If you're in the restoration industry, you've been there. You know you have this beautiful, thick, wide-plank, hand-sawn set of slats under your feet. But between the sole of your work boots and that antique hardwood, you have a few decades of paints, stains, polyurethanes and lacquers you need to hack through to restore the flooring to its natural beauty.

In our region, many of the run-down mills and factories have taken on a new life, refurbished to suit urban dwellers' live/work preferences and to fill in the housing gap. These vast buildings often reveal thousands of square feet of wide plank flooring, which can be sanded down, refinished, or reused in other projects.

This tutorial provides tips and a step-by-step guide about vintage floors, and how to tackle them.