If you have done small sanding projects, a little bit of carpentry it is time for next step and refinish hardwood floor. I recommend to start with one small bedroom, don’t start in the hallway or whole house. Sanding wood floors is a time consuming project and it is better to learn on the small bedroom.

Tools you will need:

1.Good dust masks. Rent a good tools that have dustless refinishing system.

1.Main sander , this can be a drum sander or belt sander.

2.Edger which is to refinish the edges, close to the wall.

3.Buffer for the final smooth sanding of you hardwood floors.

4.Sand paper for each machine. For a small bedroom buy 40 grit 60 grit 80 grit 100 grit for the main sander, buy just one of each grit, for the edger the same grits but you will need 5 discs of each grit. If the supplier is close you can always buy  more if you need it, the use of the sandpaper depends on the finish that has been used on the hardwood floors. Some hardwood floors have been painted. If you would like to refinish painted hardwood floor make sure you buy a lot of paper. It is not recommended to sand paint since most of the paints will cause respiratory problems when sanded.

5.One 150 buffer screen and one 180 buffer screen.

5.vacume

6.Sealer, finish, brush and finish applicator.

You can rent those tools and the local rental tools place. In Hawaii especially on Oahu you can find couple places in yellow pages.

1.Vacumme the room first.

2.You will use the main sander first using 40 grit, make sure to sand wood floors with the grain(run the sanding machine the same direction that boards run)

3.Make sure you are sanding steady, don’t stop with the sander working.

4.Main sander will not get close to the walls, this is where you have to use edger. Use the same grit which is 40.You can take of the baseboards and install them back after the relishing is done. If you don’t want to install baseboards you will have to be very careful not to touch baseboards with the edger and then will have to manually scrape the unhanded area close to the baseboards.

5.Sand with main sander with 60 grit after that edger again with 60 grit.

6 Repeat the process using the 80 grit.

7. Reset the nails

8.Vacuume the floor very well.

8. Apply the wood filler with a large spatula.

9  Wait an until wood filler is dry. Drying time will be different depending where you are , of course in hot climate such as Hawaii, Texas, California at the hot sunny day after one hour filler is dry and wood floors ready to sand again.

10.Sand off the filler with 100 grit. If the filler did not came off completely after one cut, sand floors one more time.

11. Sand with edger close to the wall using 100grit.

12.Vacume sanded hardwood floor well. Make sure at this point to keep the floor dry and clean.

13.Using buffer sand with 150 grit.

14 Vacuum again and sand with 180 grit.

15 Vacuum again very well.

16 Apply hardwood floor sealer wait until dry.

17 Apply two coats of finish, follow manufacturer directions .

This is a simple way on how to refinish hardwood floor.

Here are couple more things you should know. White oak and red oak floor are easy to refinish. Cheery and Brazilian cherry is easy too but is it a harder wood might need more paper. Maple is rather difficult to refinish and extremely hard to stain. Staining is a little bit more complicated then refinishing, the wood has to be sanded perfectly before you can apply stain. Bamboo floor can be sanded as well , it is better to use water based finishes on bamboo. Very popular environmentally friendly floor cork can not be sanded.

I don’t know about you but I love polished floorboards. They look so shinny and clean and go with any decor. They are easy to clean and do not house dust like carpet does. Now with saying this it doesn’t mean that you never need to maintain your beautiful floor. Even for the best of us there will come a time for hardwood floor refinishing and that is not something I look forward to at all.

You have to move every piece of furniture out then either hire someone who knows what he is doing or you can yourself sand the floor and revarnish it. This can take a few days and the smell is not so good to live with. But once it has been done you will absolutely love your new floor. Many people do this every year but most like myself wait until it sends me crazy to look at and then I send my husband crazy by nagging him and then we save the money and then we go ahead with some hardwood floor refinishing.

Of course it really does not need to be done every year but I think some people just like it to look one hundred percent all the time. If you have floors like this you can use some mats to break up the space and save some of your floor space from becoming damaged. You can however minimalise damage by not moving furniture around too often or having felt or rubber placed under the legs or feet of your furniture to stop scratching. Try not to have the sun shine too often on your floor as this can discolor and when you want to move some furniture you will see the difference.

Animals can be destructive also as they scratch the boards when they run and slide. Another thing to be wary of is high- healed stilettos. These can dent the boards as well. When you wash your floor make sure you do not use any harsh chemicals or detergents, as this will lift the varnish prematurely. If you use these precautions and take care you will lower the need to do hardwood floor refinishing.

Now you may be thinking wow are floors like these any good. Well I am here to tell you yes they are. Especially if you have an asthmatic in the home. By not having carpet you are lowering dust and dust mites dramatically. This in itself is a great reason to have floors such as these. Plus if you have a home with carpet already and you need a change then it is usually cheaper to pull the carpet up and polish the existing boards underneath.

This type of flooring is also a very natural looking style and gives your home a very warm and comfortable look. Just about

any style of decor from classic to contempary will go nicely with polished boards.