Prepare The Floor For Refinishing
Take the following steps before wood floor refinishing.
- Move the furniture and pull up any carpeting or rugs in the room.
- Hammer down protruding nails. Find protruding nails by sliding the blade of a putty knife across the floor.
- Check for squeaks and secure loose floorboards with finishing nails.
- Remove debris on the floor with a vacuum cleaner or mop.
- Seal air vent covers to prevent dust caused by sanding from getting in your ductwork. Use plastic sheeting to seal doors to keep dust from the rest of the house.
Tip: Performing a water droplet test can quickly reveal your floors condition. If you splash water droplets on the floor and they soak in immediately, that indicates that the wood fibers are exposed and the floor needs refinishing. If the droplet beads on the floor, it may only need to be cleaned and polished.
Touch Up Deeper Scratches
Use a tiny artist paintbrush or a cotton swab to apply some stain that matches the stain of the floor. Feather the stain out to make sure it blends in with the floor and then blot it with a rag. Dry the stain for a minute with a hair dryer and add a very thin coat of finish from the kit. Feather out the finish around the edges so there arent ridges you can see or feel. Then dry the patch with the hairdryer again.
What To Consider When Buying Polyurethane For Floors
You can use polyurethanes to protect your flooring from damage as a coating. Using three layers of a polyurethane finish is what is required to provide longevity of protection to the floor. How long your coating will last is directly linked to the brand and the type of coating you have chosen to use for your floors.
What brand you select to use is impacted by the type of wood that has been used on your floor, your overall budget, and the color choice you are looking to achieve.
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How To Restore The Finish On A Wood Floor
Wood floors require periodic refinishing because of regular wear and tear, and restoring the finish can contribute to your home equity, according to RefinanceFreeFAQ.com. In fact, unless you’re immediately selling your home or unless your floors are heavily damaged, it is optimal to restore the finish on a wood floor rather than completely reinstalling new flooring.
1.
Remove all the furniture and rugs in the room. If you’re required to keep rugs on the floors to cushion noise, plan to sand off the old finish all in one afternoon to minimize the noise for your neighbors. Sweep the floors to clean up excess debris.
2.
Tape a piece of plastic around the opening of the door to contain the dust in the room. Open the windows of the room for ventilation.
3.
Sand the floors with a drum sander and 35-grit sandpaper, going over the wood in the same direction as its grain. Go over the perimeters around the room with an edger, because the drum sander will not be able to reach close to the wall. Move the edger, loaded with 35-grit sandpaper, side to side. Sand corners with a scraper.
4.
Load the drum sander and edger with 50-grit sandpaper. Go over the wood flooring to remove the rest of the old finish. Sweep up the dust from the sanders.
6.
Load the drum sander and edger with 100-grit sandpaper and go over the entire floor again. Sweep up the floor.
8.
Set a dehumidifier in the room to aid in drying both the stain and finish.
Tips
Warnings
How Do You Make Old Hardwood Floors Look New
Water stains, scratches, dullness and whole areas worn bare by household traffic are signs that its time to refinish the floor. In the past that meant sanding down to bare wooda dust-producing, time-consuming process thats risky if you dont have experience or expensive if you hire a pro. Some floors require this level of work, but many others can be revitalized by screening.
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How To Refinish Hardwood Floors Step#: Coarse Sanding
Coarse sanding removes old finish and grey discolouration. Paul used a 16-grit sanding pad in the walk-behind pad sander initially. When it comes to abrasives, the grit number refers to the approximate number of abrasive particles on each square inch. So 16-grit is extremely coarse, and really only applies to the square buff sander. If youre using a belt-style walk-behind sander, then 40-grit is the coarsest you want to start with. Will you be trying the hand-held belt sander approach I suggested to Paul initially? In that case a 60-grit belt in that machine is the thing to begin with
Apply The Liquid Abrasive And Scrub The Floor
Using the abrasive pad included in the kit, scrub the liquid with the grain of the floor. You will have to attach the pad to the block and then screw in your own broom handle. If you dont have a broom handle, you can do this on your kneesjust be sure to wear protective clothing you dont mind ruining. The Family Handyman recommends pouring the chemical abrasive into a plastic-lined shallow cardboard box instead of a painters tray so you can easily dip the pad, catch drips, and prevent spills. When coating the pad, press it to squeeze out any excess within the box.
