How to Seal Hardwood Floors?
Do you have a beautiful home with an attractive hardwood floor? You must ensure it looks its best always. It means you must know how to seal your hardwood floor and maintain its charm and value. So, let’s not waste another moment and dive right into it.
Steps to Seal Your Hardwood Floor
We decided to provide a step-by-step guide for a seamless and successful experience.
Step #1: Ventilate Your Home if it is Not
Sealing hardwood floors create plenty of dust, which quickly becomes an uncomfortable situation. Adding to the problem are harmful vapors emitted by most products you will use.
Ensure the air in your room can move and that you have put on a protective mask to safeguard your breathing passageways.
Ventilation is good, but some ventilation is not. Avoid contaminating the environment. For this, screen the doors and windows.
Step #2: Smoothen Your Hardwood Floor
Once you have taken care of ventilation, you must ensure removing visible damage like scratches, dents, and dings through sanding.
You may choose hand sanders, but a large rotary sander will save you time and provide the desired results.
Step #3: Clean It
Smoothening wood through sanding leaves a mess of debris, grit, and sawdust. Use a vacuum cleaner to remove particles because sanding makes the wood vulnerable to damage. Avoid using water to clean it. When done vacuuming, use a tack cloth over the floor to ensure you have removed all the dust.
Not sure if using a vacuum cleaner is safe on hardwood floors? Read all about it here.
Step #4: Stain the Floor
While sanding helps, it nearly removes all of the stain that makes the material appealing. So, you must apply a new coat of stain before sealing. However, any stain won’t cut it out.
Get a penetrating stain for the best results. Use a roller and stain following the wood’s grain, drawing even coats across the floor. Ensure keep the grain balanced and do not raise it, or you will have to sand it again.
Done? Leave the stain for at least an hour to dry. Alternatively, follow the instructions on the label.
Step #5: Apply the Sealant
Did you know that most sealants for hardwood floors contain polyurethane, giving the floor a shiny, attractive, and durable surface?
It also means you must apply two coatings to get the desired results. Like the stain, apply the sealant using a roller and follow the wood’s grain.
Wait at least six hours after applying the first coating before moving to the next step.
Step #6: Sand Your Hardwood Floor Again But Lightly
More sanding, but a light one this time. Sand the first sealant coating using quality sandpaper so the second coat sticks well. We recommend a #220 sandpaper for optimum results.
Once done, bring in the vacuum cleaner again to remove the debris. You must, once again, wear a protective mask because polyurethane dust is harmful. Use a tack cloth to remove dust.
Step #7: Apply the Second Coat of Sealant
Follow Step #5, but give the second coat at least 8 hours to dry. From experience, we recommend leaving it overnight to prevent potential damage.
While there is no specific deadline for how frequently you need to complete this job, a worn-out hardwood floor will benefit from this method.
Conclusion
There you have it. These are all the steps you should take to seal your hardwood floors. It isn’t too complex a process, but getting a professional to do it brings you the biggest advantage: flawless execution. If you are unsure about doing it yourself, call us.