How to Refinish a Hardwood Floor

How to Refinish a Hardwood Floor. Refinishing hardwood floors takes time, patience, and the proper tools and techniques, but the results can be extraordinary. If your wooden floor is starting to look a little worn perhaps all you need to do is refinish it for the floor to get a shinier look again. It's a messy project but well worth the investment.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Wide brooms
• Heavy and light sandpaper
• Gloves
• Rollers with long handle
• Floor wax or polyurethane finish
• Brushes
• Dust masks
• Wood stain
• A dozen or so rags
• Floor sanders and edger
• Shop vacuums

Sanding the Floor

1. Remove all rugs and furniture from the room.

2. Check the floor carefully for any nails (pound these down below the surface), carpet staples or tacks (pull these). Any of these could rip your sandpaper, ruining the sheet.

3. Rent a floor sander from an equipment rental shop. Traditional drum sanders do a good job but are quite heavy and take some getting used to. (It's important to keep a drum sander moving all the time. They work fast and if left standing in one spot can quickly sand a groove in the floor that would be impossible to remove.)

4. Consider a newer orbital sanders designed for floor refinishing that is easier to control. Whichever you choose, ask for a demonstration of how the sander works before you leave the rental shop.

5. Get a good supply of sandpaper (in a range of grits--36, 60, 80, 100) that will fit your rental machine. Many rental outlets will take back sandpaper you don't use. Ask about it.

6. Clip the heaviest-grit sandpaper (36 grit) into the sander.

7. Run the sander over the floor in the direction of the wood grain. Push or pull the sander in straight, even strokes. Don't sand across the grain.

8. Remember to keep the machine in motion while it's turned on. If you gouge the floor a little while sanding, go over it again with the sander using several long strokes to even it out.

9. Remove the heavy-grit sandpaper when the whole floor is sanded, and clip a lighter-grain sandpaper (60 grit) into the sander. Sand scratches and lines in the floor as many times as necessary to remove them.

10. Use a shop vac to pick up sanding dust when you change sand paper.

11. Go over the floor again with the next lighter grain sandpaper. The key to getting beautiful smooth floors is to move up the grits sequentially from 36 to 60 to 80 to 100.

12. Repeat steps 3 through 10 with an edging machine if your floor sander doesn't reach the edge of the floor. (These can also be found at your rental center.)

Staining the Floor

1. Decide if you want to stain the floor or if you would prefer to leave the floor natural in tone, in which case you can move on to applying a finish (see "Finishing the Floor").

2. Brush the floor clear of all sawdust from the sander using a broom.

3. Use a shop vacuum or a tack rag (see How to Make a Tack Rag), to pick up even finer dust. The cleaner the floor at this stage, the better your finish will look in the end.

4. Open the windows to ventilate the area.

5. Apply some stain with a rag to a corner of the floor or the back of a closet to check that the color is the one you want. Wait 5 minutes for the stain to dry. When you're satisfied with the color, you're ready to continue.

6. Apply a first coat of stain to the rest of the floor. Use a brush if you want to apply heavier, darker coats (smooth out with a rag). If you want lighter, more controlled applications, use only rags to work in the stain. Apply with long, even strokes, going with the grain.

7. Allow the first coat to dry. If necessary, apply a second coat, or touch up light spots.

8. Make sure the floor is completely dry before you apply finish.

Finishing the Floor

1. Stir the container of polyurethane finish; shaking the mix will create air bubbles that show up in the final finish.

2. Apply polyurethane with a brush or roller, using smooth, even strokes with the grain to avoid marks in the finish.

3. Allow the finish to dry; this will take about 3 hours depending on the brand.

4. Add a second coat. Allow the final coat to dry overnight at the least, and up to 3 days before moving furniture or rugs back on the floor.

Tips & Warnings

• Clean out your room and do your prep work before you go to pick up your sander. You don't want to be paying for a sander just standing in the corner while you clear the room.

• Sanding a floor is going to create lots of dust. Close doors and turn off your furnace fan (to stop dust circulating throughout the house). Wetting sheets and hanging them over doorways, will help minimize the spread of dust.

• Using a smaller hand sander is a lot of work and very hard on your back.

• It's better to apply 2 or even 3 light coats to reach the desired tint. One heavy coat can leave you with a floor that's darker than you want, and lightening it is a difficult, if not impossible, process.

• Waxing the floor is another finishing option, though it's not as popular these days due to the amount of upkeep. Wax should be applied in light, even coats until the desired sheen and protection level is reached. Remember to never mix polyurethane and wax finishes--they're not compatible.

• Sanding a floor creates lots of dust. Close doors, and turn off your furnace fan (to stop dust circulating throughout the house).

• Wet bed sheets and hang them in open doorways to help minimize the spread of dust.

• Always wear a dust mask and ensure adequate ventilation when working with sanding tools.

• Most finishes have harmful vapor, so make sure the work area is well-ventilated.

• Don't smoke or have open flames in the area.