Project example: refinishing a 1950s oak living room — what happens and what it costs

The scenario

Picture a single-story tract house in Southwood with a living room and a short hall, about 300 square feet in all. The carpet is thirty years old and the owners want it gone. A lifted corner in a closet shows narrow oak strips, the kind a 1950s builder would have laid.

The boards have a clear path of wear from the front door to the kitchen and a gray patch near the patio door where a plant sat. There are no deep pet stains. The question the owners ask first is whether the oak is thick enough to sand; a test patch in the closet shows plenty of wood above the tongue.

Furniture has to leave the room, so moving it out and back is its own line. The owners pick a natural finish with a satin sheen, since it hides the small scratches a household makes, and they ask for stain samples only if the natural color looks too orange.

What the job involves

1. Carpet, pad and tack strip are removed, and staples are pulled from the floor.
2. Old paint spots on the edges and any black adhesive are checked before sanding.
3. A sander connected to a vacuum system works the floor in coarse, medium and fine passes; an edger does the edges.
4. Nail holes and small gaps are filled, and the floor is vacuumed and wiped.
5. Coats of finish are rolled out with a light abrasion between coats.
6. Socks only at first; rugs and furniture return on the finish maker's times.

Materials and prep

• Drum or orbital sander with a vacuum hose and an edger
• Wood filler and a putty knife
• Waterborne or oil-modified finish and applicator pads
• Plastic sheeting and tape for doorways and vents

Add-ons often paired with this job

• Moving furniture out and back — +$150–$500. Furniture moved out and back is included in this example as a flat line.
• Stain samples on the floor — +$50–$200. Stain samples on a patch of the real floor are a separate line.
• One extra finish coat, whole floor — +$250–$900. A third coat of finish is a separate line.

Why it is done this way

This is the plain version of a refinish: good wood, one room, one color. The arithmetic is simple, a per-square-foot rate for the sanding and finishing, a surcharge for the wear paths, and one flat line for moving furniture.

The reason to price it from the calculator is the spread. The same 300 square feet can be quoted far apart by contractors who count different things, and a list of what is included makes the quotes comparable.

The test patch is the cheapest step in the job and the one that decides it. If there had been too little wood, the answer would have been a new floor. A second thing worth knowing about this kind of floor is how the old finish behaves. Oak from the tract era was usually finished with an oil-based product, and after decades it has yellowed to a deep amber. Sanding takes that tone off with the finish, and owners are often surprised by how much lighter the bare wood is. If the amber look is part of why the room feels warm, say so before the sanding, because a natural waterborne finish will read cooler and a stain will be needed to bring the warmth back.

What would change the price

• The test patch shows too little wood, and a new floor is priced instead.
• Pet stains go through the boards and need replacing.
• The owners want a color change from orange to a dark brown.
• The hall and the stairs are added.
• Old wax or polish turns out to be on the floor.