I didn't do it.

After all that research on refinishing hardwood floors, I learned it would be best for me to hire someone else to do it.  While I'm confident in my mad DIY skills, the move and joblessness things have maxed me out.

Way before: apparently dropcloth utilitzation never occurred to the previous owners. I was aware this lurked under the wall-to-wall carpet because my real estate agent and I are nosy.

Just before refinishing: the house was built in 1948 and the floors haven't exactly been loved.



During: they sanded down fine- just as I expected.  I knew there were some deep gouges and dark water stains that would remain, but let's be realistic- it's a sixty year old house that most recently was a rental in a low income neighborhood. I didn't expect showroom perfection; I just wanted them to be better.

More during: the polyurethane stage went well, too.

The guys were nice enough to humor me when I popped in to see how things were going. 

The next day I went to see the floors.  They looked good at first glance, but upon closer inspection I was prompted to call the business owner to let him know I wasn't happy with the results.  There were several rough spots where saw dust mixed with polyurethane, there were puddles of polyurethane in a few places, and any nails that'd slipped past me when I removed the carpet weren't pulled (I pulled them while waiting for them to come back, though- they were much easier to spot at the time).  The business owner was pleasant about it and they got right to work.  While the end result showed some improvement, I noticed the same lack of attention to detail and some of the same issues after the second pass.  I considered the cost (great price/"get what you pay for") and compared "before" to the "after", and deemed the floors acceptable.  I was also quite ready to get on with the nesting phase; the gypsy routine can be wearing.

And I still have some water damaged corners to repair- the attempted patch job the floor guys did wasn't acceptable.  at. all.  I have materials on hand to do that, I just need to plan the messy job and borrow some tools and an extra pair of hands.  

After:

Some dark spots, a result from leaky roofs and standing water:










Close up- what the majority of the floor looks like: