Consider a tung oil finish which is easy to touch up in any places with wear. I don't think it has the curing times as long as you mentioned. Afterward, I also put down a coat of butcher's wax, then buff with a big round buffer.

By the way, "a little light sanding" is a bit of a misnomer, unless you're talking about doing a small patches by hand. Sanding is sanding, and once embarked upon by machine it's got to be thorough to get the marks of the sanders off.

You didn't mention what kind of wood the floor is. That might make a difference. Along with what kind of finish is on there now. Varnish, shellac, oil (like tung) or one of the modern products?

As an alternative to doing the sanding, you might want to consider just giving it a very good scrubbing, and then see what other plans you have after you've been in the house for a while.

Whenever you can avoid a sanding, you "save" that amount of wood and prolong the life of your floors. Even with thick older floors there are only so many refinishings-with-sanding you can make until you've got to replace it all.

Congratulations on your new house.

Molly~

For speed, you could consider shellac. You can do several coats in one day. We have a house from 1920 where all the floors are heart pine, and have been finished with shellac.
I have re-finished one room, and am in the process of finishing the master bedroom. I do not want to do much sanding, I like the look of old wood floors.
Shellac is not as durable, but on the other side it is easy to repair and to apply, and it looks great.

Barney

Why are you againnst poly.All my floors were redone 13 years ago,We used 3 coats of waterbased poly.,They look and wear as good asthe day they were done.easy clean up.

Bulldinkie, I don't want to go with poly for two reasons:

1. I don't like the plasticy look. I don't think it will look right for our new old place.

2. I have two large dogs who will eventually leave scraches on the floor. I find the poly flakes and I would rather have something that won't flake and/or is easier to touch up.

A quality waterborne polyurethane done right will not flake when scratched.

Mine doesnt flake at all,I have a jack Russell in the house also it doesnt look plastic either.Just a slight shine.Id do it again.

I'm glad those of you who have poly like it and yes, I'm sure if done right it will not flake. But I would like to use tung oil or something similar because I would like it to penatrate the wood rather than sit on top of it like poly.

I have not yet refinished my floor, but after talking with a friend who has used tung oil, I decided to use the tung oil finish from the Real Milk Paint Company.

Here is a link that might be useful: Real Milk Paint Company

Inox, thank you. This is the kind of finish of interest to me.