how do you refinish hard wood floors?

Answer 1

I would not recommend this job as a do-it-yourself project.

Several things you need to be aware of.

A laminate floor, like Pergo or WilsonArt cannot be sanded. It is a picture of a hardwood floor, laminated to a high-density fiberboard.

If you have an engineered floor, you may or may not be able to sand the floor depending on the wear layer. The wear layer is the top layer of wood that is visible and that you walk on. Depending on the manufacturer and product line, you may have an adequate wear layer to sand.

If you have a solid wood floor, this should be able to be sanded depending upon its history. A solid wood floor should have ABOUT six professional sandings in it before reaching the tongue and/or fasteners. Figure a pro is going to remove between 1/32 and 1/16 of an inch of material with each sanding.

I believe only a solid wood floor is even within the realm of the average homeowner without a huge risk of permanently damaging the floor requiring replacement at a minimum.

The sander you need to refinish a floor is a drum sander. It is extraordinarily heavy, a second of inattention (and I do mean just a split second) will result in a substantial divot in your floor requiring replacement of some boards and the equipment your are able to rent may or may not be in good condition, but as an amateur, you won't know if the equipment is in good condition or not.

All this said, unless you are changing the color of the floor (stained), attempting to repair a deep scratch, have extensive water damage or have an extraordinarily old floor whose finish has worn through, you shouldn't have to refinish a floor.

Regular maintenance of both a solid and engineered floor requires a procedure called a screen and coat. This involves moving a screen (looks like a pizza screen) over the floor with a buffer to abrade the finish layer (NOT the wood layer) and then reapplying a layer of finish. Depending on the traffic, this should be done every three to ten years. The purpose is to prevent the wood from ever being exposed because of a traffic wear.

Answer 2

OK it look like you never done this before so don't because you could ruin this floor fast even if some one tells you what to do refinishing wood floors is tricky any mistake and you're finished so price a professional is best

p.s. home depot or Lowe's don't know nothing about refinishing wood floor's or where to start go to a flooring dealer if you don't want to spend Lot's of money or time good luck

flooring expert

Answer 3

Rent a professional sander, and then after that clean up and seal with polyurathane. It is not an easy job. I would have a professional do it because it takes three days for the process to be completed. They charge between $250 to $300 or less per room according to your part of the country.

Answer 4

You go to Home Depot at the paint department, you tell a sales person that kind of wood floor you have and what you want to do to it and the sales person Will direct you to the right product(s) and procedures!

Good luck

Answer 5

I tried to do mine. I rented a sander and sanded the heck out of my floors. But I paid a guy to come finish them out. I calculated that if I messed up and had to rent the sander and buy the stain again it would cost more than having someone do it for me.

I'm thrilled with the results.
Good luck!

Answer 6

Real hardwood or laminate? Laminate you cannot. Real wood, go to paint store for more info. and pricing.

Answer 7

sand it down, stain it the color u desire, cover it in polyurithane- this answer is briefe so ask some one at a lowes or home depo first