Hardwood floors add value and beauty and increase the inside appearance of your home. With time, they get dull and start looking valueless due to the scratches they have from everyday wear and tear. You need to refinish them if you notice they have lost their beauty and attractiveness.
Here are some practical ways for your help in floor refinishing:
1. Remove the shoe base molding
Start your floor refinishing work by taking the shoe bases away. Take out the piece of the quarter-round mould attached with walls. For taking the shoe bases out, you can utilize a pry bar by using a scrap wood piece for the protection of the baseboard. While removing, you should label every piece for better reinstallation after the completion of floor refinishing job. Take out the base molding or avoid doing things that could damage it if your home floor has no shoe base molding.
2. Shore up the floor after fixing squeaks
Have a close look all around to find out nail loose floorboards or squeaks. For this, you can nail into the joist of the floor by using finishing nails of 8d. After sliding the putty knife blade across the floor to locate protruding nails. Fill the holes using wood putty after setting the nails.
3. Sand the floor roughly
Use gain and a drum sander along with the board length. Work with the drum sander forth and back around 3-4 feet in length and apply an overlapping stroke of 1/3 belt width for the removal of scratches. For better sanding, you should apply a belt of 250 square feet and sandpaper of 36-40 grit. You can use sandpaper of 80-100 grit with a gradual rise in your floor sanding.
4. Sweep and vacuum
You need to keep vacuuming and sweeping between sanding. Do sweeping and vacuuming before you move to the next level of sanding your home floors. With this, you can take out the hidden dust and dirt.
5. Sand all around the floor
While sanding the floor, you need to ensure that you haven’t left any part or area. For better sanding, start from one side to another and keep moving in the right direction. Based on your position on the handle, you can make the machine swing from the left to the right or vice versa.
6. Remove dust and dirt
When you completes sanding the floor, do sweeping and vacuum again. Further, use a clean cloth piece to remove the left dust and dirt. Ensure that there is no dirt or any other thin objects lying on the floor to have a perfect finish.
7. Apply stain
Use a foam applicator pad to coat interior wood stains on your abode floors. For a better refinishing, work in the area you can easily manage, such as an area of 4 square feet. Keep the wood grain direction in mind while staining your floor. Utilize paper towels or clean cloth pieces for the removal of the access. Using a cotton cloth piece will be beneficial for you.
8. Apply finish
Apply a coat of primer and start painting the floor from one side to another. After the completion, paint the floor again as the first coat gets dry for better finishing.
Conclusion
Hardwood floor refinishing is a tricky job and requires a set of standard tools and material, apart from a sound knowledge. You can do it yourself for saving your money. But hiring an expert will be beneficial for you to get better results. With better results, you will be successful in attaining the look and appearance of your home floor as it had earlier, particularly at the time of installation.
