I had a previous thread on this.
cleaning 100 year old wood floors
and semi-related
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/1083553-remove-glue-carpet-padding-wood-floors.html
I believe these floors had a half-assed refinish job done at some point in the past 10-20 years. My guess is that means that they are finished with urethane. The floors have lots of "character" or patina. We don't want to refinish them. Without refinishing, what would give them a more uniform look, potentially clean some of the bad spots and protect them? Or are there just too many issues and their current level of "finish" is as good as it's going to get without a crazy amount of work.
Also, there are various issues around on the floor in spots that I think will be an issue.
Is there a chemical that we can use? I'm thinking that most of what we see may be sealed in by the last refinish, so our only option would be to try to get the existing finish off. I'm just not sure what can be done.
bathroom floor. It's not super obvious, but there's lots of cupping.
These show some of the more major issues.
In this one, besides some scratches and gouges, you can see what appears to be a spill of what I'm guessing was used to finish the floor. I really only see this from a certain angle when the light's just right.
These show a slightly more big picture view
And then there's this issue which is at the main entrance and in the middle of the house. Greg has advised on a way to tackle it.
Would it be possible to strip the urethane (without sanding the floors) and clean the hell out of the floors, oil and wax them?
In previous threads, there was talk of full refinish (sanding machine) and then screening (light duty sanding) and then getting a buffing machine with a scrub brush.
We're still trying to figure out the best route that won't be an insane job, but will give us decent results.