Best way to rehab a wood floor on a rental-to-be

[Jennifer Hillberg]

Hi -- I'm working on a house that will be in a lower-income rental area. I pulled up the carpets (which had 30 years of dirt and dust under them) and found good hardwood floors. There are many imperfections due to the carpet pad practically decomposing on them and also many worn areas. The floor needs a cleaning -- but next - should I sand the floors and then put a varnish on them? I want to do the most cost-effective plan for the house. I have 3 family members with me who are going to help -- but we've never done anything like that before - is it hard? Can beginners figure out how to do this? Should I just pay someone to? Should I just carpet (1000 sqft)? Someone in another forum mentioned just PAINTING the floors -- but I just can't bring myself to paint hardwood...especially the nice old kind.

Any advice is apprecitated!

Jennifer

[Wes S.]

We've had the same opportunity in 1 of our Investment Properties to refinish the floor....we ended up putting in a 7mm Laminate Floor that was cheaper to install than to refinish the old. It looks awesome, its bullet proof, dropped tools off a ladder on it and no damage. Also had a second floor leak with pools of water on it, soaked it up with a towel and still good to go.

Tenants can throw a rug and take their stains and smells with them when they move out...

It looks classy and is our go to move when rehabbing a rental.

Lumber Liquidators has good stuff for under a $1/SF and I install it myself, which is easy.