Q. ? My hardwood floors are beginning to look worn. I know the finish on them is only seven years old because I refinished them myself. Can I simply add another coat of the same finish? If so, what do I need to do?
A. ? The rule for re-coating is simple: clean, dry and scuffed.
Cleaning your floors means removing any dirt, grime, polish or wax, for any of these will prevent a new coat of finish from adhering to the old. Use a hardwood floor cleaner to remove dirt and grime; if there is any possibility that your floors have been polished or waxed, use mineral spirits and rags to dissolve and remove any residue.
Dry means simply that: make sure your hardwood floor cleaner or mineral spirits have evaporated before recoating.
Scuffed? A new finish needs something to grab, so give it thousands of tiny scratches in the old finish using a coarse pad of steel wool or a synthetic sanding pad. On large areas you can rent a floor buffer and synthetic abrasive pads.
The scuffing process will create some fine dust, so be sure to remove it using a cloth moistened with mineral spirits.
Q. ? Is there are easier, faster way?
A. ? The Minwax Company makes Hardwood Floor Reviver, a water-based product designed to refresh worn, dull and scratched hardwood floors. It requires no special preparation or sanding and can be applied with a foam applicator. It typically provides an additional three to six months of protection; that?s less than a fresh coat of polyurethane, but it may be all you need!
Q. ? Can I use the methods and products you just outlined on my pre-finished flooring?
A. ? Not automatically.
Floor manufacturers keep their finish formulas locked in a vault, making it impossible for you and I to know for sure (1.) what the ingredients are, (2.) what will adhere to those ingredients, and (3.) what won?t. The only safe thing you can do is to get a recommendation from the flooring manufacturer for a re-coat product.
Q. ? I live in a historic house built before the Civil War. The floors are made from Southern yellow pine. The finish on them is worn off in some places and flaking off in others. I?ve seen similar floors that were refinished using a heavy-duty sander and they lost all their charm and character. How can I refinish my floors without sacrificing their personality?
A. ? By treating them like what they are ? an antique.
You wouldn?t use a belt sander on a piece of furniture made in 1860, so why should you on a floor of the same era? You can refinish your floor the same way you would an antique tabletop with a deteriorating (non-original) varnish ? by using a Paint & Poly Remover. Work on small sections at a time and follow the instructions explained here under Stripping Paint.
Q. - What can I use to fill the gaps between the boards in my floor?
A. - Nothing.
Even though you can't see it happen, those boards are constantly moving, expanding when the humidity increases, shrinking when the air dries out, flexing when you walk across them. If you pack the gaps between the boards with a synthetic filler, the pressure from the movement of the boards will grind it to dust. If you wedge in a strip of wood, your floor may actually buckle under the pressure when you go through several days of high humidity.
The gaps may bother you in dry weather, but chances are you don't notice them other times of the year - and your friends probably never see them.
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