Hardwood Floor Refinishing Guide

You might be tired of seeing your hardwood floors looking damaged and dull after years of regular wear and tear. So, you take action by wanting to begin a hardwood floor refinishing project - taking whatever steps necessary for making your hardwoods look brand new again. But if you have limited experience with home improvement projects, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed and as if you do not know what to do first. But there's no need to feel lost! Here is a simple guide for refinishing hardwood floors and giving them that shiny and beautiful look back again. Follow these steps and guidelines, and you'll have a picture perfect hardwood floor before you know it!

Wondering how to refinish hardwood floors? First things first, you would need some materials to make this possible. The materials you will need are wide brooms, heavy and light sandpaper, gloves, rollers with long handles, floor wax, brushes, wood stain, rags, floor sanders and edger, shop vacuums and dust masks.

There are three main processes involved in wood floor refinishing. These include sanding the floor, staining the floor, and finally finishing the floor. In the first process, you should remove first all of he furniture, rugs, mats, etc. from the room with floors that you plan to refinish. Then after doing this, you must check the floor and see if there are any nails or other sharp objects protruding from the surface. Remove them right away, for they destroy the sandpaper sheet when you start to sand them.
   
After taking this precaution, its time now to get a floor sander and sandpaper for the sanding to start. Sandpaper should fit the floor sander machine that was purchased or rented to avoid malfunction of the equipment. Clip the heavy sandpaper into the sander. Run the sander over the floor in the direction of the wood grain. Do this in straight and even strokes, and keep the machine in motion and never steady to even the wood floors. Remove the sandpaper and replace it with a lighter one into the sander. This is used to get the beautiful and smooth floor you want. To do this, you have to move up the grits sequentially from 36 to 60 to 80 to 100 times.

After sanding the floor, the next step in hardwood floor refinishing is the floor stain. Before staining the floor, you have to brush the floor clear of all the sawdust accumulated with a broom. Use the shop vacuum or tack rag in getting rid of the finer dust on the floor. Do not forget to ventilate the whole area as well.

Before applying the stain on the floor, you should do a test first. Stain a corner of the floor and see if the color is the one you want. After five minutes of waiting for the stain to dry, you are ready to proceed to applying it to the entire floor surface. Use a brush if you want heavy, dark coats on your floor and use rags if would ultimately prefer a lighter coat. Apply the stain in long, even strokes and you should go with the grains of the wood as well.

After applying the first coat, allow it to dry completely. You can either apply a second coat to your floor, or just cover the spots you missed the first time around. Then, wait for the stain to dry before applying the finishing touches.

Finally, we come to the hardwood floor refinishing! First, you should stir the polyurethane finish and not mix it. Mixing causes air bubbles to show in the final finish. Apply the finish with a brush or roller by using smooth, even strokes. Allow the finish to dry for three hours or more. After drying, apply a second coat and allow this to dry for 24 hours and even up to 3 to 4 days before moving furniture back into the room. Thus, the process of refinishing a hardwood floor is completely.

Hardwood floor refinishing is an experience that is well rewarded because after the hard work you have put in doing all these steps, you get to have a beautiful floor that does not need any hiding anymore. You will truly be proud proud to show off these beautifully refinished hardwood floors to your guests and loved ones!