How To Know You Need To Sand Wood Floors

Hardwood floor sanders tools and other equipment you will need.

How to know you need to sand wood floors.

Every time you sand a floor down to bare wood you remove some of the wood. If you decide to refinish your wood floors the fun part is picking a new stain color like rich mahogany or dark oak which are both very popular right now. That way you ll get a heads up on and hopefully the knowledge to avoid some of the problems you might encounter and some of the mistakes beginners make. The problem is while you may think darker colors would hide dirt they make dust particles more noticeable.

When the wood absorbs the water it oxidizes and turns gray. At that point you will need to replace the floors as sanding won t solve it. Eventually if you don t repair your floors the wood will turn darker and darker until it s black. You need to know what kind of flooring boards you have before you begin sanding or you could have a disaster on your hands.

None of it is rocket science but it will help you to read through all the sanding pages including first things first working with sanders and edgers and the sanding faq before you begin. If you want to learn how to sand hardwood floors like a pro and refinish yours without breaking the bank then today s your lucky day. What you need to know about dark floor stains. Most people tend to think that sanding can only be done by experts but in this article i ll show you how to sand hardwood floors like a pro and teach you all the tips and tricks you need to know in order to achieve perfect results.

Flooring experts estimate that hardwood floors can be sanded for refinishing up to 10 times depending on the thoroughness of the sanding and the level of wear and tear on the floor. Belt sander generally it s a 220 volt hummel brand sander and runs an 8 x 29 1 4. If the floor surface is hardwood that doesn t mean the boards are solid hardwood they could be engineered which means they are mostly plywood or softwood with a hardwood veneer veneers can be extremely thin sometimes not much more than 1 8 inch 2 3 mm and if. Sanding a wood floor is a multi step process.

So when you start to see gray it s a big watchout. Then sand the entire area at the same angle moving constantly as you work. There s another advantage you need to know when learning how to sand hardwood floors. Raw wood flooring more so than engineered varieties or pre finished flooring stabilized with a finish coat on both sides is susceptible to moisture.

A solid wood floor can be sanded several times before that s a problem. To sand hardwood floors start by renting a drum sander and installing a coarse grit sandpaper onto the sander which will remove any noticeable damage or old finish from your floors. But laminated floors glue down or floating floors have only a thin layer of good looking wood veneer over. That being said for those stubborn do it yourselfers and those with related or beginning skills below are some tips and basic instructions for hardwood floor sanding at your own risk.