Take it one small section at a time and apply a fair amount of pressure to roughen the floors surface. Dont just mopscrub firmly over each section a few times to get the most effective results. Its important to go little by little because if the solution is left for for longer than five minutes on the floor, it can seep into the cracks between the flooring strips and damage the core beneath the laminate. As you go, wipe up any extra liquid with an old towel before starting the next area. However, the floor should not be dry , just free of puddles.
Though the chemical etching liquid is fairly low-odor, if you want some ventilation, open a window or turn on a fan on low in a different room. However, this process shouldnt take too long.
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Screen Sand The Floor
Next, use a floor buffer fitted with a fine-grit screening pad to screen-sand the flooring.
- This type of sanding will level minor unevenness left by the drum sander and edger as well as buff away sanding scratches. This fine-detail work can make your DIY project look more like a professional job.
- Be prepared for the buffer to swing to the right or left depending on how you position the handle, making broad arcs across the floor to get a smooth surface.
Minwax Hardwood Floor Reviver
Minwax® Hardwood Floor Reviver quickly and easily renews the beauty of hardwood floors that are dull, scratched, or show signs of wear. Stronger and more durable than polish, Reviver is a topcoat that restores shine and provides a layer of protection to any unwaxed, polyurethane-finished floor.
- Requires no sanding or special preparation
- Stronger and more durable than a polish
- Leaves a crystal-clear finish that wont change the color of your floor
Available Sheens
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Why You Need To Know How To Clean Matte Finish Hardwood Floors
You may find it hard to choose between different finishes for your hardwood floors, but the matte finish looks great in certain situations, and if youve made up your mind about it, then you should also know how to maintain it.
Therefore, you choose the finish, now its time to know How to Clean Matte Finish Hardwood Floors, so you know how to maintain it against different dirt and debris types.
And by the end of this Cleaners Advisor guide, youll have some tips on how to not damage them, so youll have 2 different sets of tips, how to clean them, and how to not damage that matte finish hardwood floors.
How To Clean Matte Finish Hardwood Floors: Vacuuming
Choosing the perfect vacuum for hardwood floors with a matte finish isnt a difficult task if you run through my list of the best hardwood floor cleaning machine options, as Ive compiled a list of 4 machines on the market capable of vacuuming the hardwood floor effectively.
Generally speaking, vacuums working on hardwood floors with matte finish should be made by a Reputable Brand, Lightweight If Possible, Can Do Multi-Surfacing, and Provides High Suction Power.
Moreover, it shouldnt be using any type of bristle brushes or any type of brushes capable of damaging the flooring.
If you havent obtained one yet, then visit that list and choose one. Dont worry, I have put one budget option there too!
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How To Tell If Your Hardwood Floor Should Be Refinished
Before you start, determine what type of flooring you have and what state it is in.
To determine what type of wood flooring you have:
- Remove a floor air vent and look at the ends of the flooring.
- If you see solid wood at least ¾ of an inch thick, youre good to move forward.
- If you see individual layers of thin wood, this is an engineered floor. Refinishing engineered wood is not a DIY project and you should hire a professional.
To determine if your floor needs to be refinished:
- Place a few drops of water on the floor.
- If the water beads and doesnt absorb within a few minutes, your floors are fine.
- If the water absorbs immediately or within the first minute, it is time to refinish your floors.
How To Refinish Hardwood Floors Step#: Coat & Sand & Coat Again
Now its time for a second, third and possibly a fourth coat of floor finish, depending on the results. Its vital that you do another vacuuming to get off the little bit of fine dust created by the finish sanding. After that, apply another coat of urethane. When it dries you may or may not need to sand between coats. It all depends on how the surface feels. Apply at least another coat after the second one, and perhaps even four coats in all depending on how much protection you want to apply.
Got wooden floors that are starting to look bad, but not too far gone? The video below could lead you to a great floor without all the hassles of a full-blown refinishing job.
