Refinishing Floors

Refinishing painted wood floors is a large project and it will take a lot of work just to get it started.  The work you put in beforehand is work and problems you won’t have to deal with further down the road so it’s important to be thorough.  First things first—you should remove all furniture, fixtures, rugs and other items from the room.  Then you should go on to remove any shoe molds or other molding that you have down at the floor level.  You should carefully remove these with a hammer and a pry bar.  Be careful so you can reinstall them when you’re done.

One of the most important ways to prepare is to gather all of the tools needed.  You’ll need some paint stripper, a putty knife or paint scraper, a floor sander, sandpaper, a mask and paint brushes.  Then of course you’ll need a few things that will protect you while you work, like a respiratory mask, rubber gloves and safety glasses.  This is one of the more unfriendly DIY projects in terms of air quality.  There are an assortment of different items that give off VOCs, or volatile organic compounds.  So it’s important to have ventilation of some kind.  Also immediately stop if you’re feeling light headed or dizzy.  There are a larger selection of paint stripping and floor finishing products available now—ones that are better for your body and the environment. Investing in these may cost more but will have a higher upside than cheaper kinds.

From here it is a good idea to get acquainted with your tools, in particular the sander.  Be sure to learn the manufacturer’s instructions and use it only as directed.  Also figure out what grit of sandpaper you’ll need.  This will depend on the thickness and damage your floor has sustained.  In the process of refinishing hardwood floors you want to move from coarse sandpaper to fine sandpaper.  The coarser the sandpaper the faster the layers of the floor will be removed.  The more damage the floor has sustained–the coarser sandpaper you should use.