How to Finish a Rustic Hardwood Floor
Hardwood floors get scratched and dinged over time. The finish will wear and the bare wood will become visible in places. These are indicators that you need to refinish your hardwood floors. It's a good thing hardwood floors can be refinished a few times before they need to be replaced. Some of the scratches and dings can even add to the finish of a rustic hardwood floor. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Carpenter's pry bar
- Hammer
- Marker
- Finish head screws
- Power drill
- Floor sander
- Edge sander
- Sandpaper
- Length of chain
- Keys
- Stain
- Polyurethane
- Lambs wool applicator
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Instructions
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1
Remove everything out of the room that you are working in. You will make some dust while sanding, so it is a good idea to lay a tarp down for the entire room.
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2
Use a carpenter's pry bar and a hammer to remove the baseboard and quarter round trim carefully from the room. Mark the back of each piece for easy reinstallation.
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3
Check the floor for any excessive damage and for any nails or screws that may be visible in the flooring. Listen for any squeaks; mark the floor with a marker where any are found.
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4
Set any nails with a nail set below the surface of the flooring. Use finish head screws, 1 1/2-inch long, to better brace the flooring down to the areas of subfloor where there were squeaks. Counter sink the heads with the power drill.
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5
Use a 3-foot length of chain to hit the floor in a random order throughout the room for a more distressed look. Use an old key ring and throw it down onto the floor in a random order to add additional distressing. An old wooden broom handle with a screw drilled through the end can be used to add a worm hole appearance to the floor. Use a hand scraper to add some scrapes and gouges along the wood flooring. Do not be afraid of damaging the floor too much. You will sand off the marred appearance of the distressing.
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6
Use a floor drum sander with 80-grit sandpaper to remove the finish and stain of the existing hardwood floor. The floor drum sander is a over-size belt sander that is very heavy and can remove wood quickly. Sand in strips, working in the direction that the grain of the floor is running.
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7
Sand the perimeter of the room with the flooring edge sander using the same grit sandpaper as the floor drum sander. Feather in the starting and ending marks of the drum sander and any other areas where the floor sander could not reach.
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8
Repeat steps 5 and 6 using 120 grit, then 180 grit sandpaper. Make sure to vacuum between passes. Do not fill the cracks and dings that remain. These will add more character to the floor.
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9
Stain the floor with a rustic color of stain and wipe off the excess stain as you go. After the stain has dried, proceed to the next step.
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10
Use a low luster polyurethane floor finish on the stained flooring. Apply with a lambs wool applicator, working in the same direction as the flooring. Follow the directions on the label.
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11
Repeat step 9 until you have built up a finish of five layers.
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12
Reinstall the baseboards that you set aside earlier.
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Tips & Warnings
Use a dust mask while sanding.
