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Is it Time to Refinish Your Hardwood Floor?
by: Rob Buenaventura
How do you know when the time is right to refinish your hardwood
floors? Hardwood floors tend to be quite durable and the stains long
lasting. There are, of course, places in high traffic areas that
will begin to show signs of wear long before the floors have worn
out their beauty of usefulness. With that in mind, how do you know
when the time is right for refinishing?
Refinishing hardwood floors doesn’t have to be the stuff that
nightmares are made of. In fact, if at all possible this is the kind
of chore you should really entrust to professionals (this way
someone else is responsible if something gets messed up). Another
reason to entrust this to professionals is that they have access to
the best of power tools for this specific job. And using the right
tools is sometimes all the difference in the world. While it
wouldn’t be cost effective for the average home owner to purchase
these tools for a one time project, a professional floor person
would often have cause to use these tools.
So what is the difference between a floor that simply needs to be
cleaned and one that needs to be completely refinished? One way to
do this is to go to one of the high traffic run down areas of your
floor and spill a few drops of liquid onto the floor. If the liquid
beads up there is still some life left in your original finish and
you are not quite ready for a major overhaul. If on the other hand,
the wood soaks the water right up, it is time to refinish.
One of the great things about refinishing is that you can choose to
go lighter or darker than before or even to use the exact same
finish. If you’re looking for a way to change the look of a room,
changing the finish of your floors is definitely a way to make a
large impact on a room. Keep in mind that stain samples will look
different when they are on the entire floor and that different
stains react differently to different hardwoods, you definitely want
to choose a stain that is compatible to the hardwoods of your
floors. The age of your floor also has a tremendous impact on how
the stain will look when the floor is finished. A good place to try
stain samples is the floorboard of a closet.
Hardwood flooring comes in many different stains and colors, the
more popular stain options include stains that appear natural, light
stains that don’t significantly altar the look of the wood, medium
stains, which bring out a darker tint in the grain of the wood, and
dark stains, which provide a rich, velvety feel to the floor.
If you haven’t something that reaches out and grabs you, you can
also go to a local hardware store and have a stain custom blended
for your floors. You can get really creative for these stains and
have a lot of fun in the process, but remember this is your home and
you have to live with the floors once they are finished.
About The Author
Rob Buenaventura invites you to http://www.hardwoodscene.com. Here
we provide tips on hardwood refinishing and installation of wood
flooring. Save money and learn on how to diy refinishing hardwood
flooring at
http://www.hardwoodscene.com/Learn-How-To-Refinish-Hardwood-Floor-To-Save-Money.asp,
come visit Hardwoodscene for your hardwood flooring center.