Hello all. I am currenlty restoring an A&C bungalow which was originally built with fir wood floors. The previous owner owned many cats and they were not cleaned up after. Ergo urine and feces seeped through her carpet and stained some parts of the floor. When we moved in we were not thinking of a restoration, unfortunately, and we used Kilz on the floor and then carpeted over it. Now I would like to restore the floor to its former glory yet I have been told that fir is extremely difficult to sand down and refinish. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Fir is very soft and yes there are bound to be issues. I can't say I've had experience with this but here's a quick reference:

http://www.seattlefloor.com/docs/Fir%20Floors.pdf

Hello Stonecat,
Thank you for the link, which I also inserted into my favorites.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones

Hello Stonecat
I also thank you for the link.
Sean

My husband and just finished a 2 1/2 year renovation project on a 1916 bungalow in Defiance, Ohio. We have fir woodwork and flooring throughout. We found that the center of the dining room and living room floors were never stained. Since they were left natural and a rug was over them they oxidated and had to be bleached to lighten the wood. It helped a lot, but there is still a slight difference in color if you look for it. You may want to look into bleaching the darker areas you described.

Also, we stained our floors a Red Mahogony. Choosing a dark color stain helped to hide the large dark area by the front door too.

We tried three types of rental sanders before finding one that would take the wood down to new looking wood. It was a drum sander with sandpaper you put on the belt. You'll need several grits to take it down and leave a smooth finish. Be sure to get a resperator too. Even if the sander comes with a bag and is supposed to be dustless, do not believe it. You'll also need to rent an edger sander to get in the corners and along the edges. We rented ours from Bil-Jax. We tried the sanders at Lowes and Menards and they weren't worth a hoot.

Another thing to keep in mind. If your fir floors are not sitting on any subfloor you will have to be very careful about how much wood you sand off. If that is not the case, you'll still need to watch so you don't sand it down too far exposing the nails.