How to Refinish Hardwood Floors Without Sanding

When refinishing hardwood floors, most homeowners and remodelers want to avoid the mess of sanding. Sanding hardwood floors creates so much dust that it can be difficult to clean the floors properly before re-applying the polyurethane. Also, sanding can remove much of the character that makes hardwood floors so attractive.

Luckily, there are easy methods of refinishing hardwood flooring without sanding.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• buffing machine
• clear coat or other polyurethane finish
• squeegee sponge mop
• solvent or mineral spirits
• cotton cloth rag

1. Begin by cleaning the floor space as well as you can by vacuuming and sweeping up the dirt. Then, wipe the floor down with a wet cloth and let dry. Peel off loose pieces of old resin.
   
   If you are refinishing a hardwood floor that has been covered with carpet, you will need to remove the carpet, glue, and tacking strips with a scraper and solvent.

2. Next, fill in any large unsightly holes with wood filler. This is glue or putty that you can stain over. If you have a large hole and the wood filler is a significantly different shade than the surrounding hardwood floor, apply some matching color and let it cure before the next step in refinishing.

3. Use the floor buffing machine to buff the entire floor surface. You can rent this at a hardware store or home remodeling company. It is a hand held machine with a big rotating abrasive pad, but with a finer abrasive than sand paper. To get the corners where the buffer can't reach, use very fine grade sand paper.

4. After buffing the floor, wipe the whole area down with a cloth rag and either mineral spirits or light solvent. This will give your hardwood floor a nice clean surface on which to apply the new resin.

5. Using a squeegee sponge mop, apply a new layer of clear coat or other polyurethane resin. Because refinishing is done over a floor that already has some finish, you will only need one coat. Let the new finish cure for at least 12 hours before walking and placing rugs and furniture back in the room.

6. An alternative to Steps 3-5 is to use a special chemical sanding system. you can buy these products at a building supply or hardware store. This method consists of applying a chemical sanding compound (a type of solvent), followed by a layer of primer, finished with clear coat. This is ideal for refinishing small areas of hard wood.
   
   If you use this, follow the package directions for best results.

[copperhill]

on 6/8/2009 Good ideas for an alternative to floor sanding. These could turn the job into something any homeowner could handle. Remember to use good ventilation.