Q: My grandmother recently passed away. We ripped up carpeting in her house that has been down for 60 years. The hardwood floors downstairs are finished and in wonderful shape. The upstairs however had unfinished floors. It was carpeted, but not wall-to-wall, more like large remnants used as throw rugs. To make matters worse, my BIL’s dad was trying to be helpful and painted the upstairs. Not only is there spatter from painting the walls and ceiling, he carelessly painted the baseboards and painted (and primed) about two inches of floor all the way around the room.
In addition to this, he sanded about two square feet on one side of the floor to satisfy his own curiosity.
Is there any way to salvage and refinish the floors without using a drum sander? I’m a bit unsure of my ability to handle it. The wood looks like cherry, if that matters.
A: There are small hand power tools that don’t require professional expertise to operate. Random orbit sanders are fairly aggressive and would likely do the job. You will likely also need a hand scraper and fine tooth file to sharpen the blade.
Note from webmaster: Are you selling? People tend to change the surfaces after buying anyway.. may not be worth all the time and effort.