How to Sand and Refinish Wooden Floorboards – Tips From Professional Floor Sanders

HOW TO SAND WOODEN FLOORS AND FLOORBOARDS: Refinishing Hardwood Floors – Tips from Professional Floor Sanders.

Some of the most frequent questions we get asked are about How To Sand Wooden Floors & Floorboards. So here's a step by step guide to our Wood Floor Sanding Process.

Tips from Professional Floor Sanders.

You can follow this step by step guide to get the perfect floor restoration job and bring your Wooden Floor to its old Glory.

Woof Floor Sanding is a multi-step process. Of course it's not a rocket science as many will think but this guide will definitely help you understand the process and what to expect from a professional wood floor sanders if you decide to hire them or decided to do it yourself.

Is the floor solid or engineered? If your floor has already been sanded in the past, can it take any more? You might need to remove a section of the door threshold or skirting board to find out.

Which sanding belt or sanding disc grit should be used ?. This depends on the condition of the floor. If it's poorly worn and uneven, start with a coarse sandwich followed by successively less coarse papers. Sandpaper grits for wood flooring generally range from 16 through to 150 grit, with 16 being the most aggressive and 150 the finest.

Step 2 – Sanding Preparation of the Room for Wood Floor Sanding

USEFUL TIPS:

  • For complex herringbone pattern floors, sand in the same direction as the light source.
  • For Parquet flooring, sand at a 45 degree angle to the pattern.

Step 3 – Vacuuming of your wood floor

Step 4 – Wood Floor Sanding

Step 5 – Edges And Corners

Step 6 – Final Sanding Finish

When it comes to choosing wooden floor finishes and treatments there's a wide range of different options to suit everyone's style and needs. If you are lacking inspiration and need help, Pinterest can be a great place to start looking and to get those creative juices flowing.

Staining

  • Products like Morrells Light Fast Solvent Wood Stains are great for delivering beautiful wood grain definition and an excellent overall color. Because they're spirit based and dry pretty fast, it's best to only apply them to a small area at a time to avoid patches. Take it easy and you should be fine.
  • Apply your stain with a brush, rag or special mohair pad. Get rid of any excess with a clean, dry cloth to help the final lacquer finish stick properly.
  • Never use an exterior wood stain designed for decking, fencing or garden furniture, since they contain water repellents which also repel water based floor lacquers.

Sealing

  • Always choose a water based floor finish that includes a primer / sealer, designed to enhance the wood's natural color and reduce the risk of 'side bonding', where the planks or parquet tiles get stuck together. If the wood shrinks – which it often does because of atmospheric conditions, central heating and seasonal temperature changes – the lacquer film gluing the wood together cracks, which looks awful.
  • Apply your sealer with a t-bar applicator or a short pile mohair roller. Apply the sealer thinly and evenly and do not put pressure on the roller. Be gentle, applying no pressure, and let the roller do the job it's designed for.
  • When the sealer is completely dry, which usually takes anywhere between two and four hours, you can apply your first layer of water-based topcoat. You do not need to do any more sanding.

Lacquering

Did you know that varnish and lacquer are the same thing? The trade tend to refer to varnishes as laquers while the public more commonly refer to these products as varnishes.

  • Again, use a t-bar applicator or a short haired microfibre roller to spread the product evenly over the floor. Remember not to use any downward pressure, instead letting the roller do its job. If you press down you can form annoying pools of superfluous lacquer.
  • Leave 2-3 hours to dry completely, after which you should sand the lacquer with a rotary sanding machine (often called a de-nib) and a 150/180 mesh screen.
  • Clean off all the dust and debris and you're ready to apply the top coat.

Step 7 – Clean & Tidy up

Step 8 – Application of Finish

Step 9 – Final Inspection

After sanding your wooden floors, you can also re-color your floor using our range of oil based colourings. Once you've applied the stain we can then seal it in the wood helping to keep a long-lasting finish to your wooden floors.