22 Steps to a Perfect Floor:
- 1 - Remove base molding and move appliances.
- 2 - Vacuum floor so it’s clean for sanding.
- 3 - Set up sanding equipment.
- 4 - 1st field sand with drum sander. The drum sander is basically just a big belt sander. We start with the highest grit that effectively removes the old finish off the floor. Typically we may start with a 40 or 50 grit.
- 5 - 1st edge sand with edger. The drum sander only gets to within about 10 inches of the wall so we have to sand those areas with a disc sander called an edger. We may use either a 50 or 60 grit.
- 6 - 2nd field sand with drum sander. To sand properly we don’t skip more than one grit with each sanding pass. So typically this pass is done with a 60 or 80 grit.
- 7 - Vacuum floor.
- 8 - Trowel fill floor. We trowel fill the floor filling any cracks, nail holes, or knots.
- 9 - 2nd edge sand with edger. We’ll use either a 100 or 120 grit paper.
- 10 - 3rd field sand with drum sander using either a 100 or 120 grit paper.
- 11 - Hand sand and scrape.
- 12 - Vacuum floor.
- 13 - Trio. We do our final sanding with a 3-disc sander called a Trio. This gets the floor flat and smooth. It blends in and removes the sanding marks left by the drum and edger.
- 14 - Vacuum floor.
- 15 - Apply 1st coat of finish.
- 16 - Apply 2nd coat of finish.
- 17 - Hand sand the edges. We abrade the finish prior to the final coat to smooth out any grain raise. This is done to the edges as the buffer cannot get close enough to the walls.
- 18 - Buff. We use a 16-inch buffer with 180grit paper to abrade the finish coat before the final coat of finish is applied. This helps even out the finish and smooths out any grain raise.
- 19 - Vacuum floor.
- 20 - Tack floor. We tack the floor with wet microfiber cloths to remove any fine dust that the vacuum may have missed.
- 21 - Apply 3rd coat of finish.
- 22 - Replace base molding and appliances.
