Skills needed hardwood refinishing

What the finished look of your hardwood floor will be depends on the age of the floor and the softness of the wood. When the floor is sanded it is referred to as stripping and is generally the hardest part of the job. Sanding starts with a drum sander, which is a large machine that is used to sand wood and weighs at least one hundred ninety pounds. On the drum sander you will put coarse sandpaper on it. Usually when each round of sand is finished the grit of the sandpaper is switched to a lesser coarse sandpaper. The hardwood flooring is sanded until it has no indication of the previous finish and the floorboards are smooth. The reason that you sand the floor is to get rid of the old finish and gets the floors ready it for its new finish.

Once the finish has been taken off you have two choices as to how it is finished. If you prefer a different look you can use a stain from light pine to dark mahogany to lighten or darken the floor. If you choose this route it can take some time along with several applications of stain. You can also show off the natural look by just sealing the floor.

The last step in by the hardwood floor sanding expert is to seal the floorboards and then use the sealant that is usually chosen is polyurethane. It may take a couple of coats to seal the floor completely. The first thing you will need to do is roll on the first coat of the polyurethane finish. When this coat dries you will need to take sandpaper that is fine grit to roughen up the finish in order to get the floor ready for the next coat of sealant. You can repeat this process several times to increase the shine of the floor’s finish. The durability of your finished hardwood flooring is increased when you layer on coats of polyurethane.

Between the first and second coat you will need it to dry between six and eight hours. Once you put on the next coat you need to wait twenty-four hours. Polyurethane could have a very strong odor so make sure that the room is well ventilated. You should also wear a mask and protective goggles when refinishing floors. If this seems like a process that you do not want to undertake you could hire a flooring company to do the job. They will also have the necessary tools to complete the job. If you do the job and do not have the necessary tools you would have to try to rent them.