If your wooden hardwood floors have worn out and made the overall interior decoration of the house look drab, then you surely need to give it a new life. You can do this by refinishing your hardwood floors. Though it is a tedious process and requires time, patience, proper tools and correct techniques, the results can be extraordinary. The final product will be a shinier surface, which will surely be worth all the investment and exercise. In case you are wondering how to refinish hardwood floors, given below are some easy tips to help you achieve the same.
How to Refinish Hardwood Floors
- To start with, make sure all the nails are countersunk.
- Now, clean the floor with mineral spirits or a wax remover. Leave it for ventilation.
- The next step is to sand the floor. For this, use coarse to medium-granulated sand paper. While sanding, the old finish may become gummy and can clog sandpaper. This is due to heat and abrasion produced by the process.
- Once the new wood surface appears after sanding, use a fine sandpaper to make it smooth and leveled.
- After this, thoroughly clean the floor once again, before applying any finish.
- Before applying the finish, carefully read the instructions written on the product’s packaging. This will provide you information about safety factors, coverage rates and drying time.
- Usually oil-based sealers are used on home floors. These are basically oil-based polyurethanes and thinned varnishes. On application, these finishes penetrate deep into the surface.
- This provides a low sheen finish to the floor, which is highly durable. Though one coat of such a finish will do, it is always better to apply two coats.
- Apart from this, surface finishes are also available in the market. They are water-based polyurethanes, varnishes and acrylics. These are highly resistant to moisture, mechanical wear, stains and spills.
- Though varnishes can also be applied, they are quite easily prone to scratches.
- Surface finishes last longer than penetrating sealers. Make sure you apply three coats and regularly sweep or dry mop it, with detergent.
