How to Refinish Hardwood Floors to look like new

Want to make your hardwood floors look like new, but don't want to pay a crew $50 per hour or more? Refinishing hardwoods is not as hard as you might think. In fact, a novice can refinish an average living room in about 6 hours. This article will show you step by step how to make your hardwood floors look like new without spending too much cash.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• claw hammer or brad gun
• vibrating hand sander
• upright floor sander
• paint brushes (for oil based paints)
• stain
• vacuum (shop vac type)
• mop
• a thin flat bar (a flat metal bar used for prying)
• small hand held belt sander
• polyurethane
• 1 gallon mineral spirits

1. Using the flat bar, remove all shoe molding from the perimeter of the room. It is advised to use a piece of cardboard between the flat bar and the base molding to prevent scuffs.

2. Once shoe molding is removed, use the small belt sander to sand the flooring out to 5 inches or more from the base board, ensuring to only sand in the direction of the wood grain. For areas where the end of the board meets the wall, you may need to use the vibrating sander to get all the way to the end.

3. Use the upright sander to sand areas outside of the already sanded perimeter. Remember not to bump into the baseboard when coming toward the wall, as this will leave a groove in the flooring that cannot be fixed.

4. Once all sanding is finished, Take a shop vac type vacuum cleaner and vacuum all sanding dust.

5. Mop the floor with a sponge mop until all remaining dust is removed. This may take 3 or 4 passes with the mop.

6. When the floor is fully dry, you are ready to begin adding the stain. Apply the stain liberally over the floor, and allow to dry. If you notice that the stain is not dark enough, you can apply more coats to darken stain to your preference.

7. After the stain has fully dried, its time to add the polyurethane. As with the stain, apply poly liberally, and with the grain of the wood. Allow to fully dry.

8. Rub your hand over the floor. You will feel raised bumps from swollen fibers of wood. Take the vibrating sander and sand off the bumps over the entire floor, taking care to only sand off the bumps, not the polyurethane. Reapply poly and recheck for bumps. You may have to repeat this step 3 or 4 times.

9. reinstall the removed shoe molding.

Tips & Warnings

• When selecting the stain and polyurethane, ask the paint store whether the type of stain and polyurethane are compatible.
• keep area well ventilated