How To Prep Floor Finishing

For open grain woods like oak ash or walnut you can apply a wood grain filler before the polyurethane to create an ultra smooth finished surface.

How to prep floor finishing.

If that happens or if it is just very humid the new finish will take significantly longer to dry. The coarse paper will remove the old finish and smooth the oak floor. You don t want any dust falling onto the floor later when the new finish is drying. A few simple preparations on your part can help limit the dust.

Fill in gaps and cracks in flooring before you sand or strip because you ll want an even surface with which to work. One in a high traffic zone the other along a wall or in a closet. Move the furniture and pull up any carpeting or rugs in the room. Clean the wood very thoroughly to remove sanding dust before each new coat of polyurethane using a vacuum if available and a tack cloth.

Take the following steps before wood floor refinishing. Check with your local home improvement centers to see if they rent equipment for sanding and stripping jobs. Pick at least two test areas on the floor. Clean each area with a wood floor cleaner and roughen a 6 x 6 in.

Check for squeaks and secure loose floorboards with finishing nails. Wood is a porous material and when the old finish is stripped away the floor will absorb moisture. Wipe down the walls and moldings once to get the dust onto the floor and then use a damp rag on the moldings to remove any residue. Wipe it with a clean rag until the surface is relatively smooth.

Hammer down protruding nails. More importantly you ll focus the floor installers efforts more on floor installation and less on peripheral activities like taping up plastic or turning off your heating system. Clean the floor as well as you can by sweeping and removing debris like nails and tacks connected to the hardwood. Find protruding nails by sliding the blade of a putty knife across the floor.

Start with a 60 grit sandpaper but if the floor is in really bad shape you may have to use 36 grit paper. Even though your flooring company will likely make certain preparations the more you can do beforehand the better. Sand your wood with at least 220 grit sandpaper. You will have to sand around the edges of the room with the edging sander and sand the rest of the floor with the large drum sander.

A standard shop vacuum with a dust filter will do the trick. Apply a generous amount of stain to the floor or project and work it into the grain and then wipe it right off. Don t leave any puddles or wet spots. If you do find you need a darker color wait until everything has dried and then go back with another coat.

Let the dust settle and then vacuum. Remove debris on the floor with a vacuum cleaner or mop. Roughen up two test areas and then coat them with urethane to begin refinishing hardwood floors.