Refinishing Hardwood Floors Before New Tank Build

[StaticKlingman]

As I'm getting ready to prepare for my Waterbox tank build, my wife and I discussed refinishing our hardwood floors first, since once the tank is completed, filled and stocked, it isn't going anywhere for a long time. That would normally be no big deal, but I have my current Biocube 32 in that spot (on the hardwood floor) where the Waterbox is going and a 16 Gallon Biocube in my upstairs office, both stocked with fish and corals.

This creates a bit of a problem. What to do with the Biocube tanks, fish and coral while the floors are being refinished. Our thought is to move the Biocube 32 upstairs in the office where the BC16 is located, close the door, open the window and pray that the fumes don't effect the fish and coral. Both tanks still have the stock Biocube lids on them.

Has anyone had any experience with refinishing floors with an operating reef tank? I am only refinishing the hardwoods on the main floor, not the 2nd level where the tanks would be.

 

[nuxx]

Hard to say, we weren't running the tank at the house we just refinished an entire house of 1900s hardwood, but I'd say just opening the window and closing the door wouldn't be enough.

The dust as well will be crazy. The fumes, maybe they could use something that is water based instead of oil based. My wife was pregnant as well, so we used water based. Luckily the last bit we did was the stairs and we had already moved to our new house by that point. So she only got a little exposure while she was there with me, but even with the water based stuff she was nervous.

Maybe close the vents to that room and also tape around the door with a tarp and open the window?

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

As above, water based low voc would be the best option. I sealed Mexican Saltillo tile years ago with some pretty nasty sealer with an operating tank. I stuffed a towel under the door and had the windows in the tank room open with a fan blowing. It worked out fine.

 

[StaticKlingman]

Hard to say, we weren't running the tank at the house we just refinished an entire house of 1900s hardwood, but I'd say just opening the window and closing the door wouldn't be enough.

The dust as well will be crazy. The fumes, maybe they could use something that is water based instead of oil based. My wife was pregnant as well, so we used water based. Luckily the last bit we did was the stairs and we had already moved to our new house by that point. So she only got a little exposure while she was there with me, but even with the water based stuff she was nervous.

Maybe close the vents to that room and also tape around the door with a tarp and open the window?

I agree just opening the window wouldn't be enough. If we move forward with this I think water based is the best in terms of fumes, and from what I'm reading about it, isn't a big downgrade from oil based anyway.

We will seal the door as best we can, close and seal the vents and use a camera to monitor the tank. I live in Colorado so temps can get pretty cold, especially at night so I may need to consider this as well. Not sure a space heater an fumes is a good combo!

 

[StaticKlingman]

As above, water based low voc would be the best option. I sealed Mexican Saltillo tile years ago with some pretty nasty sealer with an operating tank. I stuffed a towel under the door and had the windows in the tank room open with a fan blowing. It worked out fine.

I think using the water based option is the best way to go as well.

 

[nuxx]

I agree just opening the window wouldn't be enough. If we move forward with this I think water based is the best in terms of fumes, and from what I'm reading about it, isn't a big downgrade from oil based anyway.

We will seal the door as best we can, close and seal the vents and use a camera to monitor the tank. I live in Colorado so temps can get pretty cold, especially at night so I may need to consider this as well. Not sure a space heater an fumes is a good combo!

LOL yeah... we did oil in the rest of the house minus the stairs.

I feel it looks pretty similar, but upstairs some of the oil took weeks to cure. Had some chipping. It was pretty damaged floors from 1915. Also had carpet and linoleum on top of them.

