Finishing the Upstairs Kitchen Floor

Now that the floor is repaired, we need to sand, stain, and finally coat it with polyurethane.  Since we had to use the electric block planer to remove the top layer of the floor to remove the glue from the wood floor, this created some deep and uneven gouges in the wood.  It will be impossible to sand it down to a totally smooth surface.  The floor will have a "hand scraped" or "distressed" look to it even after it is sanded.

Floor after it was sanded.

Floor after it was sanded.

We used a mahogany tinted wood stain on the floor.  It was dark enough to hide some of the discolorations in the floor, and we liked the reddish hue.  It really brought out the grain in the pine floor. 

Floor after it was stained.

We used an oil based polyurethane with a satin gloss which was made especially for floors.  We didn't want it to be too glossy.  After the first coat of polyurethane, the floor looked really bad and uneven.  After the second coat of polyurethane, the floor looked a lot better.  It is still not perfect because it has some grit in the finish.  So we may sand it, and add a third coat of polyurethane sometime in the future.  But for now, the floor is finished enough for priming and painting the kitchen and installing the kitchen cabinets.

Floor after two coats of polyurethane.

 

Floor after two coats of polyurethane.