How to Repair Worn Hardwood Floors

If your hardwood floor is looking dull and dingy, with uneven light reflection around the surface, it means the glossy top layer of the finish is getting worn. Not only does this look bad, but it can cause serious problems by allowing moisture to get past the finish and into the wood. If the floor isn't structurally damaged, a simple screening and re-glossing is probably enough to bring it back to life. Plan on being without use of the room for a week.

Things You'll Need

• Oscillating floor scrubber with screening pad
• Floor screen disks in 60-grit, 80-grit, and 120-grit roughness
• Vacuum
• Polyurethane floor gloss
• Cloth floor-gloss applicator with long handle
• 220-grit sandpaper

Instructions

1. Set up the floor scrubber with its screening pad and a 60-grit screen. Starting along one wall, run the scrubber in the direction of the floorboards. Run it back and forth, working your way across the floor row by row, taking off the top finish of the existing gloss. Vacuum up the dust.

2. Re-load your scrubber with the next-roughest grit level of screening disk (80-grit), and repeat the process. Do it again with the 120-grit screen to smooth out the surface. Vacuum up the dust.

3. Spread a layer of floor gloss over the surface by pouring down a narrow puddle of it in one corner (furthest from the doorway) and dragging it backward with your floor-gloss applicator. Work row by row, pulling slowly to avoid forming bubbles. Gloss the whole floor. Let it dry overnight.

4. Using your 220-grit sandpaper, buff the surface of the floor by hand, just enough to dull the shine of the gloss (so the next coat of gloss will stick). Buff it in quick, light strokes with the direction of the floorboards. Vacuum up the dust.

5. Apply a second coat of gloss in the same manner as before. If a third coat is desired, buff the second coat before applying it. Let the final coat set for 48 hours before using the floor.

Tips & Warnings

• Wear a paper dust mask when screening the floor.

References

• ThisOldHouse.com: Floor Screening.