Hardwood Floor Refinishing

Refinishing old hardwood floors can brighten up a home in an inexpensive way and, more importantly, you can do it yourself. It is a time consuming project that does require some hard work. However, the time you invest in refinishing your worn hardwood floors is well worth the labor and time.

One of the most important steps in refinishing your hardwood floor is floor preparation. If the floor is not properly prepared imperfections will show through the finished surface. Therefore, it is extremely important to properly prepare the floor surface. Here are some tips on how to do that.

First, you will need to secure any loose sections of your hardwood floor that squeak. Squeaking noises indicate that the flooring is not secured to the sub-floor or the joist. The best way to solve this problem is to insert a shim between the floor and the joist. If this technique doesn't solve the problem then you will need to nail the loose boards down. You can use common finish nails to do this.

Floor sections that are damaged or severely marred will need to be replaced. Replacing sections of hardwood flooring can be a little tricky, but with the right tools and a little patience it can be done. Using a circular saw with the depth set slightly deeper than the board's thickness cut down the length of the board. After making the cut use a chisel and hammer to work the board out. Then using this board as a pattern cut a new piece to the exact size of the old one and nail it into place.

After securing or replacing floor boards you are now ready to patch the nail holes and any other imperfections like cracks, gouges or dents that might be in the floors surface. When using hardwood floor putty use one that is the same color as your floor, otherwise you will see a difference in colors. Apply the putty using a narrow putty knife and firmly push it into the hole or imperfection.

After applying the putty where needed you are ready to sand the floor. Begin by hand sanding the corners of the floor first and any other places where the floor sander will not be able to sand. When sanding the corners do your best to sand with the grain of the floor and not across it. Sanding across the grain will leave scratch marks that will be noticeable after you apply the finish.

The next step is to sand the open areas of the floor using a power sander. Power sanders can be rented from both rental stores and your local flooring distributor. However, there are a couple of different types of floor sanders so you may want to ask the distributor for suggestions on what might be the best one for your particular sanding needs.

Once the sanding is completed and the saw dust removed you are ready to apply the hardwood floor varnish. Applying the varnish requires using a lamb sponge which can be purchased when you buy your varnish. It's suggested to also use an extension pole when applying the varnish so you can reach distances as you apply and spread the varnish. Floor varnishes usually take twenty-four hours to dry before you can apply another coat or walk on the floor.