 

[hoffmeyerz]

Oh I'm so excited to have a topic I can actually contribute on...lol
My family owns and I run a hardwood flooring company, I've been installing and refinishing floors for almost thirty years. A lot of the decision on what you need to do will be based on the type of finish you have applied. Oil based poly has a strong odor, high VOCs and takes a very long time to dry between coats, I only use them when there is a specific need. Conversion varnish finishes (most common brand name is Glitsa) are very durable but toxic when applied, we wear full respirators when working with that finish. They are an alcohol based acid cured finish, it actually sucks oxygen out of the air and it WILL kill any fish in the tank, I've seen it happen.
Waterborne finishes, as mentioned above, would be your best option. They have come a long way in the last 10 years or so. Good reputable brands like Bona or Pallmann (what I use) are very durable and low-to-zero VOCs.
The staining will still be strong and outgas fumes, I recommend my customers turn off they skimmer for the three days it typically takes to stain and finish, one day to stain, one day to apply sealer and first coat, and last day to final coat. Don't open windows while this process is going on, it creates too much airflow which can dry the finish unevenly and/or drop debris in wet finish.
Depending what system your sander uses there should be very little dust that shouldn't effect the tank. We use a "dustless" system where the machines are hooked to a vacuum to collect dust. It's 97% dust free so although it doesn't catch everything there is very little left.
Hope this makes sense, helps, and your floors turn out great!

 

[nuxx]

Great info

My wife and I hand sanded 2500 sqft of old butt floors haha

ALL THE DUST

Came out OK, minus the dogs scratching them up LOL

 

[StaticKlingman]

Oh I'm so excited to have a topic I can actually contribute on...lol
My family owns and I run a hardwood flooring company, I've been installing and refinishing floors for almost thirty years. A lot of the decision on what you need to do will be based on the type of finish you have applied. Oil based poly has a strong odor, high VOCs and takes a very long time to dry between coats, I only use them when there is a specific need. Conversion varnish finishes (most common brand name is Glitsa) are very durable but toxic when applied, we wear full respirators when working with that finish. They are an alcohol based acid cured finish, it actually sucks oxygen out of the air and it WILL kill any fish in the tank, I've seen it happen.
Waterborne finishes, as mentioned above, would be your best option. They have come a long way in the last 10 years or so. Good reputable brands like Bona or Pallmann (what I use) are very durable and low-to-zero VOCs.
The staining will still be strong and outgas fumes, I recommend my customers turn off they skimmer for the three days it typically takes to stain and finish, one day to stain, one day to apply sealer and first coat, and last day to final coat. Don't open windows while this process is going on, it creates too much airflow which can dry the finish unevenly and/or drop debris in wet finish.
Depending what system your sander uses there should be very little dust that shouldn't effect the tank. We use a "dustless" system where the machines are hooked to a vacuum to collect dust. It's 97% dust free so although it doesn't catch everything there is very little left.
Hope this makes sense, helps, and your floors turn out great!

Thank you! This is great info and makes me feel a little bit better. Good to know about not opening the windows as well. Too bad your not from the Denver area...i would hire you!

 

[StaticKlingman]

Great info

My wife and I hand sanded 2500 sqft of old butt floors haha

ALL THE DUST

Came out OK, minus the dogs scratching them up LOL

Wow! The floors look great!

 

[nuxx]

Wow! The floors look great!

Thanks! Wood by the fridge was actually wood used in our brewpubs ceiling to hold ceiling tiles up LOL

Same species as the house, but had some paint on them, left some of it in place, thought it was interesting.

That area of the house was actually completely changed, so there wasn't wood there, just plywood.

Can see the wall and the floor that used to be in that area... wood beneath.

 

[Useful_Idiot]

I put the room the tank was in, into a positive pressure with a small amount of outside air blowing in. And the space the floors were being done in a negative pressure with a medium fan exhausting to outside. I bought bulk carbon off ebay and covered one side of a box fan with window screen. Placed all the carbon on the fan sideways, supported the edges and ran it in the fishtank room to absorb any VOC's that may have gotten in. No losses

 

[StaticKlingman]

Thanks! Wood by the fridge was actually wood used in our brewpubs ceiling to hold ceiling tiles up LOL

Same species as the house, but had some paint on them, left some of it in place, thought it was interesting.

That area of the house was actually completely changed, so there wasn't wood there, just plywood.

