A Complete Guide to Refreshing Your Hardwood Floors
Beautiful hardwood floors that complement your stunning seaside coastal house are a great addition. However, after a couple of years, they might begin to take on a more scuffed and dull look due to everyday use and foot traffic. Weather, dirt, sand, and water that get tracked inside can ruin the sheen of hardwood floors. Other than daily maintenance, how can you restore your hardwood floors to their former glory? From a fresh topcoat to running a buffer across your floors, there are plenty of great methods for refreshing your hardwood floors.
Continue to read to find a complete guide to refreshing your Forgotten Coast of Florida home’s hardwood floors to their former glory.
Deep Clean Your Hardwood Floors
A great first step to take to refresh your hardwood floors is to give them a deep clean. To reach all the corners, it is best to empty the room of furniture and rugs. When doing so, take precautions to not drag items across the hardwood, lifting them instead. Even if furniture seems light, over time, it can dull the finish on a hardwood floor. Give your floors a good vacuum and clean them with a cleaner that is formulated specifically for hardwood. Damp mopping or the use of water is not usually recommended and can ruin the finish of the hardwood over time.
Apply a Fresh Top Coat
When the hardwood floors in your home start to look dull and routine cleaning isn’t helping bring back the sheen, you might have to consider that it is time to apply a fresh top coat or finish. If your hardwood floors are stained, you can remove the stain with extra-fine steel wool. Afterwards, wipe away particles from the sanding area and reapply the original finish with a fine brush. Before it dries up, make sure that you wipe away any excess finish left behind. Once the topcoat dries, buff it with a soft cloth, and keep in mind that this will eliminate protective finishes that have been factory applied.
Buff and Polish Your Hardwood Floors
A great method to refresh your hardwood floors is to buff and then polish them. Before resanding, it is important to see if this simple method is all that is needed to bring life back to your hardwood floors. If your hardwood floors take up most of your home, investing in your buffing machine and pads can be more cost-effective, but if you need to buff a few rooms of hardwood, it might be in your interest to hire a professional. Before starting the buffing process, your floors must be clean, otherwise, the rotary of the buffer can collect debris and dirt, potentially scuffing your hardwoods instead of buffing them. The correct polish should be chosen for the desired result, whether it is a high gloss or matte finish. Polish should be applied to your hardwood floors bit by bit, so work it over with the buffer in circular motions and apply evenly through the room. Keep in mind that these processes can remove factory-applied finishes and that your finish warranty from the manufacturer will become void.
Sand and Refinish Your Hardwood Floors
If you aren’t satisfied with a fresh buff and polish, you have to take it to the next level with a level sanding job and refinish. Fully sanding and refinishing your hardwood floors will add a new level of complexity to the process, so it is important to exhaust your other options first. On the other hand, this process will assure your hardwood floors are completely refreshed and as good as new. You will need to hire a professional to sand and refinish your floors. This is not a recommended DIY project, as your flooring may be engineered and may or may not have a thick enough top layer to sand.
Keep Your Hardwood Floors Fresh Looking for Longer
Refreshing your hardwood floors will take time and effort on your part, and once you have them polished with a nice sheen and natural glow, take preventative measures to keep them looking that way. Below are a few more great tips to keep in mind to care for your flooring.
- Keep Track of Temperature Settings: Hardwood floors are a natural product, and they need to be acclimated before they are installed. Even after maintaining your hardwood floor’s appearance, it will help to maintain your home’s internal temperature.
- Use Floor Protectors and Furniture Pads: You can add furniture pads and rubber guards to your furniture to prevent light scuffing that can wear away the floor’s shine. Even when moving or rearranging furniture, use floor protectors to prevent deep scratches, dents, and gouges.
- Wipe Shoes Off: Foot traffic brings in debris and dirt, so it is important to place a mat by the door to wipe shoes or designate a place to take them completely off.
Bottom Line
Are you looking to restore your outdated-looking hardwood floors? By maintaining the integrity of your hardwood floors through deep cleaning, buffing and polishing, sanding and refinishing, or repolishing, there are plenty of great methods to apply a facelift to your hardwood floors. While some of these solutions are DIY-friendly projects, some will require a professional eye and guidance. Trust the real estate professionals at Coastal Realty Group to guide you in finding and settling down in the home of your dreams in the many beautiful coastal waterfront neighborhoods that make up the Forgotten Coast of Florida today.