Exposed floorboards (home improvement question)

[asix]

Ok so i sand them then varnish them any one got any experience they can share with me?

[Soap]

If they already have varnish on them, yes lightly sand them down so the paint will take like it should. Meaning, the varnish will bleed through if don't lightly scuff or sand them.

I've heard some use a sponge or rag with bleach and wipe the baseboards and trim down and this too works. I never have did the bleach thing to verify I've always light sanded down. I've have a cool craftsman small hand held sander that the back of the sand paper is velcro it does really well on such projects. I use it to smooth down the front and back sides of guitars to the bare wood.
Nice little sander.

After sanded them down you can do one of two things and this is entirely up to the individual doing the work. You can first apply primer to everything you have sanded down OR just go straight to the desired paint of choice.

I do the primer then paint, this seems give better results with the paint.

Get a good brush, even if you spend an extra 2 or 3 bucks a good brush also provides better results. Its about how the paint lays and smooths out after applying it, the use of primer and a good brush gets me that. It will take a little longer to complete the project but the end results will be more gratifying.

To take the strong smell of the paint away? When stirring the paint (even if the store shakes the can still stir your paint before using) throw in a teaspoon of vanilla (teaspoon in a gallon can) and stir it up and that will take the edge off the paint smell and help reduce the potential headache from a strong paint smell. It won't change the color of the paint just takes some of the edge off the scent.

[asix]

i was going to rent a big machine to sand the floor as they are painted black atm. Then i think varnish.

http://www.whatatool.co.uk/woodworking.htm

[Soap]

Your trying to restore the wooden floor to its original condition and no paint involved?

The wooden floor has been painted over with black paint?

You have some work ahead of you but honestly it will be worth it if your restoring the wooden floor to its original condition. When done right, a wooden floor can be very pretty.

[Spivonious]

Ugh, who would paint a wood floor?

As far as what you need to do, then yep, sand -> clean -> stain/varnish. I haven't done it myself, but my friend from college and his wife did it. They said it took about a weekend per room (about 120 sq ft). They rented a floor sander.

[elysianfield]

I've done it before in the UK. Once i had sanded the boards i used a good quality stain, then i went over it with Arcylic floor varnish. I had a choice of that and polyuthane or some wicked shit that included a hardener which went off in about 2 hours and took 24+ hours to fully cure.
I wouldn't use ordinary varnish for floors or yacht varnish etc. It will crack,peel and go yellow otherwise and won't take the stick of walking on.