What To Remember When Doing Hardwood Flooring Refinishing

By Marcia Marks


Original hardwood floors can make any house elegant. Not surprisingly, homeowners would want to preserve such a beautiful feature. Luckily, hardwood flooring refinishing denver is now easier than ever. Step-by-step instructions are now available, providing directions from sanding the floors to refinishing and sealing. Nonetheless, you have to be extra careful if you decide to embark on this project on your own.

Prepare for any preliminary work. You can save time by doing all the preparatory works before you start. Remove the furniture, set aside the rugs and carpets and completely empty the room. Sweep the floors clean and vacuum the dusts. Pay attention even on the cracks and crevices. Pull and replace the nails that start to stick out. Take off carpet tacks or strips, too.

Look out for areas that need fixing. After clearing the area, you might be surprised with the dilapidated quality of the floors. Some damages may have been hidden from view because of some furniture. Before you proceed to finishing the floor, make sure that you have reinforced its structure. More important than its appearance is its integrity.

Prepare the necessary equipment before kicking off with the project. In this process, you will be required a handful of tools. This includes a fine-haired paintbrush, a clean mop, stripper chemicals, stripping pads, a bucket and floor machine among others. If one equipment is not available when you need it, the entire process may be delayed.

Sanding follows. Now that the area has been thoroughly cleaned, you may start sanding. This is used to smoothen the surfaces. See to it that you have enough sandpaper needed for the job. The results are not quite favorable when you run out of sandpaper as the job is ongoing. The surfaces become uneven with some areas unpolished. A home improvement store in your area might have an available sander for rent.

Experts advise starting with a heavy-grit sandpaper. Use this to cover the overall flooring. Next, clean up the dusts then assess the results. You may need to repeat this process numerous times until the surfaces are evenly polished. Proceed with a lighter grit to remove the scratches. Sanding and polishing is quite time-consuming, but is critical to achieve the best results.

Decide whether to stain or not. Some homeowners would prefer to keep the natural appearance of the wood. For those who want to give their floors a different look, staining must be done before finishing. If you do, make sure that the stains are evenly applied. Similar to sanding, follow the grain of the wood. Try to blend the stains, too. It looks neater than overlapped colors.

Pay attention to details. The minute details can make a huge difference. Decide which type of protective finish to use. Varnish and polyurethane are two of the most popular choices. Water-based urethane has clearer results after drying, while oil-based polyurethane has a slight tint of yellow. Leaving the stains on longer can achieve a darker hue.

Finally, do not hesitate about contacting a professional if there is a need. Although the process of hardwood flooring refinishing denver appear simple and easy, it is quite grueling and time-consuming. If the project gets too overwhelming, it is best to leave them to the expert. Attempting something far beyond your ability may produce unfavorable results.




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