When you have a beautiful hardwood floor in your home, the good news is that it doesn’t take too much work to make your wood look its best. A well-maintained wood floor can last decades, and if you’re careful to make a hardwood floor refinishing richmond appointment every so often, you’ll be certain to keep your home in wonderful shape for resale. If you’re ready to refinish your hardwood floors, however, it’s not enough to dive right into the process without taking some time to prepare. Before you go all in, here are a few tips to make sure your refinishing job looks wonderful and stays intact for longer.
Clean Thoroughly First
The key to doing a good refinishing job is making sure to work with a clean, smooth surface. Before you attempt anything else, you’ll need to closely inspect and clean your floors to truly gauge what kind of condition they’re in. If you’re spotting any loose boards or rotted areas, they’ll need to be replaced. Take note of anything that needs to be sanded down or treated with a bit of extra care. Once you’ve cleaned and treated your wood, you’ll be able to start work.
Sand
Older wood has a tendency to splinter, fade, and weaken. Part of the work of refinishing your hardwood floors involves sanding everything down so it can stay healthy and protected. This can be achieved using a sanding tool or machine rented from your local hardware store. If you’re working with a wider area, you may need to call in the professionals to ensure that you do a thorough job. Remember, your floor refinishing job isn’t going to last as long if you don’t make sure to treat and protect the wood before applying a new stain or wax.
Apply Conditioner
Once you’ve sanded your wood, you’ll want to apply a wood conditioner to make sure it’s protected. Using a pre-stain conditioner won’t just help your wood stain set evenly and look better. It will prepare your wood and help it stay healthy during the staining process. A stain is like a coat of fresh paint for your wood, only instead of covering it up, a stain enhances the natural beauty of the material. In order to achieve the best look, applying a wood conditioner is an essential step.
Repair and Replace
Once you’ve got a clean, fresh surface to work with, you’re ready to apply wood stain or wax to your hardwood floors. However, it’s important to note that while a single damaged floorboard might not be cause for replacement, you should still be thorough when checking your hardwood floors before applying a stain. While it takes a lot for a wood floor’s quality to deteriorate, you want to check for vulnerable parts of your floor, such as chipped or splintered areas that might be hiding the signs of wood rot. You want to know about any unhealthy areas of your floor before you go all in on a refinishing job. Always make sure you get your floor checked out by a professional so that you’ll be able to do preventative maintenance before the refinishing process begins.
