When we ripped out the carpet, I was disappointed in the shape of the floors. Beyond the obvious paint spatters, they were discolored, water damaged, warped, and generally horrible. I priced out carpet, and was thinking about trying to lay new hardwood in the living room.
But then I mopped the floor and saw the lovely wood grain come through, and thought maybe it was worth a shot. Sander rental is a lot cheaper than carpet, and it would be delightful to have the original floors.
So I go to Home Depot and tell them I need a drum sander. The for real kind, because I'm trying to make warped floor boards appear flat again. The rental guy tells me it's a bad idea--he says 90% of people who rent this sander end up destroying their floors. I tell him that I can't possibly make them any worse.
This is the benefit of buying such a messed-up house. I am doing my utmost to do a beautiful job. But it's a rental, not my forever house. And it was such a disaster that there's basically nothing I can do that would make it worse than it was. It's a good practice house; I'm learning lots of things that I will do better on the next house. And there's always a next house!
Way to go! Keep up the great work and be sure to post the follow-up photos!
ReplyDeleteBecky - these floors are not that bad. They will not be perfect - but they can be nice and serviceable. Give it your best shot. It's the edging that is tough.
ReplyDeleteThe edging was definitely the part where I made the most mistakes. The floors have a couple spots with really interesting texture. But the overall effect is much better, and I'll do some things differently next time! (Definitely hiring someone to do the floors at Knox, though; my house is too adorable for me to practice on!)
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