Tips for Perfectly Finished Floors

There are so many advantages to hardwood floors – easy cleanup, better air quality, durability and versatility. One of the biggest advantages is the ability to refinish instead of replace.  Unfortunately, even the finest of hardwood flooring surfaces is not immune to wear and tear. Thankfully, you can refinish your hardwood floors yourself and get them looking like new again without a major demolition. Let’s talk about the best practices for perfectly finished floors.

Prepare the Room
  • Take everything out – yes everything! Remove all furnishings and wall hangings. Enlist help if you need to in order to move bulky or very heavy items.
  • Cover doorways, windows, and light fixtures with plastic.
  • If you are able to remove your baseboards, you will end up with a better looking finished product. Remove them carefully if you plan on reusing.
  • Nail down any loose boards and treat any stains.
Use Proper Equipment
  • For safety, stock up on respirator masks, ear plugs, eye protection, and vinyl gloves.
  • For a perfectly finished floor, you need to resurface both the middle of the floor, as well as all the edges. This requires two items, both a drum sander and an edge sander. Northside Tool Rental offers these two items as a package, which offers a significant discount over renting them separately.
  • There are spots that even an edger can’t easily reach. Use a paint scraper to clean out the hard to reach areas. Finish these areas with a 100-grit sandpaper to get the kind of rough surface that will take a finish well.
  • Sand as though you are mowing the lawn. Proceed row by row, overlapping runs by half the sander’s width. You will have to make numerous passes with each grit.
Keep a Clean Work Area
  • As you make progress, thoroughly sweep and vacuum your floor. This is especially important before you move onto the next grit. Granules that get left behind could cause scrapes or gashes.
Stain Application
  • Ensure an even stain by applying with an applicator to one small area at a time and then rubbing off all excess with a rag.
  • Make sure stain and any topcoat are completely dry before bringing back in furnishings.

A refinished floor can bring beauty to a room like no other project! We can answer all your questions and get you started on this project today. With five locations in the Atlanta area, we aren’t far away!

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