Task #7 - Refinish 1st Floor & 2nd Floor Common Areas

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.



Living Room Before, During, and After



Note below the difference between the the previous finish and the sanded wood below.



Border Before, During, and After




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.



Kitchen Before, During, and After - This was one ugly floor before.



Kitchen Repair (New Flooring) Before, During, and After. This was an area that was water damaged and could not be salvaged.