Restoring Hardwood Floors- The Best Tools to Use

When it comes to restoring hardwood floors, there are many different things to think about. Even the handiest handyman might want to consider professional services when it comes to restoring his floors because the process is a little tricky if you’re not adequately prepared. However, if you are ambitious enough to take on the task yourself, you need to know a few things about the tools that you should be using.

If you've got all the time in the world and want to take the process slow, you could hand sand the floors until they are down to a smooth grain that you can refinish. Of course this might take you a while, which is why there are power tools available.

When it comes to restoring your hardwood floor, there is one particular tool that is going to be your best friend. This is the drum sander, a large professional grade sending machine that will go with the grain of the wood in your floors and help you to remove old finishes and sand it down to a fresh surface for you to refinish.

You can easily rent one of these machines from hardware stores and tool rental stores in your area. The cost will vary, depending on where you get the machine from, which is why you should take the time to call around to get quotes to make sure that you can afford the rental you need. Some locations will allow you to rent by the hour while others will charge by the day.

The good news is that as long as you can avoid walking across the floor that you are refinishing, you do not have to vacate your home when you decide to restore your floors. Until you put the new finish down, you can walk around the room and use it as a throughway to other areas of the home.

However, once you put the finish on the floors, you should allow it 24 to 48 hours to dry completely before you attempt to use the floor. Otherwise you wind up with footprints all over the place, which is not an attractive finish.

Unless you use a type of varnish to get the process of restoring a hardwood floor underway, there'll be no harmful fumes that are going to affect your family.

However, when you are sanding, you will want to wear a dust mask so that you don't inhale the dust and dirt that comes up into the air when you're sanding your floors.