How to Refinish Hardwood Floors Yourself

This is a big job, but you can do it.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Hammer
• Nail Setter
• Floor sander
• Edge sander
• Sanding block on a pole
• A variety of sandpaper grits.
• Rags
• Polyurethane varnish
• Varnish strainer
• Something to open the paint can.
• Paint can pour spout
• Paint brushes
• Respirator (rated for fumes)
• Ear protection
• Painter' s tape
• Shop vacuum

1. Remove everything from the rooms to be worked on.

2. Seal off doors to other living areas from dust.

3. Remove the base boards.
   Be aware that doing this may mean you'll need to re-paint, or at least touch up the walls and baseboards. To minimize damage on removal with baseboards that were painted at the same time as the wall, score the joint between the wall and the baseboard with a utility knife before trying to pry them out.

4. Set the nails.
   Because you will be sanding the surface lower, you need to pound any nails in the floor in a little deeper with a nail setter.

5. Rent a floor sander and edger.
   It is possible to do this job in a very small space with an electric hand sander, but it will go much faster and more comfortably with a tool designed for this big a job. There are two basic types of large sanders. On a drum sander, the sandpaper is in a loop and goes over drums. The other type is an orbital sander. This one vibrates a flat piece of sandpaper in a circular motion. Both must be kept moving to avoid denting the floor, but the drum sander has a reputation for being easier to mess up with. Get instructions on the sander when you rent it. Instructions will vary with the model. An edge sander is a smaller sander especially for sanding next to the wall. These can be rented with floor sanders.

6. Sand down the middle of the floor with the large sander.
   Hook up the shop vac to the sander if there's a hose attachment to reduce dust. Do the whole floor keeping the sander moving with rough sandpaper first.

7. Sand the edges.
   Use the edge sander to get to the edges of the floor. Don't forget about the insides of closets. Be careful about damaging the base board.

8. Touch up the corners.
   Use the same grit sand paper on the pole sander, or a small square pad electric orbital sander if you have one.

9. Vacuum. Pick up most of the dust.

10. Repeat steps 6 through 9 with medium grit sandpaper.

11. You may want to use wood filler at this point on small holes. An old technique is to mix wood glue with sanding dust to match the color of the wood. What ever filler you use, use it sparingly and wipe up the excess.

12. Repeat steps 6 through 8 with fine grit sandpaper.

13. Vacuum everything.
    Try to get all the dust off the walls, window sills, and any other place in the room it may have collected. You don't want this dust getting on the wet varnish later. Be very careful about walking on the floor with dirty feet. Just natural oil or sweat on bare feet can leave marks.

14. 
    blue painters tape

    Put up painters tape along the base of the walls.

15. Choose a varnish.
    Personally I like polyurethane. Gloss is more water resistant than semi gloss or flat. For floors, one thing you can do is paint your first coats using gloss, then one or two coats of semi gloss over it, so you have both the water resistance, and a less slippery surface, that's doesn't show small scratches as easily.

16. 
    drying varnish

    Read the instructions on the can of varnish.
    These can vary between varnishes, so pay attention. Generally the procedure is to strain the varnish through a filter into a container, then paint it on with the grain of the wood being careful not to stir bubbles into the varnish. You then let it dry, lightly sand it with the sanding block on a pole with very fine grain sand paper so the next coat has something to attach to, wipe up the dust and repeat.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't paint yourself into a corner.
• Let the floor dry as long as possible before walking on it. The longer it dries, the more scratch resistant it will be.
• Don't panic about imperfections. Floors aren't meant to be perfect. Imperfections just add character. Think about those houses that charge admission to see the hoof prints from the revolutionary war.
• Use ventilation, but be very careful about blowing dust onto wet varnish.
• Use a respirator that's rated for paint fumes.
• Be careful to paint the varnish on with the grain, and evenly. Large drips will show.
• There seems to be a fashion for staining floors, but I don't recommend it because scratches on a stained floor expose lighter wood below and really stand out. If you want scratches not to show, it's better to leave the wood it's natural color and use a clear varnish.
• Don't sand a floor painted with lead paint.