Yes. When you want to stain or change the color of your hardwood floors, you MUST fully sand and refinish the floors. If you don't sand the floors first, the stain won't properly penetrate the hardwood nor will the polyurethane properly adhere. This is the ONLY way to change the color of your hardwood floors.
If a protective hardwood finish wears off, your floors can become susceptible to water damage. If water soaks into the wood immediately rather than resting on top, it's likely time for a refinish.
When Refinishing is the Best Option
Dry, grimy floors with deep scratches and wide gaps need refinishing.
After sanding and refinishing, floors will look almost as good as new. If you refinish floors without sanding, you'll have trouble restoring areas where damage has fully penetrated the finish layer and reached the wood. Sanding is also generally necessary if you want to change the color of the wood floor.
To Sand or Use Sandless Refinishing
It won't get out deep scratches or stains and it won't help repair cupping or crowning. You can use this method to darken the color of the floor, but if you want to lighten the color, you have to sand.
Overall, you can stain hardwood floors darker without sanding as long as you clean, degrease, and buff the hardwood floor before applying the wood stain. All of these will ensure that the floor is ready to absorb the wood stain and that the finish comes out smoothly.
If your hardwood floors have been sanded and finished with Bona Mega Clear HD, it is safe to sleep in the home about 2-3 hours after the project is finished, but again, only if there are other rooms that have not been robbed of their furniture – furniture should stay off floors for at least 24 hours after ANY project ...
If I had to pick an ideal time, I would say spring or fall when the indoor temperature is most consistent with outdoor temperature and it's often easy to open the windows (after the work is complete) to help air out the smell faster. But, really, sanding and refinishing hardwood can take place any time of year.
Applying a revitalizer gloss is the simplest and cheapest way to refinish hardwood floors. This approach works best on floors that only have surface-level scratches and other minor wear and tear issues. You can get the job done without the need for equipment rentals or hard-to-find materials.
Please note that refinishing hardwood floors gray is challenging and should be handled by an expert, especially one with experience in gray and white washed floors. First, the sanding must be immaculate. Stain should be consistent and applied in strips to avoid any cross-grain color-variant lines.
Sweep or vacuum, then mop with a commercial wood floor cleaner or solution of a quarter-cup of dish soap and a gallon of warm water to lift any lingering grime. Give the floors a final pass with a clean, water-dampened mop to remove any cleaner residue. Dry completely with a soft, clean towel.
The palm sander is definitely the most common tool for sanding a wooden floor by hand. Palm sanders also oscillate, however, unlike orbital random sanders, the pad of the palm sander is fixed straight.
Just squirt Reviver on the floor in an "S" pattern and spread a thin, even coat using a damp painter's pad or a synthetic applicator attached to a long handle. Work in small sections, moving in the direction of the floorboards using a back-and-forth motion, until the entire floor is coated. Even the cleanup is easy.
Hardwood flooring can be re-sanded up to 10 times, depending on how bad the floor is and how skilled the person doing the sanding is. It costs about $2.50 per square foot to refinish a floor, plus $50 an hour for patching and thresholds.
Refinishing hardwood floors is more cost-effective than replacing them. On average, it costs about $2,000 to $7,000 to replace hardwood flooring (two to three times more than to refinish).
It is a terrible idea to sleep or stay in a house after staining floors. The stain fumes are often overwhelming and highly toxic. In addition, exposure to such a stinky smell for long periods of time can trigger severe breathing problems and other health issues to both humans and pets.
Wait 3 weeks before putting area rugs on newly refinished/finished hardwood floors. Wait 48 to 72 hours after the hardwood has been refinished/ finished before "PLACING" furniture back in its place. Keep a steady temperature and humidity within your home.
Furniture should be removed if all floors in a house must be refinished. Moving the furniture from room to room is difficult and time-consuming. Instead, removing the furniture from the house requires only two moves, instead of constant shifting throughout the refinishing process.
When you want to stain or change the color of your hardwood floors, you MUST fully sand and refinish the floors. If you don't sand the floors first, the stain won't properly penetrate the hardwood nor will the polyurethane properly adhere. This is the ONLY way to change the color of your hardwood floors.
While sanding before staining is not necessary, it is still recommended for various reasons: Light sanding can add a bit of tooth to your floor to make the staining material stick a bit stronger. Sanding generally makes wood smoother.
Minwax® PolyShades® is an easy way to change the color of your currently stained or polyurethane finished wood. There's no stripping or heavy sanding necessary to remove the old finish!