Refinishing Oak Floors- How It's Done

Refinishing an oak floor is a little more time-consuming than many other types of flooring, because oak is a very hard wood. Depending on how many layers of finishes and paint have been piled onto the wood throughout the years, you may have to make several passes to get these layers off, and then several more passes to smooth out this rough wood.

You need to make sure that you rent a drum sander and not a disk sander, because you'll get better results with the drum sander every single time. It works much better than a circular sander because it goes with the grain of the wood, and can provide a more complete and smoother finish. When the sanding is complete, you can move onto the next step.

Wait a second because before you sand anything, you need to sweep the floor and wipe it down with a damp mop. Then you need to make sure that all the nails are pounded down into the wood and there is nothing else sticking out that will impede the sanding process.

Then you can start sanding. Once the sanding is complete, you will again need to sweep and mop the floor to get all the dust up. This part becomes very meticulous, because if you don't get the dust up, that will stick in the finish and the floor will appear to be grainy. If you want a smooth finish, you have to have a smooth floor to start with.

Once the floor is completely clean and smooth, you can begin applying your choice of staying or other finishing products. Make sure that you do a complete application that is uniform across the floor, and add as many layers as you need to achieve the desired color that you want.

Give each layer, adequate time to dry completely, and they give the final layer plenty of time to dry before you apply the topcoat or sealants.

Refinishing oak floors works pretty much the same as refinishing any other floors, except that it might take a little bit more effort in the sanding stage because Oak is such a hard wood.

As long as you take the time to learn the process of sanding and refinishing, and utilize patience and not rush through the refinishing process, you should get great results every single time, regardless of whether you're working with oak, maple, beech, or any other hardwood floor for that matter.