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Get New Floors And Save A Bundle When You Do It Yourself
By Lee Dobbins, Fri Dec 9th
Everybody loves the look of hardwood floors, but if you have anolder home, your floors are probably scuffed, scratched anddingy. Most homes made before 1970 had hardwood floors and eventhough your house now has carpet there may be a beautifulhardwood floor hiding under your rug! After years of use, your floor will need to be refinished andthat can cost over $1000 for just one room! But if you want toput in a little time and elbow grease, you can refinish thefloor yourself and have the beautiful look of warm wood in yourhome for a fraction of the cost. Contrary to what you may have heard, the finish doesn’t takeweeks to dry. It’s quite simple actually. You can get thesupplies for sanding at your neighborhood home improvementstore. You’ll need a drum sander and a belt sander. They will beable to advise you on the sandpaper you need, how to use themachine and what kind of stain and finish you’ll need to finishoff the floor. Sanding creates fine particles of dust that willget everywhere and on everything so you may want to pick up somedust masks and drop cloths while you are at it. The first thing you’ll want to do when refinishing your flooryourself is to learn how to run the sander. The key to strippinga floor is learning how to get the sander working smoothly. Thesanders are very easy to use. But they’re a bit on the loudside. The key is to keep it moving at all times. The sander getsvery hot and if you stop in one spot for any length of time, yourun the risk of burning or denting your floor. Running the sander is the fun part of refinishing, but you mustbe cautious as the machine is self propelled. You may feel likea Zamboni driver smoothing ice after you get the hang of it!When you start it up, hold
on firmly and make sure you keep itin control at all times.After the old finish is removed, you need to apply the stain andnew finish. Think of this as the same as doing your nails –first you remove the old finish, then basecoat, color andtopcoat. Sometimes you don’t want color on your nails so youskip that part. In your floor you might also skip that part (thestain) but you still want to use a finish to protect the floor. When it comes to the finish you have 2 choices – oil based orwater based. Oil-based is available in a satin, semi-gloss orgloss finish. Satin works well on a hardwood floor because itwill bring out the natural glow of the wood without too much ofa shine as well as help hide any flaws. Oil-based also producesa warm amber look that gives you the traditional glow of woodfloors. Water-based polyurethane dries clear and resistsyellowing. Water-based also dries quicker. Either way, make sure you let each coat dry thoroughly beforeapplying the next. Follow the manufacturers instructions on theproduct for drying times. Give your floor at least 24-36 hoursbefore moving furniture back on it. It will continue to hardenin the first couple of weeks.
Refinishing your floor is simply a set of tasks which can bedone easily if
you take them one step of a time. Your flooringcan get a whole new look for
less when you refinish it yourself– you’ll save over 80 percent of the cost.
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