Step-by-step guide to refinishing hardwood floors

Whenever you’ve to refinish hardwood floors, firstly you should know which type of wooden floor you are going to refinish. Some types of wood (like heart pine and maple) are difficult to refinish while some types of wood (like oak) are easy to refinish. It depends upon the quality of the wood used. You can hire professionals for this and you can also do it by yourself. You need tools that are used during the refinishing of the floor. In this guide, all the steps that should be followed for hardwood floor refinishing are discussed in detail so that you can easily understand how to do it by yourself without hiring professionals.

Table of Contents

What are the steps to refinishing a wood floor?

Remove the Shoe Base Molding
Fixing Speaks and Creeks
Sand the Floors
Sweep and Vacuum Between Sands
Edges and Corners
Screen Sand
Dust Removal
Staining Your Hardwood Floors
Finishing your Hardwood Floors

All these steps are discussed below in detail;

Remove the shoe base molding:

Shoe base molding requires gloves, a pry bar, knee pads, etc. It is the first step for refinishing the hardwood floor. If you don’t have shoe base molding then you should start from fixing speaks and creeks.

Fixing speaks and creeks:

With time, you may notice some cracks in your wooden floor, so before doing any step of refinishing, check the cracks and fix them. For this, you need wood putty, a hammer, a sliding blade, and 8d furnishing nails. If you find any breakdown fill the holes with wood putty properly. If the holes are so deep then you should use wood filler and let it dry properly before doing the next step.

Sanding the floor:

When you perform initial checking and make sure there is no hole in the floor then the process of sanding is done. The time taken for sanding depends upon the size of your floor, if your floor is big it will take more time. It is considered the most important and time-consuming process.

For this process, you need to have a drum sander. By this process stains on the floor are removed. You should take care of the following things:

The drum sander has an abrasive belt that should be changed after doing 250 square feet. Another thing is to start working gradually in the beginning, you should use a 36 to 40-grit sandpaper belt, after some time 60-grit, then 80-grit, and finally 100-grit belt. When you complete the process of sanding next step is to vacuum or clean the floor properly to remove all the dust..

Related: Choosing underfloor heating for your home

Sweep and vacuum between sands

Maintaining a clean workspace is crucial between sanding sessions. Sweep and vacuum the area meticulously, removing dust and debris. A debris-free environment ensures a smooth refinishing process and promotes healthier indoor air quality.

Sanding edges and corners:

After sanding the whole floor you need to focus on the edges and corners that are not done during sanding, for sanding the edges and corners you need a sanding edger, use the same grit size that was used during the sanding. Also, perform cleaning after sanding edges.

Screen sanding:

A floor buffer is used to level your floor. If some scratches are left after sanding then they are cleared in this step. And after that proper cleaning is done using a vacuum, to remove dust. Your floor will look like new after these steps.

Dust Removal:

Efficient dust removal is imperative for a pristine finish. Use tack cloths and vacuum systems to eliminate residual dust. Thorough dust removal ensures a flawless final coat, promoting the longevity and beauty of the hardwood floor.

Staining hardwood floors:

In this step, you need a rag and interior wood stain. You can use a rag to remove stains. It can Personalize and enhance the color of your hardwood floors with expert staining techniques.

Finishing:

The last step is finishing of hardwood floor. Complete your refinishing project with a durable finish like polyurethane. Mostly two types of finishing are used, water-based finishing and second is oil-based finishing. Oil-based finishing takes more time to dry properly as compared to water-based furnishing. It will act as a protector of your floor. Refinishing hardwood floors can be done in 9 easy steps effectively. Here are the steps from removing the shoe base to finishing hardwood floors.