Are you considering refinishing your hardwood floors yourself? We’ve put together a list of common sanding mistakes made by DIYers to help you complete your goal.
Common Sanding Mistakes Made By DIYers
One of the reasons why floor sanding is such a risky technical job is that most mistakes are only visible after the project has been completed. What causes these mistakes?
Inconsistent Staining
This is a pretty common mistake we see all the time. A lot of individuals who are trying to stain their floors darker, especially open grain woods like oak, do not realise that if two boards are sanded differently they’ll accept the stain differently.
Using The Wrong Grit Sandpaper
This is probably the biggest mistake anyone can make. The grit sandpaper you use should depend on the conditions of your floorboards. If they’ve been sanded before and just need to be refreshed, you should be fine with finer grit sandpaper. However, in most cases, you’ll have to use a much coarser paper than you expect.
Using Inferior Stains and Polyurethanes
Only specialists have access to the full range of products for stains and finishes as only the most basic options are offered on retail shelves. Therefore your options as an individual will be very limited. Professionals have access to higher quality formulas that dry fast, last a long time, and look much better after the job is complete.
Not Stirring The Polyurethanes Properly
This is a simple fix. Always thoroughly mix the polyurethanes. But be careful not to create air bubbles in the process.
Not Vacuuming Properly and Leaving Dust Behind
Sounds simple enough to fix but inevitably when amateurs do this, they don’t seem to get all the dust particles and it gets embedded within the poly.
You need to do a proper vacuum before each coat to ensure a quality finish. Usually, the issue happens while the coats of poly are added. Thankfully, if it’s done on the top coat, you can save the floors by doing a screen and recoat and applying an additional coat of poly. This will cost you another day (+ more poly). If it’s below the top coat, you may not be able to remove it.
Not Allowing Proper Drying Times Between Coats.
Professionals know the proper drying times and how to test the stain and poly before applying the next coat. If you make a mistake here, the stain will coagulate and wrinkle which will mean you will have to start over.
Sloppy Edging
Edging a wood floor is tedious and exhausting work, especially if you’ve just spent several hours using a drum sander. As a result, you might find yourself rushing through this part of the wood floor restoration process. When this happens, there will be a noticeable texture/colour difference around the edge of the room, which causes these areas to have a much higher risk of degradation.
Insufficient Cure Time
Not waiting for the finish to properly dry before using the floors is a rookie mistake a lot of homeowners make. The touch test can be very misleading; even though it may feel dry and the floor feels ready, it often is not. Depending on the finish used, it takes anywhere between two and five days before your floor fully cures.
Not Properly Removing The Old Finish
Removing the old finish is obviously the first step anyone would think of, but even this can be tricky. Planetary sanders (which are readily available at hardware stores) lack the power to remove an old finish effectively. You will quickly find that after several hours of sweating in a dust-filled room, you’ve hardly made a dent. Why not put that sander down and call a professional?
