If your hardwood flooring is scratched and/or worn, you can make it look new through buffing. This method, also referred to as screening, shines your wood floors via abrading the top coat of polyurethane and adding a new coat of finish. Your wood flooring can be buffed as long as it hasn’t been waxed and it’s only the finish that has been damaged. If your floors are waxed, then you must rewax and repolish the floors with a buffing machine.
Recoat the Hardwood Floors
Another option to make your worn hardwood floors look new is recoating. However, this option only works if the wood underneath the finish is in good shape. A recoat covers the existing finish, rather than replacing it. This makes it an easy method of sprucing up your wood flooring as long as the wood underneath isn’t damaged. Essentially, recoating improves the appearance of the finish.
Repaint the Wood Flooring If The Wood Underneath the Finish is Damaged
When the hardwood flooring is too dinged up for buffing or waxing, then you’ll have to repaint them to make them look new. Repainting wood floors is also a good option if you want to give the room a different look. If it’s your first time painting wood floors, then stick with something simple. Trying a fancier or bolder look might not turn out as it did in your mind. Or you could hire a professional to repaint the floors for you to ensure the end result is beautiful.
Another important factor to consider before repainting the wood flooring is it will need to be scuffed up for the paint to stick. Paint doesn’t stick well to wax or sealant. Hardwood floors can usually be sanded and refinished many times. Engineered floors, on the other hand, can only be sanded and refinished a few times.
Dust-Mop Your Hardwood Flooring Regularly
A mistake some homeowners make is mopping their wood floors too often. Mopping wood flooring every week oversaturates the floors and oversaturation can damage the finish. To keep your wood floors looking new, vacuum and dust-mop them often. Your floors can then go longer in between recoating, buffing, or refinishing jobs.
The best way to keep your hardwood floors looking new is taking care of them. Clean them correctly, and you will make your flooring last longer while looking better longer too. When your floors begin to look dingy or not as fresh, some of the possibilities for making them look new include recoating, buffing, and repainting. Before you implement one of these techniques, check the state of the wood floors to know whether or not the wood beneath the finish is damaged. That makes a difference on which method will work for making the hardwood flooring look new. If you would like to learn more, visit Relative Space.