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Refinishing
your Hardwood Floor
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Want to bring your hardwood floors back to their former
beauty,
but don’t have the money? Then read on for some tips
on how you
can refinish the floor yourself.
If you have the time and don’t mind doing the work,
then
refinishing your floors yourself is a great option but
before
starting out, it’s not a bad idea to get an estimate
from a
professional so you can compare the cost of doing it
yourself
to what they would charge. You’ll get quite a shock at
the
amount that is charged. It may cost over $1000 to have
just 1
room done. You could carpet over it for less, but
doesn’t
carpeting over beautiful hardwood floors seem, well,
wrong?
It is actually rather easy to refinish a wood floor –
if you
pay attention to what you are doing. To sand the floor,
you
need a drum sander and possibly a belt sander which can
be
rented at your neighborhood Home Depot or hardware
store. They
can help you figure out which machines you need to rent,
what
kind of sand paper you should buy and also can help with
the
type and amount of stain and finish for the floor. You
might
also want to get some dust masks and plastic to section
the
room off from the rest of the house. Fine particles of
dust
will get everywhere – even if you section off the
room, but you
may be able to minimize the impact on the rest of the
house.
The most important part of refinishing your floors is
learning
how to control the sander. The key to running the sander
is to
make sure it keeps moving at all times, otherwise they
are
simple to use, although a bit hard on the ears. If you
stop in
1 spot, you will probably get a big gouge in your floor.
Equate
it to using an iron on your clothes – if you stop in 1
spot too
long you’ll burn a hole. The sander is similar since
it creates
a lot of heat, keeping it in 1 spot can burn or dent
your floor.
You do need to be careful with the sander as it is self
propelled. When you first start it up, make sure you
hold on
firmly. Don’t be afraid of the machine but make sure
you
maintain complete control. Relax, after a few spins, it
may
even start to seem like fun.
After the old finish is removed, you need to apply the
stain
and new finish. Think of this as the same as doing your
nails –
first you remove the old finish, then basecoat, color
and
topcoat. Sometimes you don’t want color on your nails
so you
skip that part. In your floor you might also skip that
part
(the stain) but you still want to use a finish to
protect the
floor.
When selecting a finish you can pick from an oil based
or
polyurethane (water based) finish. When selecting an oil
based
finish you will need to decide if you want a satin,
gloss or
semi gloss finish. It’s probably best for you to use
satin on a
hardwood floor as it will help hide any flaws in the
wood and is
much more pleasing then a bright shine Using oil based
finish is
better for wood floors as it casts a warm amber glow.
Water
based, on the other had dries quicker and resists
yellowing.
No matter which you choose, you must let each coat dry
before
putting down the next coat. Think back to the nail
polish
analogy! Follow the manufacturers instructions on the
finish
before you occupy the room again. Usually you can move
your
furniture back in after about 24 hours.
As you can see, the task of refinishing your floors need
not be
overwhelming. Think of it as giving your room a
manicure. Take
it one step at a time and use care in the process and
you can
have a great looking floor and save yourself almost
$1000 to
boot! |
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