Applying sealants will add much-needed protection for the hardwood to prevent potential finish damage, especially with untreated hardwood floors. This precaution elongates the life of your hardwood floor's finish and restricts the need for hardwood floor refinishing.
Three coats of a high-quality polyurethane will allow the wood grain of your floor to just be itself. “Stain” does not add protection, it just changes the color. If this is your first DIY refinishing job, just using clear coats is the way to go.
Most unfinished hardwood floors require one coat of sealer and at least two coats of protectant finishing. Sealing is very important, especially under polyurethane finishes, because it seals the wood and helps to prevent panelization; the separation of groups of boards from others or from the rest of the floor.
Generally speaking, wood floors can be restored without sanding by recoating, using either mechanical or chemical methods. These can be used across wood flooring ideas for a living room, wood floors for a bedroom, kitchen flooring and splash-safe wooden bathroom flooring.
Top Picks: Dura Seal Polyurethane for Wood Floors, Rust-Oleum Varathane Oil-Based Floor Finish, and Minwax Super Fast Drying Polyurethane for Floors are all quality selections. Oil-based polyurethane consists of linseed oil, synthetic resins, and plasticizers.
Depending on many factors, like your lifestyle and type of finish, polyurethane can last between three to six years. However, if you see damage on your floors, it may be time to reapply a fresh finish to your hardwood.
Buffing a hardwood floor with a buffer is an easy and efficient way to restore its shine without sanding. Make sure that all areas are dry before you begin buffing. Put on the appropriate protective gear and attach the buffing pad to the buffer. It's important to give each area equal attention for a uniform shine.
So, can you leave hardwood flooring unfinished? In short, yes—unfinished hardwood flooring is doable and can get installed in any home. As for a long answer, the easiest part of unfinished hardwood flooring is the installation process.
Wood is dried-out and dull if you do not apply some sort of sealer. Staining and finishing are two very different things. By applying pigments, a stain is meant to darken or dye wood, but the wood is not preserved by staining.
Hardwood floors can be refinished every 7-10 years, making the 4-6 refinishes more than enough.
Today, Basic Coatings has an approved system and one-stop solution to accomplish this goal on sport, commercial, or residential wood floors. Our entirely waterbased system can help contractors change a wood floor color without sanding with a simple, easy-to-follow process.
Applying a revitalizer gloss is the simplest and cheapest way to refinish hardwood floors. This approach works best on floors that only have surface-level scratches and other minor wear and tear issues. You can get the job done without the need for equipment rentals or hard-to-find materials.
PARTIAL REFINISHING OF HARDWOOD FLOORS
To improve a floor that has moderate wear, a partial refinish saves you time and money. In this process, you will buff or sand with a high-grit paper and apply new coats of sealant.
Generally speaking, it is almost always less expensive to refinish your hardwood floors than to replace them. That's because replacing them involves paying for additional wood, the installation itself, as well as labor costs for tearing up and hauling away the existing hardwood.
While floor sealers protect floors by penetrating into the pores of the flooring material, the importance of a floor's finish is, of course, the protective surface layer that is the first line of defense against floor damage.
More than just a shiny polish, however, wax is also used to seal and protect hardwood flooring's beautiful surface. After applying wax to floors, the product hardens as it dries, creating a seal that helps guard against stains, preserve the finish, and minimize the look of small scratches or dings.
We recommend waiting 6 hours before walking on your new floors in socks. After 24 hours you can walk through with shoes on. Allow 48 hours before setting furniture and returning pets. Carpets and area rugs can be placed after 1 full week.
Vinegar and Ammonia: Cleaning products that have a base of vinegar or ammonia eat away at the dirt on your floor - and also the floor's finish itself. Overtime, the acid will wear down your hardwood, leaving you with splotchy patches that are difficult to revive.