I would personally contact a flooring company and get a quote on sanding. Then you can decide if you want to leave as is or finish with a simple polyurethane or other non-shiny treatment. Great that the floors are still in great shape. I think you'll enjoy them more if you sand them and get them looking like new again!

My floors are 70 years old. Yes, contact a flooring company about sanding and refinishing them.

Any new finish you try to add to the old and damaged finish will not adhere well or evenly and you'd likely end up with results you hate and with that much more icky stuff to remove before getting it right.

If hiring someone else to refinish your floors is not in your budget and you are approaching this as a DIY project, you should wait until warm weather when you can open the windows for fresh air/ventilation. Good ventilation will be needed for removing the old finish, for sanding and for applying the new finish.

You can use a liquid product designed to remove the old finish (check you tube for how to videos). When the floor is fully dry, you'd need to sand the floor and then remove all the dust from sanding and all the dust from the ceiling and walls before applying a new finish to the floor.

As a DIY project, redoing floors is a lot of physical work and you will need to invest in basic safety equipment:

Eye protection is a must.

Gloves for using liquid chemical finish remover.

Dust mask. I have a sander similar to this that one 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of sand paper folded like a business letter and cut at the folds will supply three "refills" and it has a fabric bag to collect dust but you will need to empty the bag regularly and you should use a dust mask.

Knee pads. If you're going to be crawling around on the floor working on it, you'll need some good knee pads. If you don't like the kind you strap to your legs at your knees (I don't), check out the garden supply section for rectangle knee pads.

http://www.littlegardenia.com/28405/knee-pads-for-gardening/cool-design-knee-pads-for-gardening-excellent-ideas-pad-for-gardening/

If I use a chemical stripper there is no need to sand,correct?

You'll still have to sand in order to get out the stains, scratches, etc.

No stripper! Get a pro. Or rent a big sander. You'll have to hand sand the edges.

I'm a big DIYer, but the proper procedure to make floor refinishing come out looking great is to hire a professional. You can rent a sander but you risk damaging the floors by gouging.

I saw a floor where a guy used an 8 inch orbital sander, and you could see the swirls. You don't want that.

So there is no way to leave a distressed old look that it has now.what gave me this idea for the floor is I am remodeling my kitchen/dining area in a rustic style.i am presently building a huge 4x8 island with a cooktop and sink and I have repurposed unfinished pallet wood for the project.its is coming along well.i am going to try to send along pictures of the floor and the kitchen area maybe you all will see the vibe I want to create throughout the house.the last picture is a floor that I want to construct in the new kitchen

Have you tried waxing a section of your old floors to see what they would look like

If you like the distressed look and actually want to keep that ... IF you sand it just enough to rough up the current flooring, you might be able to get clear polyurethane to adhere to it and make the surface more cleanable with a dust mob or Swiffer or GreenBoss -- but all the imperfections would remain.

Strongly recommend you try this on a small out of sight spot before trying it over the entire floor because the current finish might not be polyurethane and other products may just goo up if you try to add polyurethane atop them.

You'd need to:

Scrub and rinse the floor thoroughly so there's no cleaning or polishing product buildup;

sand the entire surface (NOT with a circular saw -- sand in the direction of the grain;

clean the room of all dust;

apply the first thin coat of polyurethane and let that fully dry -- a full 24 hr. day is best;

repeat for best results.

Floor resurfacing and refinishing is not a DIY project. If you screw this up, you can't just buy another slab. I've seen the damage DIYs have done to historic floors and it makes me sick.

Get the light-cure finish. No waiting on weather or windows. Fine Homebuilding had an article on it recently.

My late husband was a VERY reluctant DIYr. He did it out of necessity. When we bought our house, only half of the 2nd floor was finished - one half was attic with sub flooring. When we added the full dormer on the back of the house, we finished this bedroom. Except we ran out of money...imagine that! So, we took the wall-to-wall carpet that had been in the LR, and DH cut it to fit and attached it to the plank sub flooring with heavy duty double face carpet tape.

That was fine for a while, but then we discovered that her Beagle who slept with her, was jumping off the bed at night and peeing in a corner of the room - not easy to deal with with carpet.

