Under a dirty old carpet can be a beautiful wooden floor screaming for you to look again at home. Covering your floors with a clean, new finish is very satisfying. With a little hard work you could get to have the wooden floor you have always envied in other people’s houses.

Prepare your floor to restore

Remove all area rugs. Chop and roll manageable sections to carry them away. Once you’ve removed all carpets, the real work happens.

They may have put nails in the floors to reduce squeaks or to fix a loose socket. Either way, the nails protruding above the wooden floor are a hazard and a nuisance. Most of the time, hammering nails so that they are deeper in the soil is a better and simpler solution to remove them.

Hammering nails and push them down about 0.6 cm (1/4 inch) on the floor. Use a nail punch to not leave marks with the hammer (dents) in the wood. He works in his direction, not against it. Once the nails have reached a depth of 0.6 cm (1/4 inch) will be ready for the hide with a little padding after sanding the rest of the floor. This topic will be addressed later.

Make sure the floor is relatively clean. If the base of the old carpet is glued to your wood floor you must scrape with a spatula. It can be a pretty tedious work and can take a lot of time, but worth it.

Vacuuming the floor and cleaned if necessary. Years of dust and sand can create a lot of waste. You must clean these wastes before restoring the old wooden floor.

Remove any that are tacked strip along the edges of the floor. If this strip was next to your carpet, remove it before you start sanding so you can reach those areas with the finish.

Remove the old finish with sandpaper

Use sandpaper to polish the old wood, scratched or worn excessively. You can use chemical strippers if looking for a quick fix or if you put a finished recently. However, if you deal with wear patterns, smudging or scratching, your best option is to sand those imperfections and then add another layer to the floor.

Prepare the perimeter. Paint the perimeter of the floor by hand with paper coarse grit 180.Lija from 10.2 to 15.2 cm (4 to 6 inches) from the edge of the motherboard, so that you make sure to cover the areas that your mechanical floor sander cannot reach.

Uses a floor sander to reach areas that you did not meet with your hand. You can rent floor sanders at hardware stores or rental shops.

Start with a coarse grit and sand the floor. Do it carefully. You not want to take the floor. If you have a good sander, sandpaper you can raise and spend a little more time in badly worn or problem areas. Change your sanding disks as needed. You may need to change the sandpaper once or twice using the same grain before it has completely removed the finish.

Use a pencil to color the whole area with traces of graphite. This will help you check if you have sanded area. Otherwise, it will be hard to know where and where not to account.

Scrape entire floor again with sandpaper medium grain. Look at the pencil strokes and scrape to determine whether an area or not. Remember that you may need to change discs of your sander before finishing the job.

Save sawdust formed when sanding. If you found capricious nails on the floor in the preparation phase, be sure to keep the sawdust so you can patch and fill the holes of 0.6 cm (1/4 inch) that formed the nails. This will help to ensure a uniform and pleasing finish.

Remove the old finish with a chemical stripper

Use a chemical stripper instead of a sander. If you want a quick fix or wood under the old paint is clean and free of scratches, you could use a chemical stripper instead of sanding the entire floor. If you decide to use a chemical stripper, always follow the label instructions and use the appropriate security measures.

Use gloves, goggles and be sure to ventilate the area in which you will work. Chemical removers are designed to take off the wood finish; do not want to come into contact with your skin and does not want to inhale its vapors too.

Apply the remover in an area of about two square meters. Do not limit yourself to apply. Nor do you have to cover too much space at once, and you should be able to clean the area with time to spare.

Let the remover sit for about five minutes. Once you’ve applied the finish remover, let the suggested act without interfering time. You’ll notice that the old layer and bubbles rising from the wood.

Do not wait too long to dry remover. When removing the remover, you must be moist first.

Remove the wood:

Use a spatula to scrape the separator along with the finish.

Use denatured alcohol in a disposable aluminum pan to clean the remaining remover with the help of a loofah. Do not put too denatured in the pan alcohol, which tends to evaporate quickly.

Follow the manufacturer’s instructions remover to remove the wood. The different chemical strippers should be cleaned using different methods. Some removers should be cleaned with turpentine or paint removers, while others simply can be rinsed with water.

Allow the area to dry completely. Water or moisture and your new finish will not work well together; be sure to let the area dry completely before going to the next step.

You may need sanding problem areas before applying the new finish your hardwood floors.

Apply the new finish

Fill the remaining holes with wood pulp or wood plugs There may be some wires along the baseboard; or perhaps the nails that were mentioned above need to cover them.

To make a paste wood, sawdust mixed with a small amount of white glue, to form a paste. Apply it on nails with a spatula and allowed to harden before sanding flush with the rest of the floor.

Find small wooden plugs for larger holes. If necessary, drill the floor to enlarge the hole, so that the plug fits snugly. Apply a small amount of wood glue around the cap, put it in the hole until it fits well and hammering a little. Let dry thoroughly before sanding flush with the rest of the floor.

Before applying any finish, be sure to vacuum or clean any residue. The floor should be clean of sawdust or waste remover before applying the new layer. You should also make sure your floor is completely dry before applying the new finish.

Once the floor is ready, apply the stain or the finish of your choice evenly. Before you start applying coating on your floor, be sure to have the windows open for better ventilation, wear a mask to prevent vapors will not bother and try the finish area to see how will look on your floor.

You should also wear gloves and synthetic brush bristles to apply the finish. It starts with the perimeter of the floor and part from there. A band of 7.6 cm (3 inches) is all you need to form a perimeter.

Use a pad application to do most of the work for you. You can use a watering can with a piece of gauze on top to pour the finish on the floor and then use an application pad to clean the floor finish evenly and clean.

Be sure to leave a space to leave once you’ve applied the finish. You do not want to have to walk on the newly covered with your dirty shoes when you want to let the floor dry finish.

Wait for the finish to dry and, if necessary, apply another coat of stain or finish to accentuate the color. It uses the same techniques as described above and follow the safety guidelines and proper handling.

When dry, finish with a polyurethane layer, if desired. It is much easier to use a long roller instead of a brush to give it a nice finish. It is important to sand a little after each application with sandpaper grit 220.Limpia after sanding with a tack cloth. It may take 24 hours between applications for the polyurethane to dry.

Tips

• When sanding sheets soaked in the tub and hang them at the entrances to prevent dust from spreading throughout the house. Remember also cover the exits.
• Use a vacuum with a bag or a professional cleaner to effectively collect excess sanding dust product.
• Another option is to rent a sander and sanding the floor. This method is cheaper, faster, healthier and better results.
• Uses a punch nails, i.e., a small punch to push the exposed nail heads.
• If you’re not very skilled, hire a company to sand and seal the floors could cost about the same as buying a good quality carpet to cover the same space.
• When you put the wooden floor, follow the manufacturer’s instructions. If these instructions do not teach you how to orient the tongue and groove, the groove should look at the starting wall and floor nails should go to the tab.