How To Repair Worn Spots On Hardwood Floor

UPDATED 31Jul2020 + video below

Q: Is there some easy mode to ready worn oak floors in our house? Nosotros'd like to practise the work ourselves, ideally without renting a big floor sander.

poly shades — This close-upwardly images shows dark dark-brown stain beingness rubbed into a worn pine floor before recoating with urethane. This is much easier than sanding dorsum to bare wood, and the results wait amazing.

A: Too many people assume that worn wood floors need to be completely sanded to look good again, but that's non necessarily true. Sometimes there are alternatives. Before you resign yourself to the mess, disruption and expense of a total-blown refinishing job, might as well try something simpler beginning. If it doesn't work, you've lost little.

Is the surface varnish still in place over your floors and just scratched? This is the perfect situation for a wipe-on floor rejuvenator product. The one I've used most often is Minwax Hardwood Floor Reviver, and it hides surface scratching well. There are limits to what products similar these can do, so you may need to step up your efforts if in that location's anything more than surface wear.

Is the varnish and stain worn through, exposing unstained wood? I've had great results just rubbing stain into worn areas like these, so recoating the entire floor with the same kind of varnish that was used originally. You'll finish up with a distressed look, but the colour will exist even and the results are pretty bonny with minimal hassles. I employ a production chosen Polyshades for this and it works beautifully. It's not officially rated for use on floors, but don't let that end y'all.

If you notice that complete resanding is necessary, several small tools tin be used. I've used a paw-held belt sander, a pair of kneepads and a random-orbit sander to refinish floors and it works. Put a zippered plastic dust curtain over the doorway, so begin with an 80-grit abrasive for your initial attack. Information technology's hard work, only less risky and more user-friendly than renting a large car.

Switch to a 100-dust belt and go over the floor again, merely this time with a floodlight shining across the wood at a shallow angle. This highlights areas yous might have missed during the kickoff sanding passes. If y'all find that this hands-and-knees work is likewise much for you, consider renting a walk-behind, vibrating pad flooring sander, rather than a drum-style floor sander. Vibrating pad models are easier to use and less likely to accidentally cutting grooves in the floor.

Click below to lookout a video lesson on how I revive floors without sanding back to bare forest. It's faster and less expensive that a complete sanding chore, and in some ways it even looks meliorate.