sandpaper and a good vac. Some sanders collect dust better than others, which will make a big difference in the mess created

 

[kd3pc]

as Mike suggests, a palm sander or 6-7" would be the best, unless you know that your parquet is in good shape. Much of it may look good, but when you start sanding and pressure pushing - you may find a lot of loose segments.

Orbital is better for this, unless you have great experience with square/large/pad sanders.

Keep the sander moving as it will cut pretty quickly, vacuum as you go and knock your sand paper clean every few minutes. Careful of shoe molding or quarter round/baseboards. I even tape cardboard on areas I want to leave as they are.

Bona is great, minwax has some stains/poly in one, wipe on easy. Bona is as easy as damp mopping - I would vacuum and damp mop until you can wipe your hand across it cleanly - no residue as much as you can. Then clean Bona.

 

[The Cobbler]

palm sander will be a lot of work me thinks. we used to refinish hardwood & it's tough getting down to bare wood with smaller sanders. once you start sanding, what you thought was in good shape will probably be full of divets etc that you'll want to get rid of