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If you are renting and want to make an old floor look better then just rub some "liquid gold" polish on it.
If the wood and color, etc. is ok but you just need a new topcoat then rent a buffer/sander and then do a couple coats of poly. The buffer/sander is like the janitor's circular polisher. You put a sort of scotdhbright pad on it and it takes off most of the old poly. If you use old oil based poly then ventilate well and use a real ventilator with carbon filters. You can use water based poly to avoid fumes etc.
If the wood is messed up, discolored and/or dented/deep gouges then you need a drum sander and edge sander to remove the top 1/8" (approx) of the wood and then refinish. You need to work up through the grits from rough to smooth and hand scrape inside corners. You need to be sure the floor still has enough thickness above the tounge to be able to refinish it again. Seal off adjacent rooms with poly sheeting and put a fan in the window blowing out and you won't get any dust in the rest of the house (fan needs to be tightly sealed in window for max. suction). Doing this yourself is a LOT of work and you need a good back and good knee pads for the edge sanding. If you mess up you can have very bad results and possibly wreck your floor. I've done this before and would rather hire someone.
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