Can see the wall and the floor that used to be in that area... wood beneath.

Very cool! You had me at brewpub! Do you own a brewery?

 

[StaticKlingman]

I put the room the tank was in, into a positive pressure with a small amount of outside air blowing in. And the space the floors were being done in a negative pressure with a medium fan exhausting to outside. I bought bulk carbon off ebay and covered one side of a box fan with window screen. Placed all the carbon on the fan sideways, supported the edges and ran it in the fishtank room to absorb any VOC's that may have gotten in. No losses

Very interesting on using negative and positive pressure. This makes a lot of sense. I'd be intetested in how you did that.

 

[nuxx]

Very cool! You had me at brewpub! Do you own a brewery?

Sold it

We moved to a small town from Austin and missed the taproom we went to like 5-6 times a week.

So found an old building in town, gutted it and made our own. Had 52 taps, brewed our own smaller weird (read didn't care about ingredient costs) batches as well.

Decided we missed Austin, so after two years sold it in March. We just moved back to Austin a few months ago. The house posted above was the house we renovated in the small town.

 

[StaticKlingman]

Sold it

We moved to a small town from Austin and missed the taproom we went to like 5-6 times a week.

So found an old building in town, gutted it and made our own. Had 52 taps, brewed our own smaller weird (read didn't care about ingredient costs) batches as well.

Decided we missed Austin, so after two years sold it in March. We just moved back to Austin a few months ago. The house posted above was the house we renovated in the small town.

Thats awesome! I have been brewing for over 28 years and was very close to opening my own craft brewery a few years ago with my son. But, he was being fast tracked at his company in commercial banking and my business in sports nutrition banned substance certification starting growing quickly internationally so i had to put off those plans. Had the financing and was looking at locations when we decided to pull back. Now I'm thinking distillery!

 

[nuxx]

Thats awesome! I have been brewing for over 28 years and was very close to opening my own craft brewery a few years ago with my son. But, he was being fast tracked at his company in commercial banking and my business in sports nutrition banned substance certification starting growing quickly internationally so i had to put off those plans. Had the financing and was looking at locations when we decided to pull back. Now I'm thinking distillery!

Awesome our friends have a distillery that was two doors down from our place, they moved to a bigger place now.

We prided ourselves in getting the craziest stuff possible. Even had a few breweries get their Texas labeling certified to sell in the state for us. Had a few extremely well known major award winning breweries also let us have stuff they had never served outside of their own breweries as well.

That part was fun for me, but we've always had businesses that we ran from home and didn't really have a schedule, so having to be somewhere at set times and also maybe fake being nice on a day that might not be the best wore on us. Also not being able to just pick up and go on vacation. Sounds silly, but we just got used to that. Now we have newly born twins... so yeah LOL

Covid was fun too, had to shut down twice by the State's law... so took two month long roadtrips with our puppies and camper to breweries and national parks

Was more of a hobby than a business, so cost per ounce never factored in. Had many $500+ 5 gallon kegs lol

Our system was only a barrel, but we did some good stuff. Buddy of mine is an advanced cicerone and we did a few saisons with him. He had it blind tested with other saisons by some owners of big distributors and they actually picked ours over world class saisons. Some others hit well, some I didn't care for. Belgian stuff was all great, I was let down by our IPAs. We always had world class IPAs on tap (Maine Beer Dinner, King Sue, etc...) so I was really hard on myself, while others liked them.

Needless to say when we sold, the new owners didn't really continue that thought process. To each their own

 

[StaticKlingman]

That sounds like a brewpub my wife and i would have went to a few times a week!

My beer was a bit more traditional (and boring) mostly focusing on authentic German and English beers. We used to have frequent tap parties with 5-7 beers on tap for friends and neighbors. One of oue friends knew 5 beer judges from the great american beer festival and had them come over. Apparently they liked it enough since it was them who were pushing me to open a brewery while offering their help.

Maybe one day!