Over time, your hardwood floor is going to lose some of its luster and appearance, which is common. Due to heavy foot traffic, animals and just casual wear, the floor is going to lose its once pristine look, especially if not properly up kept. If you are looking at selling the house, or you just want to bring the look back to the hardwood floor, you need to spend some time refinishing your hardwood floor. Although it is possible to have a professional perform this task, the professional is going to charge a considerable amount of money, and you can actually do this task yourself, even if you have little to no experience.

The first step is to rent a floor sander. You can obtain such a sander from your local hardware store, where you rent the equipment by the hour. Run the sander over the entire floor with a low grade sand paper (the lower the grade the thicker and more corse it is). After the initial pass over, switch to a medium lever grade sand paper and run over the floor. After the second pass switch over to the high grade sand paper and run over the floor. This is going to completely smooth out the floor and give you a nice, wood look.

Vacuum up the floor so you don’t have all the sand and other items sitting on the floor. Most likely you still have some finish around the corners of the floor. For this you need a hand sander. Repeat the same process you performed with the large sander, but with the hand sander to work off the finish in the corners and small areas. Make sure you have extra sand paper on hand, as you are going to go through several sheets before the process has finished.

With the floor completely sanded down and clean, you are now able to begin painting down the stain. Apply the first coat lightly and allow it to dry completely. If you place the coat on too thick it is not going to dry properly. On top of this, you need to make sure you give enough time before applying the second coat, as this is just going to create the same problems. Once the initial coat dries you can check out the floor to see how it looks, if you need to place down a second coat, or if you can leave it go as is.