So, up came the carpet. We couldn't afford oak hardwood, but we could afford pine tongue and groove in random widths. DH put down the floor and did a reasonably good job - it nearly killed his back and knees. Then came the sanding. He was a big guy - 6'2" and at that time weighed about 235 lbs. Controlling that big rotary sander was quite a workout for him. Yes, there are a few marks where it got away from him. He hired a carpenter who had worked on the remodeling to cut the quarter round molding and install it - he knew his limits! He stained the floor to match the oak hardwood on the rest of the 2nd floor. He then polyurethaned it. It didn't turn out badly - it was a 2nd floor child's bedroom. The room now has a really lovely Stark Wilton weave rug that covers most of the floor - good friend moved to a condo 2 years after spending a fortune on this - condo had wall-to-wall, so she sold it to me for $1000.

I have told my children that when they carry me out of this house, alive or dead, that they should have the pine floor removed and hardwood installed and then have the entire 2nd floor refinished so it will match. I don't want the bother/disruption of doing that while I'm still living in it. The dust alone would kill me.

I would never have had DH do this in a main reception room on the 1st floor - his workmanship was not up to that.

those floors are not 'rustic', but they are indeed distressed. and not in a good way. they are in serious need of a redo. no you can't clean them with mineral spirits and put on poly. they need to sanded and refinished. contact a wood floor expert. trust me, redoing them and getting a medium walnut shade on them will look so much better wi/your new projects.

Beth H and others:

If a homeowner's budget does not permit hiring the work done, but the damage is such that it is too rough to leave as is -- perhaps even rough enough that using a dust mop or Swiffer on it doesn't remove the dust because splinters, etc., catch the mop head -- or if he just WANTS to do the work himself, then "more power to him" -- he should do it.

He should check You Tube for "how to" videos.

There is a DIY subreddit on reddit.com from which a homeowner wanting to do a DIY project might also seek information and inspiration and encouragement.

Those pros and other trying to make the homeowner feel bad because he cannot or does not want to hire a pro need to take a chill pill.

Garry, if you want to try to refinish your floors as a DIY project, do so knowing that will be hard work and you may not end up with perfection -- go for it.

If Garry wants to refinish them himself, then have at it. But the how-to you gave him isn't entirely correct.

Garry, if you want to refinish them yourself, educate yourself and rent a floor sander. doing these floors isn't a simple job. if you're up for it, great. but I'd hate to see you ruin these floors because of your inexperience, which is why I said what I did. they look like they have some life left in them, but merely cleaning them and applying poly to them, now, would be a HUGE mistake.

My niece and one of her friends (both young single moms) sanded and refinished the wood floors in her home. Did the downstairs, stairs and upstairs hallway. They aren't tradesmen, but watched a bunch of you tube videos. She did say the sanding was hard (rented a big orbital sander), but her floors look great.

I would imagine the floor was originally varnished.Did they even have polyurethane 50 years ago? They make wood floor varnish/urethane remover.are these not good products? Sanding is labor intensive and I didn’t budget sanding..hmmm descisions

Even if you apply remover, you'll have to sand them after. Plus any remover would soak into the wood too, right? I can't imagine that that's a good thing....

I would rent a sander after I studied as much as I could about diy-ing this. You don't want to go too rustic. It will all be too much of the same look.

This kind of thing is labor intensive...but if you have more time than money....

Personally, I think you will be happier with it if you do it the right way. Surprise yourself and attack that floor! I, for one, will be very happy to see how it turns out.

50 years ago they used an oil based poly meant for floors. from the looks of it, it's mostly worn away. you can't use a regular poly. they have clear coat poly's meant for floors. Water based is easier to use and dries quicker than the oil based.

You're going to have to sand those floors. no way around it. otherwise, don't bother doing anything because it's not going to make any difference in the look.

you can rent a sander for the day for less than $60. watch lots of videos and read a lot of tutorials FIRST, to get an idea of what to do. yes it's labor intensive, but it will be worth it. don't cheap out on your floors, especially w/that classic wood you have (red oak). If done correctly, you won't be bothered with it for another 50 years.

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/refinishing-school

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/how-to/how-to-refinish-wood-floors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SVs1g0EfII

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO12ow6N6SY

ThisOldHouse has some of the best info on flooring.

Do you know what the finish on the floors now is? There is a chance that an old floor could have an oil or wax finish -- which I would prefer. What you can do and how you need to do it may be different with oil or wax vs poly or varnish. And if you use the wrong stuff over any of them without removing all the finish, you can have a very big and difficult mess on your hands.

I hate polyurethane on wood floors - ours are waxed, and that makes them easier to maintain/repair. Our wood floors are 68 years old.

