Make a mistake, and it will show. However, a refinished floor can bring beauty to a room like no other project. Doing it yourself can save at least half of that. Check out some helpful tips about how to refinish hardwood floors below. Here we will dive into the materials, work, and process to refinish hardwood floors, including:. Read on for some helpful tips about refinishing hardwood floors if you are ready to tackle this home improvement project!
Random orbital sanders are the best choice for do-it-yourself hardwood floor refinishing. They take longer to remove old finishes than drum sanders, but they do not require a lot of experience to use and are less likely to damage your wood floor. With a random orbital sander, you can move with or against the wood grain. Just be sure to keep the sander level at all times. To learn more about random orbital sanders, click here. Sanding your floors is one of the most critical steps to refinish hardwood floors because it removes the old stain and turns your entire floor into a blank slate.
Like any other home improvement project, you will need to take precautions to avoid back injury when transporting sanders from the rental store to your house or upstairs by always having a helper. Use ramps to move the machine whenever possible. Similarly, get help moving heavy furniture out of the room. It has to be completely emptied before you begin.
You also need to use proper form when bent over sanding, applying varnish, or cleaning up throughout the project. Hardwood floor refinishing and sanding generates a large amount of dust and fumes.
Stock up on dust masks and earplugs and, when applying sealers and oil-based polyurethane, wear NIOSH-approved organic vapor respirators , neoprene or vinyl gloves , and eye protection with splash guards. You will also need to put up plastic sheeting to prevent the spread of dust throughout your home. The job requires using a buffer, which you can rent at a home center, and a vacuum to suck up dust. Buffing hardwood floors can be tricky, so if you've never used a buffer before, practice in the middle of the room until you get a feel for how to maneuver it.
Once the finish is roughed up, we put on a water-based polyurethane, which can be recoated in 3 hours. Oil-based polys are cheaper, but each coat takes about 8 hours to dry. With either finish, we recommend a fresh coat every two years or whenever the floor looks worn. Stick to that routine and your floors will never wear out. Pro Tip to Prevent Discoloration: Sometimes the tannins from your wood floor react to water-based polyurethane, causing discoloration.
To avoid this, apply a base coat before applying your water-based poly. Smooth the base coat out evenly around the edges with a paint brush. Smooth out the rest of the floor with a synthetic floor finish applicator and give your base coat about 2 hours to dry. The total cost includes renting sanding equipment along with purchasing sanding pads, wood stain, brushes and finish. You can almost always bet that refinishing is cheaper than replacing hardwood floors. Pro Tip: Don't use a sanding block for refinishing hardwood—it might miss uneven spots in the floor.
Looking for help with repairs around your home? A home warranty may help. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. How to Refinish Hardwood Floors. Its best feature is a built-in vacuum cleaner that removes most of the sawdust.
If you like power tools, you'll love this big, massive machine. If you're afraid of power tools, prepare to be petrified. The drum sander is loud enough to require ear protection as well as safety goggles and a breathing mask.
Although the machine sucks up 90 percent of the sawdust, plenty gets spewed all over your house and you. The drum sander will get everything except a 2-inch margin along each wall. For that, you need a specialized disk sander called an edger. Let's say you want to refinish a living room and dining room measuring about square feet. You should be able to sand the entire area in less than a day, Brunton said. There's more, though. You need to buy the special sandpaper for the drum sander and the edger.
After you've sanded down to the bare wood, you're ready to apply the finish. That requires a third power tool--a floor polisher--which is used to buff the finish between each coat, removing dust and other imperfections. The cost of tools and supplies from Brunton at Rental Services Corp. Both Brunton and Williams said there is a difference between amateur and professional tools. The drum sanders Williams uses are bigger, more powerful machines that require volt power instead of the volts.
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