Does Unfinished Hardwood Flooring Need To Be Sanded

There s no in home sanding or finishing work.

Does unfinished hardwood flooring need to be sanded.

The veneer can be sanded once or twice after that sanding will expose the plywood core beneath. Be as minimalist as you want or go the other way and apply several finish coats for maximum protection. The rich appearance and warmth that wood offers is probably one reason you chose it in the first place. Unfinished hardwood flooring will need to be sanded before applying a finish.

Sanding levels the edges of the floorboards which can vary from one another by as much as 1 4 inch. Not sanding a freshly laid hardwood floor and finishing it as is makes the installation less messy and time consuming but it would be a mistake. If you decide to refinish your wood floors the fun part is picking a new stain color like rich mahogany or dark oak which are both very popular right now. This is an intensive process that strips everything from the floor by grinding it down to the natural wood underneath all that shine.

But laminated floors glue down or floating floors have only a thin layer of good looking wood veneer over a plywood like base. Where recoating won t work. Sanding a new unfinished floor is a necessary chore. Sanding is a messy procedure that fills the room with wood dust which then has to be thoroughly cleaned.

The problem is while you may think darker colors would hide dirt they make dust particles more noticeable. A solid wood floor can be sanded several times before that s a problem. They differ from prefinished wood floors in that the wood used for prefinished floors is sanded prepped and receives it s stain color and top coat at the manufacturing facility. Unfinished hardwood floors are made from bare wood stock that s sanded and finished in place in the home.

What you need to know about dark floor stains. 24grit is the recommended starting grit if there is sander flaw in the floor from previous sandings or obvious foot soiled areas where old finishes have worn through to wood 36grit. When you sand your hardwood floors you use coarse sanding equipment to remove all of the finish and stain from your floors as well as smooth out the wood underneath those layers of stain and sealer. Starting grit for floors that still have finish or haven t been sanded for 30 years or more.

Many homeowners opt for prefinished floorboards when they lay a new hardwood floor because it eliminates the extra steps of sanding and finishing the floor but a prefinished floor has a different.