Should you sand or change your old wooden floor?

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Should you sand or change your old wooden floor?

Wooden floors are very popular because…

Wooden floors are very popular because, in addition to looking very attractive, they add a touch of warmth to our home.

The problem is that over time they tend to lose their finish and often take on an unpleasant appearance.

Discover how you can refurbish your wooden floor cost effectively.

wood floor renovation considerations (1)

What you should ideally know about refurbing a wood floor.

Renovating a wooden floor can be done in half the time and at half the cost if you sand.

The key to everything is filtering out the old finish and making sure you follow the recommendations below. sand vs renovate If your wooden floor has lost its shine, the usual thing is to proceed to sand it down to the raw wood and then apply the finish again.What happens is that all wooden floors are protected by a transparent layer that over time ends up scratching and looking dull. Wood floor finishing can help eliminate these blemishes.

However, and as long as the damage is shallow, that is, on the surface and not on the wood itself, you can renew your wooden floor by adding a new layer of polyurethane over the previous finish.

Steps to renew a wooden floor

Even if your wooden floor already has a polyurethane finish, good adhesion is not entirely guaranteed. Residues of all kinds such as furniture polish, insecticide, etc., can interfere with adhesion. Since you cannot know for sure which areas of the floor are affected by this residue, it is important to test the adhesion before refinishing the floor. Consequently, this is the first step to renew wooden floors.

Start then by preparing the test areas. He then groups two test areas and then applies the polyurethane to start refinishing the wood floor.

Preferably choose a high-traffic area and another that is along the wall or a closet. Be sure to clean each area using a hardwood floor cleaner, then roughen a 6 x 6-inch surface with sandpaper.

After this he proceeds to clean up the sanding residue, mask around the test area and apply a coat of polyurethane.

Now you should let 24 hours go by and after that take a look at the polyurethane. Use a coin to scrape the polyurethane by pressing down firmly, but not too forcefully. If the polyurethane stays smooth and doesn’t scrape with moderate pressure, then the test was successful and you can start refinishing the wood floor.

Conversely, if the polyurethane comes off as you scrape, or if the surface has a cracked texture, there is something in the old finish that is not allowing the new finish to adhere properly.

What you should do then is sand down to the raw wood and start to completely touch up your hardwood floor. Budget and materials Renovating a wooden floor is not as expensive as one would think. In fact most of the cost goes to materials and tools.

This means that refinishing wooden floors is actually very cheap. The following is a list of the materials to renovate wood floors that you will need: A liquid floor cleaner specially formulated for wooden floors. You will also need scouring pads or synthetic steel wool to remove all marks on the floor. Regular steel wool works as well, however it is not recommended if you plan to apply a water-based finish. A 2- or 3-inch bristle brush designed specifically for applying varnish and other clear coatings. If the finish is oil based use natural bristles, if it is water based then use synthetic bristles. Plus a pad for the finish. A broomstick can be used to screw into the pad for easy application of the finish.

Additionally, you will need a respirator with organic vapor cartridges to filter out harmful gases if you use mineral spirits and oil-based polyurethane. A polisher for wooden floors, which you can rent and which you must learn to control by practicing on a smooth floor using only the pad. Finally, all you have to do is clean the floor with a wooden floor cleaner, polish and then proceed to apply the polyurethane finish, which by the way is the most recommended compared to other finishes that are less durable and more complicated. to work.