Hardwood Flooring Refinishing Tips For A Successful Home Renovation

Posted on: 6 July 2020

Your home's hardwood flooring gets a lot of use and stands the test of time within your home to look great for many years. The warm appearance of hardwood flooring glows in your home but can become scratched, damaged, and worn over time, requiring you to refinish its surface to restore its beauty. Here are some tips to help you successfully refinish your home's hardwood floors for a long-lasting shine and sustained protection.

Get the Proper Tools

When you plan to refinish your interior hardwood floors, a big part of the project and time spent on it should be in your preparation and work on the floor before you can apply a new coat of stain or protective finish. And because a large part of the work goes into the preparation, you should look to use the right types of tools to help you be successful for the job. 

You can find a good selection of floor sanders from a local tool and equipment rental business. Check with a local home and garden shop for rental options, as well. A good orbital sander will make easy your work of removing the old finish and stain to sand off any scratches to expose new and smooth wood. If you plan to only screen the top surface of your floor's polyurethane, use medium-grit sanding screens to remove the surface shine. This will help the new coat of sealant coat and adhere to your hardwood floors.

Your power sander is going to work to sand or screen the main portion of your hardwood floors, but for the corners and edges, you will need a hand sander. Find one that has good power and that will work efficiently and quickly so you can spend your focus on evenly sanding or screening the surface of the wood. If you allow the sander to sit upon one area for too long, it can wear down into the surface of the wood too deeply and leave gouges and bumps, permanently damaging your floors.

Prepare the Floor

Once you have the surface of your hardwood flooring screened to remove the top layer of shine or you have removed the protective coating and the top layer of stained wood by sanding them, you can prepare the floor for a new coating. Use your vacuum to remove any dust that was left behind from sanding. Most power sanders have an attached vacuum to pull up dust as it sands, but some can be left over. A damp cloth can also help you pick up excess dust.

Fill in any gouges or dents into your hardwood planks with a wood filler. Press it into the damaged spot, smooth it, allow it to dry, then sand it smooth. Now your floors are ready to apply a new coating of stain followed by a top coat sealer, such as polyurethane, or skip the stain and apply the sealant.

To learn more, contact a hardwood floor refinishing company.

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