Sanding A Maple Floor

I recently was asked to look at a maple floor to fix.

Sanding a maple floor. That way you ll get a heads up on and hopefully the knowledge to avoid some of the problems you might encounter and some of the mistakes beginners make. Many times on these old maple floors there is a type of coating that tends to gum up the sandpaper. Sanding a maple floor is not like sanding oak. There is no magic solution or tool for sanding and finishing a maple floor.

None of it is rocket science but it will help you to read through all the sanding pages including first things first working with sanders and edgers and the sanding faq before you begin. Sanding a wood floor is a multi step process. Sand the floor down to bare wood with medium grit sandpaper in the floor sander. Use when there is a good deal of flattening of the floor needed.

It had every imperfection you can think of. You will remove a lot of wood stock even when sanding the hardest of wood floor species. The trick to getting a great finish on maple is a diligent sanding job and the application of thin uniform coats with sufficient dry time on each coat. Sand with the grain moving the sander in a straight line from one end of the room to the other.

Once the sanding is done then you need to thoroughly clean the wood. Because of maple s light color any dust or foreign debris left on the floor will show up instantly when you apply stain or dye. Use a powered palm sander with fine grit sandpaper 200 to 300 to smooth the edges of. If you decide to screen your maple floor or use grits finer than 100 you will need to pop the grain.

The best application tool and procedure is the one that the finisher is the most comfortable using. You can keep sawdust from getting into other rooms by covering entrances with plastic sheeting and masking tape. You are most likely going to refinish one maple floor every few years so you will not get that many chances to practice. Use as the starting grit for floors with shellac finishes single layers of paint or some very hard floors like maple.

Resand the floor edges. I generally don t like to use any less than a 36 grit paper. A step by step video for a home owner on how to use various wood floor sanders and how to apply the finish. 1 don t use too low of a grit.