Is staining hardwood floors different than refinishing hardwood floors?
I just moved into a new house, and there is hardwood under the carpet, but it needs a little fixing up.
I KNOW that refinishing hardwood floors should be done by a professional, and I will NOT be doing this.
However, I went to Lowe’s and I looked at Minwax Wood Finish. The directions for preparation seem very straight forward:
"Sand the wood in the direction of the grain, first using medium grade sandpaper (#120) and working your way to fine-grade (#220). Remove all sanding dust before staining.
Pre-treat soft or buy generic drugs online porous woods such as pine, maple, alder and birch with Minwax® Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner. This will help the wood evenly absorb stain color. Apply stain within two hours of pre-treatment."
This seems easy enough for me to do, because the instructions don’t say to use a drum sander or anything like that. And it doesn’t seem like it’s actually refinishing the wood floors.
Will staining the wood be as easy as the directions seem?
It says it for use on hardwood floors:
"It is ideal for staining furniture, cabinets, doors, trim, molding, and hardwood floors."
The directions you are reading are not for floors, they are for smaller pieces of wood, furniture, etc. For a floor, you need a drum sander, as well as an edge sander.
The Minwax product you have is a combo stain/finish. Terrible idea. With floors, after they are sanded, they need to be stained, if desired, with just stain. Then apply 3 or more coats of polyurethane, sanding or scuffing with steel wool between coats. Be sure to vacuum the dust after sanding.
To answer your original question, staining is just one step in refinishing floors. Hope this helps.
EDIT: It may say it’s for hardwood floors, but it isn’t. I don’t even use it on woodworking projects. I use stain, then poly or varnish depending on the project.
The instructions you’re reading on that can is for furniture or other wooden objects, not a hardwood floor.
When you refinish hardwood floors, you first sand the top layer of wood off (about 1/16 of an inch) to remove any scratches, gouges, or weathered wood. A floor sander has a vacuum built in to catch most of the sawdust. But, you then go over the floor with a vacuum to get all the dust. You might also want to use a tack cloth, or terry cloth damp with mineral spirits, to get the remaining dust.
Next, you apply a layer of stain to the wood and let this soak in a bit. You then wipe off the excess.
Finally, after the stain is dried, you apply at least one coat (preferably 2 or 3) of urethane finish. This is the sealer coat that protects the floor from wear. If you only put down the stain and not the sealer, it will not be protected.
And yes, you should have a professional do it for good results, especially if you have no experience at it. I bought a house where the previous owner refinished the floors himself. Apparently, he didn’t have a good feel for the drum sander, because the surface looked all wavy, like a lake on a windy day. The professional I hired to do the job ($4.50 a square foot) got the floor as smooth as glass and it came out perfect.
Refinishing a floor is the same and sanding and then applying a finishing product.
So what you are describing, is actually the process of refinishing your floors. It’s the difference of doing it by hand or by machine. If you don’t have many deep scratches, and the floor only needs a light sanding, you may be able to do it by hand. But if you have deep scratches and gouges, you will need to sand off a thick layer of wood, and you will want to use a machine.
Either way, you will create a lot of dust that you need to be prepared to deal with. Seal off doorways to other rooms and open windows to properly ventilate the area.
It’s incorrect that a previous response said that refinishing requires staining. Staining is only done if you want to change the color of the natural wood. Many people choose to keep the natural color instead and just apply a finishing coat. I recommend using a few coats of polyurethane.
Here is an article that may help you understand refinishing better. http://www.findanyfloor.com/article/HowtoFinishHardwoodFlooring.xhtml
If you need more help, check out the forums on findanyfloor.com here
http://www.findanyfloor.com/forum.xhtml