Finishing Raw Wood Floor

Brush up on the basics of 8 popular options before choosing yours.

Finishing raw wood floor.

To remove surface scratches damage to poly in high traffic areas etc as opposed to a pre finished floor where a screen and recoat isn t an option so though the finish is tougher and more durable if you want to spruce up the look of your floors. But paste wax and that is what i ll be discussing here is not really a wood finish but merely a top dressing for an already film finished floor. Besides building custom wood projects i have also refinished a few hardwood floors as a remodeling contractor. Pine can serve as a beautiful softwood flooring in any home whether you ve just installed it yourself or had it professionally done.

Hardwood floor finishes have varying levels of ease durability even glossiness. Unlike hardwood flooring though softwood does not come pre finished. Here s the basic protocol for sanding your floor whether you re knocking down raw wood or stripping an existing finish. And like memories some are better than others and the best part about hardwood flooring is that you can sand away those memories if one day you think you ve had enough.

Learn how to finish and protect raw wood without changing its color or darkening the wood. That is because wax by itself will not keep the floor from getting water damaged from the least little spill and as you can see unless the floor is well finished some say well sealed wax cannot be buffed to the nice satin sheen it is. Like wrinkles the marks of time on your floors are like memories. Those who love the look of raw unfinished wood and those who can t wait to slap on some poly to amplify the wood s natural beauty.

The water base finishes produce really light bright colors in the wood and oil base finishes produce a darker color with a pronounced amber tone. It is amazing the difference in floor color between a water base and oil base finish. You ll go through this three times using increasingly finer grits of paper as you go. How to finish pine floors.

Hardwood floors tend to be resistant to soaking up liquid spills owing to the closeness of the grain. There are two types of people in the world. This technique works with any sheen. This is a property that makes hardwood floors more durable than for instance a pine floor but also makes them more difficult to finish.