How to Refinish a Wood Floor

For a cleaner home, people often like a nice hardwood floor but you may be apprehensive about removing the carpet because you feel it may be difficult to take care of a wood floor.   

Believe it or not, the best way to keep that hardwood floor looking beautiful is to refinish it, which is not as difficult as you may think.  Here is more information about how to refinish a wood floor and what you will need to make it last for a very long time.

Out with the old:   

To begin, you are going to need to rent a floor buffer, which you can probably get from your local home improvement store.  The buffer will be used with an abrasive pad to remove the old surface.  As you run the buffer over the surface you will be removing the shiny top layer and create a lot of dust.  When you have finished the whole room, you are going to need a strong vacuum to clean up.  The best vacuum to use, which will ensure every bit of the dust is cleaned up, would be a shop vacuum because of their powerful ability to pick up even the toughest messes.

Check the surface of the floor:  

You should now have a dull floor that is completely dust free.  To make sure your shop vacuum has done its job, walk on the floor while wearing a white pair of socks.  You will be able to tell immediately if you need to vacuum the floor again from the dust on the bottom of your socks.

The surface of your wood floor is now ready for refinishing. You need to replace that rough pad on your buffer with the pad that will actually put the polish on the floor.  You are going to need a can of polyurethane as this is what will put the shine back on to the surface.   In one corner of your room, pour a large amount of the liquid polyurethane, place your buffer onto the pool of polyurethane and begin moving the buffer slowly around the floor.

Buff, sand, repeat:   

The first coat should be allowed to dry for at least eight to ten hours.  Once it is dry, you will need some sandpaper to sand the shine off of the floor.   Then get the shop vacuum out to remove the dust.  Now you can get the can of polyurethane out and add another coat of it to your floor.  Let your floor dry now for at least two days so the coating will have time to set.

Your hardwood floor can last a lifetime if you care for it properly. 

To refinish its surface you really do not need a lot, and it may be a little bit of work, but soon you will have a beautiful shining hardwood floor that looks as good as it did the day it was first installed!