Rehabbing Interiors: Refinish Wood Floors with Light Scratches Part 2
Part 1 covered the initial steps to refinish wood floors with light scratches. It concluded with the sanding of edges and the whole floor area. This rehabbing interiors articles now continues with Part 2, where the rest of the steps to achieve that new looking wooden floor minus the excess less effort and costs.
Once you’ve run the buffer all over the floor, you’ll notice that the whole area is now covered by powder. As mentioned in Part 1, windows should be closed when using the floor buffer to keep dust from escaping. Let the dust settle by leaving the room for around 15 minutes. The next thing to do is to tidy up the floor with a vacuum cleaner. Use a felt-bottomed attachment for this rehabbing interiors activity. Also, use a clean filter for the vacuum.
Follow the direction of the flooring strips first. Then run the vacuum perpendicular to their direction. This is meant to ensure that you suck all the debris from sanding. To complete the cleaning process, use a microfiber cloth and dry-tack the whole wooden floor. You’ll notice that the floor is now back to bare hardwood and is ready to be refinished again. The next steps to refinish wood floors with light scratches involve the application of the finish.
Wear a respirator that comes with organic vapor canisters. This is to make sure you don’t suffer the ill effects brought by the smell of the finish. Pour pre-strained finish into a plastic container. You can use a cone filter to drain the liquid of possible solid and rough particles. Using a brush, cover the area beside the baseboards that are farthest from the door. A three-inch stripe of finish is enough. Remember to work fast in doing this. Take note that the finish dries and darkens in around 10 minutes. After that time, stop, drop the brush, and pick up the roller.
Proceed with this rehabbing interiors activity by refinishing the rest of the wooden floor. Pour some finish on the floor and spread it using a long-handled roller with a ¼-inch nap cover. Do that for 10 minutes. Drop the roller anew and pick up the brush. Continue covering the edges that you failed to brush in the first 10 minutes. Continue with these tasks to refinish wood floors with light scratches alternately.
If you want to recoat the whole wooden floor, you can do so but only after three hours. As for the furniture and appliances, you can only move them back after a week. It takes that much time for the coat to fully cure. While rehabbing interiors should done fast, there are things you simply can’t rush and this in one of those things. In the mean time, you can start rehabbing other parts of the house. That is why if you want to preserve the property’s hardwood floors by refinishing them, it is important to set a schedule that will allow you to rehab other areas of the house while the finish is curing.
