subject: Chicago Floor Sanding [print this page] Chicago floor Sanding Refinishing, Staining and Polyurethane a hardwood floor
In this post I have explained how to refinish you floor.
Floor Sanding Preparation : remove the carpet
If you have carpet you're going to remove it! This part is simple, just tug on a corner and pull it off the tack board. Cut the carpet in long 3 or four food sections employing a sharpened box cutter. Simply, roll it up and haul it away.
You will be left with your pad. In my case the pad was just stapled down and not glued, so you just about do the same as the carpet and just roll it up and haul it away.
when you get all the carpet and pad removed you've got to get rid of the staples and tack board. Invest in a good molding removing pry bar. It'll look similar to a standard pry bar on one end, but will have a wierd formed other end that is specifically built to pull finishing nails out of tight places. This specific tool will save you tons of time! As for the staples, pull em out with pliers, it's time consuming but pretty easy.
Preparation : take away the trim
If you have trim that overlaps the hard wood you'll have to remove that also. This is pretty easy if you purchased the molding pry bar. Simply pry it up and take away the finishing nails.
once you are done with all this you are left with your wood floor and you are ready for the real fun.
select a Sander :
Now it's time to rent a floor sander. There are several different kinds that you can rent from Home Depot. They're close in cost but different in a few strategies.
Belt Sander : It is intended to take off layers of your floor quickly . This may be best left to a pro since you can screw your floor up the swiftest with this one.
Orbital Sander - 3 disc : This sander is one of the commoner ones, it is straightforward to use and good for a beginner. It is a bit more assertive than the following sander.
Orbital Sander - square pad : This is the least assertive but perhaps the most forgiving. Because you'll have to make many passes with the sander if you'd like to actually get down to the bare wood this one can be time consuming but good for a beginner. This is the one I used.
Sanding down the floor :
For this tutorial I'm going to discuss employing a square pad orbital sander since that's what I used. Commence with a 30-40 grit sandpaper and slowly make a pass going with the floorboards. You should see the polyurethane and some of the stain come off pretty fast. The pads don't last all that long because they get polyurethane clumps on them so I went through about two pads each ten by 10 area.
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Note : alter your pattern. Don't always stop and start on the same place on the floor. It can create a pattern that's noticeable.
Since this one is forgiving you can go over and over the same spots without really digging into the wood too much, so my recommendation would be to go over each spot a pair times forwards and backwards and then move on to the subsequent row. If you get done and you need to go back over it that isn't a difficulty. Just remember that you are going to use a higher grit ( finer ) sand paper afterward that will take off some more wood. The most vital part is ensuring all the polyurethane is off the floor.
Note : I had some Problems because in some of my dents in the floor I wasn't getting all the shine off the floor in each place. But as I went to the finer sandpaper it got nearly all this off.
Since the large floor sander can't get all of the way to the edge you are going to have to use a hand sander with similar grit paper on the sides. This takes ages and I didn't get mine 100% even, but since I was marking it was going to help cover up my defects.
After you are done making a couple of passes of 30-40 grit paper, do the same thing with 60-80 grit paper. This should take less time since you are touching things up.
Ultimately, you put on your best sandpaper ( around 150 grit ). You should only need to go over a few times and these pads should last in the region of two times as long. I only used 2 for a 400sq foot area.
Remember to do the edges with your hand sander after each step.
You should be left with a lifeless floor without any shine and small, if any, stain. The very next step is marking and applying polyurethane.
Staining hardwood floor
Before you stain the floor you need to be sure all the dust and particles are off the floor and the central air is turned off. First sweep the floor and vacuum what you can up. Then you can wet some cloth rags with mineral spirits and use that as a tack fabric.
Applying stain is simple. I utilised a stain applicator that attaches to a brush stick. Pretty much wipe it on in the direction of the wood. Do it in sections and then wait about 5 minutes and wipe the excesses stain off with lint free rags. Then move to the following section and repeat.
The process can be lengthy with all of the waiting between sections. I did two sections on different sides of the house at a time to hurry this up.
Drying time
Once the stain is done you have got to wait for it to dry. I utilised a Cabot oil based stain and it took more than 48 hours to dry because there was not a lot of ventilation in the house and it was cold and rainy outside. Once the stain stops being tacky in most spots you are probably ready to put your finish on it. Sweep the floor and get up all dust.
If you bought oil based stain then you are going to want oil based polyurethane. Apply it in pretty much the same way you did the stain. I used a lamb wool applicator that connected to a brush stick. Ensure your rinse it out with mineral spirits beforehand or you'll get a lot of lamb wool on the floor. Apply it in a light coating and make sure it covers all surfaces. I made 2 passes with the pad.
After you get your first coat down the kind I used said you can apply another within 12 hours without sanding. I read terrible stories about this on the internet. So I would do it the standard way and wait 12-24 hours till it is dry and then sand it down. You can sand it by attaching a find ( 250-300 grit ) piece of sandpaper to a foam mop head and go over the floor lightly. You are just trying to scuff it up so the next layer will bond to the previous layer.
Clean up the dust, I made use of a micro-fiber fabric and swept it up. Then use your mineral spirit tack material to get up fine dust.
Apply your next layer and wait!
Curing time
After your second coat you should be done, all you've got to do is wait for the floor to heal. This time varies but the general rule is that after 2 days you can have light foot traffic on the floor and after 4 or 5 days you can put your furniture back on it. Do not put rugs on it until after a week or more.
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