How To Clean Wood Floors Without Sanding

Q: My oak floors are covered in scratches. Do I have to sand downwards to bare wood to go rid of them?

—Susan Bankhead, Height, Idaho

A: The Editors of This Old House reply: Not necessarily. If the scratches don't go all the way through to the wood, you can scuff-sand your floors with a buffer and apply a fresh coat or two of finish. The hardwood floor refinishing process is easier and less expensive than sanding downwardly to bare forest and takes less fourth dimension. In a few hours, your floors volition look as skilful as new.

The task requires using a buffer, which you can rent at a habitation center, and a vacuum to suck up dust. Buffing hardwood floors tin can exist tricky, so if y'all've never used a buffer before, practice in the heart of the room until you get a feel for how to maneuver it.

Once the finish is roughed upwards, we put on a water-based polyurethane, which tin can be recoated in 3 hours. Oil-based polys are cheaper, but each coat takes nigh 8 hours to dry. With either finish, we recommend a fresh coat every two years or whenever the floor looks worn. Stick to that routine and your floors will never wear out.

Pro Tip to Prevent Discoloration: Sometimes the tannins from your forest floor react to water-based polyurethane, causing discoloration. To avoid this, apply a base coat before applying your water-based poly. Shine the base coat out evenly around the edges with a paint brush. (Don't brush also fast or you may create bubbles, which will show in the finish.) Smooth out the rest of the flooring with a constructed flooring finish applicator and requite your base coat about 2 hours to dry.

Here are some additional common questions nosotros've come up across:

How much does it price to sand and refinish hardwood floors yourself?

If you plan on DIY-ing your hardwood floors, expect to pay a little less than $500 per 275 sq. feet. The average range tends to be between $1,000 to $2,400.

The total toll includes renting sanding equipment forth with purchasing sanding pads, wood stain, brushes and terminate.

Is it cheaper to refinish or supplant hardwood floors?

Yous can most e'er bet that refinishing is cheaper than replacing hardwood floors. With the latter, y'all'd exist paying non only for the new wood but also for the labor of ripping out the former wood and toting it abroad.

What Are The Steps To Refinishing Hardwood Floors?

Read these 6 steps for refinishing the wood floors in your abode:

ane. Make clean the Floor with a Hardwood Floor Cleaner

Photo past Reena Bammi

• Remove all the article of furniture, and spray the floor with a hardwood flooring cleaner or your own mix of 10 parts water to 1 part white vinegar.
• Gently wipe the floor with a terry-cloth mop or a towel wrapped around a mop caput.
• Close the windows and doors to keep dust contained in the room you're sanding.

2. Prep the Perimeter

Photo by Reena Bammi

• Using 180-grit sandpaper, mitt-sand the perimeter of the room and any nooks that the buffer can't achieve.
• Rub with the grain 4 to 6 inches out from the baseboard, working over each board until the finish dulls and a powder forms.

Pro Tip: Don't utilise a sanding block for refinishing hardwood—it might miss uneven spots in the floor.

3. Scuff-sand the Flooring Finishing

Photo by Reena Bammi

• Stick a maroon buffing pad to the buffer, and put on a dust mask.
• Move the buffer from side to side across the flooring in the direction of the grain, overlapping each course by vi inches.
• The old finish turns to powder as you lot go, so it's easy to see the areas y'all've covered.
• Keep the buffer moving at all times, but finish every 5 minutes or then and vacuum the pad.

4. Vacuum and Tack

Photo by Reena Bammi

• Leave the room for x to 15 minutes to permit the powder settle.
• Put a clean filter in the vacuum, and sweep the flooring using a felt-bottomed attachment.
• Work in line with the flooring strips, then sweep across them to become any powder that settled between the boards.
• Finally, dry-tack the floor with a microfiber cloth pushed with the grain.

5. Cutting in Along the Edges

Photo by Reena Bammi

• Cover your shoes with booties and your olfactory organ and mouth with a respirator that has organic vapor canisters.
• Strain the finish through a cone filter into a make clean plastic watering can, minus a sprinkler head, then pour some strained finish into a small plastic container.
• Castor a 3-inch-wide stripe beside the baseboards at a point farthest from your exit door.
• You lot'll have lap marks if the border of the stripe starts to dry, so finish after 10 minutes and go to the side by side pace.

6. Whorl Out the Poly

Photo by Reena Bammi

• Pour out a one-inch-wide stripe of cease in line with the grain—simply as much as you can spread in 10 minutes.
• Using a long-handled roller with a ¼-inch nap comprehend, roll out the finish with the grain, and so across it.
• Overlap each pass and work chop-chop to proceed a wet border.
• After x minutes, brush more end forth the edge, and so pour and roll once more for 10 minutes. Continue until the flooring is covered.
• Await 3 hours before recoating and a week before putting back piece of furniture.

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Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/flooring/21016483/how-to-refinish-wood-floors-without-sanding

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