How do you know when refinishing your hardwood floors is necessary? Although hardwood floors, especially those varnished with oil based polyurethane are very durable, the finish will wear off with time, especially in areas that experience heavy traffic. The finish can also wear or be dulled if they have been covered with carpets for years.
Refinishing hardwood floors doesn`t have to be a big headache. It is really something you should entrust to professionals, as it is tricky and given the mix of chemicals that are necessary to remove the old finish from the floor, it can literally give you a headache. Professional floor refinishers will also have more powerful equipment than you can personally afford to buy or rent including power sanders that are used to prepare the wood to receive a brand new stain.
How do you tell the difference between a floor that is just dirty and one that is in need of a total rehaul? First go to an area of your floor that seems beaten down from a lot of traffic. Pour a bit of water onto the floor. If the water forms small beads when it hits the varnish then it does not need to be refinished just yet. It means the floor is still properly sealed. However the water sinks in, forms a single poor or does not darken the floor then the finish is wearing a way. This means it is time to refinish.
You can opt to refinish your floors with the same type of varnish as last time or you can choose the change the look of your flooring by applying a different color of stain. Some word of advice about choosing stains. Always keep in mind that what is on the stain samples will always look different. You need to consider the type of wood the stain is going and how old the floor you are intending to refinish is. Different types of hardwood floors can look vastly different with the same stain.
Another thing to consider is the age of your floors. The newer your flooring is the more likely it is to resemble what you see on a stained wood sample in the store. The only way to tell for sure how the stain will look is to sand a corner of the room and try out the different samples to see what they look at. An inconspicuous place to try out new stains is the inside of a closet.
Hardwood flooring is sold in all kinds of different looks and colors. The most popular stain options include natural looks (that resemble bare wood), a light stain (usually has a tan hue), medium (which gives the grain of the wood an obviously dark tint) and dark (which gives floors a velvety rich feel.)
You can also ask your retailer to mix you up a custom stain. A custom color refers to a stain that is any other color besides tan, sand or brown. You can get stains in colors such as deep purple, bright red and light yellow if you want to go for a more designer look.
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