Our old fir flooring is undergoing its first sanding. The various stains are lifting right off.
I’m so excited about the floor refinishing.
Jade starts with 36 grit sandpaper on this huge belt sander, going with the grain. (The photo shows about 5 minutes-worth of sanding.) It is loud, but doesn’t produce a cloud of saw/stain-dust, as the bag collects it all (two bags-full on the bedroom floor with the first sanding.) The uneven board heights are sanded off, but any cracks between the boards are now more visible because of the contrast between the “new” wood and the shadow.
He then goes to 60 grit, and sands across the grain. Then 100 with the grain again.
The orbital edge sander gets all the edges, and produces more dust.
This is the final sanding machine. It has a drywall-type pad on it, not sandpaper, per se.
Then, with a different large orbital machine, he goes to about a 200 grit pad.
Jade is using a Bona commercial satin finish. First, he seals it. Then, it dries overnight, before the first of three coats of the finish.
He uses an applicator that doesn’t leave brush strokes. 
Each coat dries in 4-5 hours. It smells a bit like ammonia while it’s drying, but odorless when dry. Curing takes a week. The wood will be dented first before the dog’s claws scratch the finish. In other words, the finish is harder than the fir. We have had her claws trimmed.
We can see more of the imperfections now, and that is just fine with us. It’s beautiful!
Too many photos???
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Wow, ma, that is something worth getting excited about! That flooring has been in the works longer than almost any other aspect of the house, I dare say. Finally the beautiful flooring that you were able to imagine so long ago is there for the rest of us to see.
Gorgeous.
-t
You’re right. I started collecting fir flooring over two years ago, months before the excavation was done.
Never too many photos. Floors and cabinets are wonderful.
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