Refinished floor - shellac

[JRC]

Yesterday, I finished refinishing the floor in my previous house. I used shellac because, from everything I read, it seemed easiest and fastest. But, I couldn't be happier with the results!



I don't talk much about my previous house on here. It's also an old house, built in 1915. It's sort of a 2 story craftsman bungalow, but was heavily remuddled (mostly the exterior) over the years. I bought it in the summer of 2002, and really enjoyed living there. But, when the Elm St. house started to get close to habitable, I put the first house up for sale.

Unfortunately, after trying to sell it for over a year and a half, I decided to rent it out, instead. I know shellac isn't the most durable finish, (especially with renters) but that's what the floors were finished with originally, and I don't mind that they look old. I just needed to put some kind of finish on the bare wood.

[Gothichome]

JRC, if shellac was good enough 99 years ago I certainly can not see why it would not be good enough now.

[historicalwork]

Those floors look great. What nice color!

[JRC]

Thanks! I couldn't be happier with the color.

I just used clear sanding sealer, which is wax-free shellac, over the original, unstained wood.

[historicalwork]

We just pulled the carpet in one of our 2nd floor bedrooms and I think the finish may be shellac. It has probably been under carpet for some time. There is a center area that must have had a carpet section at one time because the surrounding area has a finish and this inner area looks dull and less finished. I'm reading now how to figure out what finish is there. It seems you almost can't go wrong with old wood floors - they always look nice no matter the condition.

[JRC]

We just pulled the carpet in one of our 2nd floor bedrooms and I think the finish may be shellac. It has probably been under carpet for some time. There is a center area that must have had a carpet section at one time because the surrounding area has a finish and this inner area looks dull and less finished. I'm reading now how to figure out what finish is there. It seems you almost can't go wrong with old wood floors - they always look nice no matter the condition.

That sounds like what I started with here. But I did sand it down to bare wood. (with a handheld belt sander and palm sander for the edges, not one of those big floor sanders you can rent)

[historicalwork]

I'm trying to pretend that sanding it all down isn't going to be necessary - but I know that's not true! Can I ask, did you find it difficult getting the color or shade right? Or is the color shown in your picture just shellac on the sanded down wood? Most all wood trim / molding in the house (all in the bedrooms) is stained and I guess I worried that if I sanded down the wood and tried to finish again I wouldn't get it right. In our kitchen I think we screwed up letting the contractor do what they did - sanded it down and then used polyurethane without an stain. Now we have floors in the kitchen that are lighter than the other three rooms on the first floor. If I do the upstairs I'm doing it myself - using a sander like you describe. I'm just worried about getting the right finish. I guess I'll just have to sand and experiment.

[historicalwork]

This is a pic of our floor in the one bedroom - showing the contrast between the dull inner square area of the room and then the outer area with more finish. Again, I have to assume there was some sort of fixed rug and they finished around it? That really doesn't make sense but I don't know why else it would be like this or why they wouldn't have finished the entire surface.

[Gothichome]

Historicalwork, it was not uncommon to do this. Some times the unstained middle section was a cheaper grade of wood as well. It was just plain cheaper.

[Al F. Furnituremaker]

Shellac is a highly overlooked finish. My house has shellac on all the floors and stairs (original 90 year old finish).

One of the biggest benefits of shellac is that it is easy to repair. New shellac will actually dissolve the shellac under it and become one continuous coat. If the original finish is in reasonable shape, it may not be necessary to remove all the old shellac on the wood (being furniture or floor) because of its amalgamation properties.

Shellac is also available in many different colors. The various colors come in flakes and you dissolve them in alcohol.

The disadvantages are that it dries fast, so is difficult to get a really good smooth finish off the brush, you get one chance. Also it is very susceptible to damage by water and alcohol.