Below are some before, during, and after pictures from the refinishing of our 1st and 2nd floor common areas. All of these floors are maple. The 1st floor has what I believe is a Walnut border. All of this work was done by the fine folks at Nature Flooring which were recommended by friends.
We chose to go with a stain on the maple even though the
Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association Does Not Recommend Doing So Under Any Conditions - heck, what do they know? We wanted to stain the wood because the unstained maple is very white and modern looking which didn't mesh well with the old-time charm of the rest of the house. The guys at Nature Flooring said they had a secret technique to condition the wood to prepare it for the stain. From what we saw, this technique consisted of using a sponge mop to get the floor wet. That seemed to do the trick, however. Our impression so far is that it looks pretty darn good.
Here are the pics:
Dining Room Before and After - Before - Lots of scratches and areas that are faded by the sun.
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Living Room Before, During, and After
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Note below the difference between the the previous finish and the sanded wood below.
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Border Before, During, and After
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Hallway Before, During, and After - This area was in pretty good shape - we just needed to sand and stain to match the rest of the house.
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Kitchen Before, During, and After - This was one ugly floor before.
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Kitchen Repair (New Flooring) Before, During, and After. This was an area that was water damaged and could not be salvaged.
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