Home Flooring Styles :: Refinishing Hardwood Floors
Refinishing Hardwood Floors:
Give Hardwood Floors New Life with Refinishing
Refinishing hardwood floors can be done by the home do-it-your-self handyman or you can hire a professional floor refinishing company. Refinishing hardwood floors is not a really difficult task, but there are some important points you will have to keep mind when refinishing hardwood floors.
Floor Preparation
Refinishing hardwood floors requires some careful preparation. If you are hiring a company for refinishing hardwood floors you can possibly save some money by performing the preparation work yourself. The preparation for refinishing hardwood floors is fairly simple and straightforward.
Another task that must be accomplished before refinishing hardwood floors is to make sure all the floor nails are set below the floor level. Additionally, exposed nails will damage the sanding machine and is a safety hazard to bare feet. This can be done with a hammer and nail set.
Fixing Squeaky Boards
Preparation for refinishing hardwood floors often also requires the repair creaking and squeaky boards. Every hardwood floor can have boards that separate from the sub-floor and cause these annoying noises.
A simple technique for fixing squeaky floors is to insert a shim between the floor and the floor joist. Also, applying a lubricant like talcum powder or graphite might do the trick. If these simple techniques don’t work, you will have to nail the board down using finish nails. However, you first need to drill a small pilot hole through the floor. Nailing hardwood flooring, without a pilot hole, can split the floor board. For badly cupped and warped boards you may have use wood screws to pull the floor down to the sub-floor. This easy if the floor joists are exposed from below.
Badly Damaged Boards
Damaged or badly marred boards will need to be removed and replaced. Before beginning the actual preparation for refinishing hardwood floors it is suggested that you purchase some matching hardwood floor stock, from your local hardware store or lumber yard.
To remove damaged boards use a circular saw, with a blade depth that is slightly deeper than thickness of the board, and cut lengthwise along the center of the board, being careful to avoid nails. After you have made the cut use a chisel and hammer to remove the cut pieces. Once the damaged board is removed cut a new piece of stock to the exact size of the one that was removed.
Once shoe molding is removed, nails properly set, and damaged boards are replaced, you can use flooring putty to fill nail holes. After this completed you are ready to sand the floors and apply your finish. Refinishing hardwood floors can be fun, but it some require some careful preparation.
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Home-Flooring-Styles.com :: Refinishing Hardwood Floors