Reviving an old hardwood floor

[Rebecca]

Our floors have virtually no finish left. They're discolored and stained in places, lighter in others. Is there a way to make them look clean and glossy without sanding and urethaning?

[Spastica]

Mix olive oil and vinegar together with some essential oil (orange is nice) - that should be good!

Plenty of wood floor cleaners and polish recipes here:

http://www.recipegoldmine.com/houseT/houseT.html

[Mama2-4]

I waxed our floors last week and they look great! Ours were very dull with no life in them. I purchased a can of wax at Home Depot and rented a buffer. It was so worth it. I plan to do this about every 6 months to keep them looking nice. I have waxed them before using bowling alley wax and then just buffiing them by hand with a towel, but they do not get as shiney and the bowling alley wax is VERY slippery after. This time I used Minwax furniture and floor wax (sold by the furniture restoration materials) and it is not at all slippery.

[Rebecca]

Mom2-3, do your floors have urethane or some sort of finish on them still? I'm betting the wax will make a big difference with mine but some of it is so discolored. It's lighter under rugs and darker in the high-traffic areas, and pretty beat-looking overall.

[Mama2-4]

I am not sure what the original finish was...we have been in the house for 4 years and I have waxed them about 4 times. There are some of the high traffic areas where they are in worse shape. I am thinking we will need to have them refinished in a few years, but we just don't have the money to do it now. Waxing does make such a difference though! Let me know if you do it!