Treating Hardwood Floors

 

MARY: My question is our rug is like 20 years old and it’s reached a point where it has to be pulled up. It’s the living room, dining room, stairs and hall.

TOM: OK.

MARY: So – and we had – this is only the second time we had the wall-to-wall; even though we’re here 44 years. Now we are thinking that why not – if the floors look good after the rug gets ripped out, how would I treat it? What would I do to give it a nice finish?

TOM: I bet you if you’ve been there 45 years that you probably have hardwood floors under that, correct?

MARY: (overlapping voices) Absolutely.

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) And it’s probably in great condition.

TOM: That’s right, because carpets make a really good dropcloth. So I think it’s a perfect time – and frankly, very trendy – for you to have hardwood floors right now, Mary. So here’s what you’d do.

You’d pull up the carpet. You’d pull up what’s called the tackless, which is that strip that goes along the walls that it’s attached to.

MARY: Right.

TOM: You’re going to have to do, you know, a bit of cleaning up. You’re going to have some holes there that’ll need to be fixed. You’re going to want to have a contractor come in and sand the floors. Don’t do it yourself but sand the floors.

LESLIE: (overlapping voices) Oh, it’s a big job.

TOM: It’s a big job.

MARY: Sand?

TOM: Sand the floors and then polyurethane it and then if you want a little carpet just do some throw rugs – make sure you get an anti-skid mat to go under them – and the place will look beautiful.

MARY: Sounds good. You know this was a model house when I bought it and they had paper – thick papers – all over the floor so the traffic wouldn’t damage the floors. So I know they’re in excellent condition.

TOM: Well, this sounds like the right thing to do. Mary, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.