I live in my gradnfather's old house built in the early 1940's. My father told me the original oak hardwood flooring has been covered up with carpet since the early 1960's. This weekend my wife and I pulled up the carpeting and tack boards to find that we have nice hardwood floors. We've dripped a little water in a spot to find out that the water beads up and will not soak in. So, I assume this means we have a polyurethane finish. Overall, the floors has few stains and appears in decent shape, it just has 40 years of dirt and residue build up. I don't think the floor needs to be re-finished. My question is...does anyone have any ideas on what my wife and I should do next? We've considered buying a cleaner for polyurethane finish floors and testing a section out. Any other ideas? Thanks for any help!

If that floor was done in the 40's, I doubt you have polyurethane on them. More likely shellac and wax or varnish of some sort. Testing in a out of way spot is a good idea. Test for wax. If no wax is present, a good cleaning and recoat is possible. If wax is present anywhere, the only choices you have are continue to wax the floors or a full refinish to remove the wax. BTW, waxing floors has always been recommended until more recently with the advent of polyurethane. The odds of your floors being waxed are good.