Y’all have convinced me I need to sand and redo.It will be a project I do.ive never let anyone do work for me. I do everything from mechanic turning wrenches to plumbing. I am a professional welder and fitter for a living so this project is 90%reasearch and 10 % work.should be a walk in the park.yes I have classic red oak on most every wall in the house 3/8x4” tounge and groove planks.so what is a good color to restain. That will match red oak?

Be very careful with the 3/8 thick wood. There is very little room for error with that floor and if you get divots or chatter marks, there wont be enough wood left to do it again.

What you can do by hand is:

1. clean the floor with mineral spirits and steel wool to get the crud off. Remove any tacks, bubble gum and whatever from it.

2. Then scuff sand the WHOLE floor, working with the grain of the boards to rough up the finish. IF you hit a patch of old varnish, sand it off.

3. Vacuum and wipe up the dust.

4. Apply an oil-based stain that is close to the color of the floor. You can go a bit darker or redder, but not lighter. it's going to be a color refresher.

5. Wipe it onto the boards with a cloth, first in a circular motion and ending by long strokes in the direction of the boards.

6. Let it dry, then apply a penetrating OIL finish, like "Velva" or similar.

You will end up with a floor that is clearly old, but looking like it had been cared for.

The nice part is that you can retouch the penetrating oil much more easily than you can a urethane finish

My floors are over 100 years old. That old growth wood is much harder than the same wood sold today. Our floors are 3/4" Doug fir and are difficult to sand because they are so hard. They were originally finished with shellac, which can be cleaned up with denatured alcohol. You might try testing of shellac first. I would recommend that you talk to other old house experts, such as those at this The Historic District site: https://www.thehistoricdistrict.org/

@Garry Crabbs II - the 3/8" thickness is going to make this tricky. First off, MEASURE the amount of wood ABOVE the tongue. You can find a floor vent and pop it out to view the cross section of the wood. Measure the wood ABOVE the tongue. It MUST BE 3mm (1/8") or MORE to get a SINGLE sand/refinish event completed.

The photos show you are not "almost down" to bare wood, you are AT bare wood. That means this floor "missed" it's sand/refinish date by 5-10 years. And we're assuming that is oil based urethane. That was VERY common in the 60's. Nothing special about it.

You will need to sand this 3 separate times (each "pass" takes off about 0.5mm of wood which is why you NEED 3mm to start with). You will start with a low grit paper....like 60 grit. You will need a palm sander with the same grit to get into corners and close to walls.

Then you will move up to your mid-range grit (80 grit is the next step up from 60). Again cutting in the walls and corners using the palm sander and the same grit level as the big machine). And then your final pass (assuming everything has gone swimmingly) you will finish with the highest grit level (100 grit is the next step when using the 60-80-100 grit system) doing the walls and corners once again with the palm sander.

Some guys work with the 60-80-100 grit system. Others prefer the 80-100-120 grit system. Plan on purchasing MULTIPLE discs (assuming you use a drum sander) in each grit level. Some refinishers use 4-5 "papers" per grit level each time they do a floor. That means they use as many as 15 discs/pads for each home! Just be aware of that.

You might want to find out which system will leave most of the dark stains that have penetrated the raw wood....and which system leaves the MOST amount of wood on your floor. That is rather important. You don't have a lot of wood to work with so you want to make sure you have something left over that you can live with for the next 20 years.

Once the sanding is done, you chose a stain (if this is DIY I suggest you SKIP this stage) and then apply 3 coats of finish over the floor.

If you apply a water-based polyurethane finish (or any water-based finish) on a floor that has been waxed, the finish will not stick. Within a few months you'll get white spots that look like blisters.

Prep that floor very carefully and completely.

Hello - the 3/8" plank is on the walls. Red Oak. He wants to sand and restain the floor to match the walls. I don't think the floors are 3/8".

I think the herringbone layout for the kitchen is awesome.

No the flooring is traditional the walls are 3/8!sorry for the confusion

Sorry, I misunderstood your posting. That type of narrow and thin wood flooring is common here and the homeowners have minimal choices to improve the situation. With 3/4 thick flooring, you should not have problems trying to refinish if you have extensive experience from your other projects. Read all you can find about sanding and finishing and find some surface you can practice on before you start on your floor. If you are a welder, you have experience with the careful, slow movement needed to get even results. If you are anywhere around some stores catering to professionals, you will find cheaper sanding supplies and a wider range of finishes, from low end to some very expensive and beautiful specialty finishes. I suggest that you look carefully at lot numbers and production dates as old finishes dont perform well.