Video Feature
GOT WOOD FLOORS THAT ARENT TOO BAD? CLICK TO WATCH A SIMPLE WAY TO MAKE THEM LOOK BETTER WITHOUT MASSIVE SANDING
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How To Refinish Hardwood Floors Step#: Coat The Floor
Application of a floor finish with a brush comes next. Most floor finishes on the market dry too quickly, leaving brush strokes and bubbles behind. The few oil-based floor finishes on the market make success much easier. The best by far right now in my tests are Varathane Pro Finisher in the matte sheen. It goes down nicely, it flows out well, but its also dry to the touch in about 6 hours.
Urethane quality has gone way down as low odour formulations have been made to satisfy government regulations. That said, Pro Finisher is every bit as good as the old oil-based urethanes of years ago, and its still available. Whatever you do, be sure to choose a urethane with a satin or matte sheen. Glossiness brings out the flaws in any floor, but a dull sheen or none at all makes things look so much better. Also, be sure to stir each can of urethane thoroughly, even if it looks like theres nothing to stir up. Additives that cause the urethane to dry without a sheen often settle to the bottom, and in some cases you cant even see these additives. If you dont stir, then your floor will transition from glossy in areas covered by the urethane in the top of the can, getting progressively less shiny as you use the bottom half.
Select And Apply A Wood Stain
The stains available for sale will vary depending on your budget and how large of a project you are working on, but as long as you select the right type, it doesnt really matter what brand name it comes from or how much it costs. The choice of stain you select can make a huge difference in how the customer receives your finished wood.
There are two types of stains to choose from: oil-based and water-based. Oil-based stains are applied with an applicator and will stain the wood very quickly but remove easily with water, while the water-based ones need to be worked into the material for 30 minutes before theyre applied. Always read the manufacturers instructions for applying these stains, as some require good ventilation and/or rinsing if used on porous materials .
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Set The Buffer On A Sanding Screen
For this project, you need a few sanding screens. When your floor is clean and the edges are roughened, put a sanding screen under the buffer. You actually dont attach the screen to the bufferit says put under the weight of the machine.
Pro tip: When you go to rent the tool, ask for a brief tutorial at the improvement store. Theyll also tell you to lock the machines adjustable handle in place before you start using it.
Tips For Screening Hardwood Floors
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Add A Clear Protective Finish
Even with the assistance of a wood stain, the material can still be vulnerable to wear and tear. Applying a clear protective finish will ensure that you spend less time worrying about damage and more time appreciating the beauty of your finished piece.
The best part about choosing a clear protective finish over something like polyurethane is that you dont need to worry about your piece sticking to the furniture or your floor if it gets wet anymore, as water wont absorb into the pores of your wood.
What Is A Water
Water-based polyurethane is a finish that offers a smooth and lustrous look in a variety of sheens Polyurethane is a plastic material or polymer that is used in many types of applications, from insulation and foam to plastic wheels and protective coatings. When used in a flooring finish, its applied as a liquid that dries and hardens to form a protective, moisture-resistant top coating on a hardwood floor. For years, oil-based polyurethane was the standard in finishes for hardwood floors, but water-based polyurethane is replacing it as one of the most popular types of finish for several reasons.
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Prepare For The Polyurethane Finish
How To Clean Matte Finish Hardwood Floors Faq
Sweep on daily basis, dry mop every other day, and use a dampened mop on weekly basis. This shall maintain your matte hardwood floors.
Its not. Itll only require you to provide special cleaning that doesnt take the gloss away or damage the whole hardwood flooring.
If you want a more luxurious-looking finish, then opt for the glossy matte wood floors. If youre looking for a more durable but less-good-looking one, the satin will work fine for you.
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Before Your Start Sanding Floors
Use the same preparations for screening, though you might want to create a double airlock to keep the dust confined it really flies with a drum sander.
You may also want to think twice about doing this work yourself, particularly if it’s a large open area where any unevenness in the floor will be evident in the finish.
A drum sander can dig into the floor very quickly and leave unsightly gouges when operated by an inexperienced person. A professional will charge $1.50 to $3 per square foot, including finish application and cleanup. If you are going to do the work yourself, watch a how-to video before you start.