Know-How For A Polished Wood Floor Finish

Unless you've bought the finished material, you'll need to know the procedure for finishing a floor so that you get a nice wood floor finish. First sand it and then apply a protective surface after the entire floor has been laid. For this job, rent a sanding machine.

To get the right wood floor finish, you'll need two sanding machines. One of these is a large affair with the sandpaper wrapped around a big rotating drum. When you rent the machine be sure to buy an assortment of sandpaper sheets in various grades. You will also need a floor edging machine. This is a little disk sander affair that is used along the edge of the room to take in the area that can't be covered by the big machine.

Designed to speed up getting a wood floor finish, the big sander has two controls; an on-off switch plus a lever that lifts the sanding drum or lowers it to contact the floor. Raise the drum and then turn the machine on. A word of warning: Raise the drum if you ever have to pause for an instant.

When the drum is lowered you must keep moving at a slow but even pace across the floor you want the wood floor finish on. Don't ever stop to light a cigarette with the drum still chewing away at the floor or you will suffer dire consequences. You'll have a deep gully carved in the surface and will have a real hard time trying to get the floor to look smooth again.

To start sanding for your wood floor finish, put on the coarsest paper (No. 1 grade). Abrasive is also available in much rougher and tougher grades than No. 1, but this is intended for removing old paint or as a treatment for floors that are in really terrible condition. New flooring needs only a gentle touch. Lower the drum and start walking the machine across the floor at a slow, even pace. Begin along one wall and gradually work back and forth in parallel strips until you've covered the room. This first pass should be at right angles to the flooring.

Continuing with sanding for your wood floor finish, switch over to the next smoother grade. This time, sand parallel to the boards but work in the same back-and-forth pattern. Finally attach the fine paper (No. 00) and sand with this. It's a good idea to slip out of your shoes before you start the final sanding so you don't add any dirt to the surface you've labored so hard to clean and smooth.

Next, switch over to the little disc sander and follow exactly the same sequence, starting with very coarse sandpaper and winding up with the finest, to sand the little rim of floor around the edge of the room that you couldn't cover with the jumbo sander. This will be the last of the sanding for your wood floor finish.

Stay in your stocking feet while you vacuum up every last trace of sawdust. There's a vacuum cleaner attachment built into both sanders but they aren't completely efficient. Some of the dust is bound to escape. For this reason, wipe down the walls carefully, pay special attention to all crevices and vacuum. If you leave any bits of sawdust in place, they're sure to float down at just the wrong moment and be_come embedded in the wood floor finish.

Finishing Preparations

At this point in attaining the wood floor finish, you get involved with personal preferences. Many people like a floor finished in penetrating sealer. The stuff is easy to apply, it preserves the look and feel of wood and it gives a soft lustrous sheen (not a shiny gloss) to the finished floor.

Pour the sealer into a shallow pan and apply it with a lambs' wool wax applicator. Dunk the applicator into the pan of sealer and then swab it back and forth over the wood floor finish. Keep dunking and swabbing until you've covered the entire floor. Allow it to dry overnight and then use steel wool on the surface.

Your best bet here is to rent a floor waxing machine and use a large circular pad of steel wool that's intended just for this purpose. Apply three coats of sealer, steel-wooling the first and the second. After the surface is completely dry, wipe on a coat of paste wax and buff the floor thoroughly using an electric polisher. Repeat this last procedure once more for a really beaming wood floor finish.

This will give you a beautiful wood floor finish.

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