How to Refinish Hardwood Floors

Hardwood floors are a popular feature of most homes. After time, hardwood floors can become scratched, discolored and dingy looking. There's no need to replace the hardwood floors, though. Instead, you can simply refinish the hardwood floors yourself. Although some people choose to hire professionals to refinish the floors, you can do this task yourself very easily. All you need is the right equipment and a little time and you are on your way to learning how to refinish hardwood floors.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Electric Floor Sander
• Medium and Fine Grit Sandpaper
• Vaccuum
• Wood Floor Stain
• Polyeurethane
• Fans
• Broom
• Paint Pad
• Paint Tray
• Face Mask
• Goggles or Other Eye Protection

1. Remove all items from the room. This included curtains, pictures and other items on the wall. The reason for this is that there is a large amount of dust involved in refinishing floors so take everything out unless you want to clean it later.

2. Remove any molding that is near the bottom of the floor to prevent damage. You can do this with a hammer and crow bar.

3. Rent a floor sander from your local home improvement store. There are several types of sanders including belt sanders and drum sanders. Some sanders even have built in vacuum systems to collect the dust as you sand the hardwood floors. Talk to the professional at the store to determine which floor sander will be easiest for you to handle.

4. Apply a medium grit sandpaper to the floor sander.

5. Put on eye protection and a face mask, and then begin sanding the floor with the floor sander. Make sure that you ONLY move the sander in the same direction as the grain of the wood and keep the sander moving at all times. This means that you will run it along the length of the boards, not across the width of the boards. You only want to remove the top layer of stain. This does not take much sanding so don't overdo it.

6. Once you have gone over the floor once, sweep the entire room thoroughly. Then apply the fine grit sandpaper to the floor sander and sand the entire floor once more to smooth it to a perfect finish.

7. Thoroughly clean the room by wiping down all of the walls. Then sweep and vacuum the entire floor. Finally, take a damp mop and go over the entire floor thoroughly to remove any dust. Removing all remaining dust is critical at this point so that it does not interfere with the staining process.

8. Pour the wood stain into the paint tray and begin applying to the floor with the paint pad. Apply the stain in long smooth stokes. You only need to go over each board once.

9. Allow the stain to completely dry on the floor, then apply a second coat of stain if you desire a darker appearance. Sometime the stain will require up to 24 hours to dry completely.

10. Read the directions on the wood stain to see if a top coat of polyerethane is recommended. If polyerethane is recommended, then apply it in the same manner as you applied the stain and allow the floor to dry completely.

11. Nail the moldings back down and you are finished.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not walk on the floor until the stain is completely dry. If you do, you will leave shoe prints which will require you to resand and start over.
• If you have parquet wood floors (the boards run in patterns instead of straight), you really should hire a professional. Although parquet floors can be sanded and refinished, it's hard to do because of the grain and is not recommended as a DIY project.

Resources

• eHow Home and Garden Topic Guide