How Sanding Your Floors Can Give New Life to Your Hardwood

The quintessential flooring may be hardwood or engineered hardwood, but it won’t last long if you don’t take steps to protect it. So, if you’re wondering whether sanding your hardwood flooring is all that it’s cracked up to be, then the answer is yes; sanding will prolong the life of your hardwood flooring, making it a worthwhile investment.

When we refer to hardwood flooring, we also include engineered hardwood, as these floors will benefit from sanding. However, engineered hardwood, just like different types of hardwood, may have different maintenance requirements. For instance, 6mm thick engineered hardwood can withstand 4-6x sanding and refinishing, while 2mm can only handle it twice.

So, if you’re new to hardwood flooring maintenance or need a refresher course, read on to find out how to prevent the need for hardwood flooring repair. 

Signs Of Wear And Tear

The best time to sand your floors is before they show signs of wear and tear, such as scratches, dents, or dings. Here are some hardwood floor red flags that reveal your floors need immediate sanding and refinishing:

• Water Damage: If your boards are discoloured or fading, you want to assess whether the water damage is isolated to one spot or widespread due to a flood. The next step is figuring out the extent of the damage. For instance, if the boards are “cupped” and appear wavy-looking, you may need to hire a professional for some hardwood flooring repair in addition to sanding.
• Sun Fading: Do you have hardwood flooring in a sunny room? If so, it may develop sun fading, which means the boards are visibly discoloured. Fortunately, if your floors are sun-faded, they just need to be refinished and sanded to bring them back to their former glory.
• Scratches, Dings, or Dents: Scratches and the like are inevitable, but if they start to accumulate or there are deep dings, it’s time to sand and refinish your floors.
• Impossible Stains: If you have a mystery stain that not even Houdini can make disappear, sanding your hardwood floors is in the future.

How Many Times Can You Sand Your Floors?

A word of caution. Although we advocate sanding your flooring to erase unsightly surface damage, homeowners should sand it only occasionally. Throughout your hardwood’s lifespan, you can safely sand and refinish them between 4-6x, so you should aim to sand your floors every 7-10 years.

Sanding Hardwood Flooring 101

Sanding hardwood flooring is best done by a professional flooring contractor, like the Brothers Flooring, or by an experienced DIYer. Here are the general sanding steps you can expect:

• Prepare the room by removing all furniture and taping or sealing off outlets or vents to contain the dust.
• Sand the floors with 40-grit sandpaper or a drum belt sander.
• Vacuum to remove dust frequently.
• Buff the floors with 120-grit and vacuum again.
• Stain and apply a top coat to the floors.
• Sand the floors lightly, vacuum, and reapply the top coat.

The Benefits Of Sanding

There are many benefits to sanding your hardwood floors beyond the obvious, such as preventing unnecessary hardwood flooring repairs! These are the main reasons why you should sand your floors:

• It prolongs the hardwood’s lifespan.
• It increases the value of your home.
• It makes for less noise, as walking across damaged flooring can be loud.
• It protects against injury from slivers or tripping over broken boards.
• It protects from insect and animal invasion as they can live between board cracks.
• Staining the hardwood can update the look of your room.
• Sanding also makes cleaning a lot easier as the dust can’t tuck away into the cracks or imperfections!

Final Thoughts On Sanding Hardwood Floors

The point of hardwood flooring is that it is timelessly beautiful and a practical floor that, if well-maintained, will last a long time. Thus, the underlying thing to remember about hardwood flooring is that it requires more than everyday cleaning, like vacuuming. Sanding and refinishing your hardwood is part of the maintenance plan you signed up for when you chose hardwood flooring. However, you only need to sand and refinish the floors when the wear and tear accumulates or every 7-10 years. 

If you think your hardwood floors need repair or want a second opinion on whether you should sand them, call us the Brothers Flooring today! We offer free consultations, and with over 20 years in the business, we’re confident we can help answer any floor-related questions you may have!