We moved into a (potentially) beautiful Harlem brownstone last fall. Unfortunately, the last time the apartment was "renovated", the contractors were hired on the cheap. We consequently have a very nice hardwood floor that was waxed and sealed while dirty. Which means it has about ten years of dirt between the blanks and and least two weeks of human and cat hair sealed under the wax. Despite our good intentions, unfortunately, neither of us have any experience with stripping, refinishing, or waxing a hardwood floor. So, basically, how do two absolute beginners approach the stripping, cleaning, (possible) refinishing, and sealing/waxing of a hardwood floor?

I’m preparing to refinish the hardwood floors in my home. Three bedrooms, a dining room, and large living room. The floors are about 60 yrs old. I was originally planning on just using a hand-held belt sander around the baseboards, possibly just pulling up and replacing the quarter-rounds, but I’ve had a lot of people tell me to pull up the baseboards and sand the whole way to the plaster/drywall. I’ve received both recommendations, but I’m looking for a consensus, and any input from those who’ve done this.

I’m somewhat motivated to pull them up, because they could honestly use a good refinishing themselves, but that is a whole other can of worms which personally I’d enjoy both in process and the final result, but it’s a new house & and my wife would like to move in sometime this year!

Any other input on the floors is appreciated! -what brand of stain and polyurethane do you prefer?

Thank you!

I thought of using flooring nails and recessing them and filling in over heads, but I really want something very permanent- maybe very thin screws?