Floor Refinishing Recs

[MixedBerryJam]

I just discovered that my stupid asshole of a dog has ruined, RUINED the hardwood floors under my area rugs. I think they're damaged beyond repair, and boards need to be replaced, but I'm not even going to try any self-help fixes in case I land up making it worse. Does anyone have a floor refinisher they can recommend?

And has anyone ever tried refinishing floors while all your furniture is there? Do I just rent a pod or something to store everything in while the work is being done? (I'm mostly concerned about the sofa, since most of my stuff can be stored in the garage, but I worry about mice getting into the upholstered furniture.) Can I just do one room at a time, and move furniture back-and-forth between the rooms? I don't know where to start!

This is what the floor looks like now! The saving grace, if there is one, is that now that the rug is out, the smell is gone. I still assume I'm going to have to replace a shitton of the flooring.

[MixedBerryJam]

Jun 28, 2013 13:21:15 GMT -5 RockNVoll said:

Ugh, that sucks. I'll be interested in seeing the replies though as I've wondered about how we might go about refinishing our floors, too. You might want to XP this on Home & Garden too--lots of smart ladies the last time I was there.

Done! Fingers crossed it's not quite as disastrous as I think it is ... because it looks pretty damned disastrous to me!

[LoveTrains]

I don't even understand how that happens?! That does look bad. I'm sorry

[MixedBerryJam]

Well, I'm new to the "dog" world, for starters. She'd pee on some part of the rug I don't see/step on, and it would stay wet long enough to soak through. If I'm lucky, she'd pee on the rug, I'd clean it with water or club soda and be done. But that would still leave it wet, and soaking through, just with water-diluted pee instead of pee. I'd clean the carpets pretty regularly with the store shampooer (like, twice a year) so I thought I was in good shape. When we got home from being away a few days week the dog was out of the house the whole time but the place still reeked of dog, so I investigated more closely (I have to move furniture to move the rugs, and I usually didn't go that far, since under the furniture can't get peed on or otherwise soiled, anyway.

And actually, I'm feeling a little better about it ... let's see if I can post some closeup before-and-afters from some work I put in this morning. I'm nowhere near done, but it's not as disastrous as I had thought. Summer project, I guess!

This is a 1-footish-square, before, at its worst; and after sanding and staining, before polyurethaning. I'm hopeful.

[LoveTrains]

Oh MBJ, so sorry. Yes, first, you should try to get to the bottom of why your dog is eliminating in the house. Tether the dog to you if necessary when you are home so you can see the cues that the dog is giving you.

And yes, definitely you have to make sure that the rug isn't wet or it will stain your floors. So, so sorry but glad that it looks like it can be fixed!

[LoveTrains]

Also you need to clean the rugs with an ezymatic cleaner that totally removes all the protein from the pee, otherwise she will continue to pee in the same place over and over.

[MixedBerryJam]

Jun 30, 2013 19:27:51 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

Also you need to clean the rugs with an ezymatic cleaner that totally removes all the protein from the pee, otherwise she will continue to pee in the same place over and over.

Those rugs are never going down again. The cleaner's going to do his thing (I've already warned him how pee-y they are) and if they survive and he gets the smell out, I've told my sons they can each have one for their dorm/apartment!

[LoveTrains]

Well any future rug, make sure to use something like this: www.simplesolution.com/products/dogs/stain-odor-solutions.html