Honest answer about DIY floor refinishing

Q: My husband and I are planning on refinishing our oak hardwood floors this weekend. Have you heard of saving the dust from sanding and mixing with the varathane for the first finish coat? We were told that this would fill in any gaps or holes in the wood.

Is this a good idea or would it create more problems for us?

A: There are a number of wood fillers on the market. some mix very fine dust collected from numerous sanding jobs and mix it with sanding sealer to fill cracks. Regardless of which filler is used, it is applied and then sanded off prior to finishing. You are doing a job that really is not for the DIY home owner, but you think you are saving tons of money. That you would have to ask a question like this clearly indicates you don’t really know what you are doing. It takes an apprenticeship, basically, to become skilled at working the equipment plus a good amount of understanding on procedure and finishing. You have no idea what you are in for and I won’t lengthen this response by getting into all that. What is your time worth and what do you consider a good job?