Sanding Maple Floors Varnish

First a natural maple floor finished with water based finish is going to look a lot different than a maple floor that is finished with an oil based finish see pics below.

Sanding maple floors varnish. Use as the starting grit for floors with shellac finishes single layers of paint or some very hard floors like maple. Secondly a maple floor if properly sanded and conditioned can take a stain and look absolutley stunning picture top left and another stained maple floor below. Because maple is so light scratches will not be so easy to spot like on oak floors. For hard to stain woods finish sanding with 120 grit will usually accommodate the problem.

Here are a few things i ve found that will help you in your sanding process if you find yourself having to. How to sand finish maple wood flooring. His customer wanted a wide maple floor finished in a 2 000 square foot house. I ve found that the older maple floors become the harder they seem to get.

Sanding floors is such hard work and i know exactly how you feel. Though labor intensive sandpaper is capable of removing nearly any wood finish. Use when there is a good deal of flattening of the floor needed. If you understand these three factors you will sand a maple floor very successfully.

It can be used to refinish hardwood floors or it can be used to remove varnish from much smaller surfaces a. Depending on the finish being applied anything finer than 100 grit may be too smooth always consult the finish manufacturer s directions. Avoid sanding maple too smooth. Thickness planer marks on every stair tread new install maple is light in color hard and has a closed grain.

When fine sanding maple floors always reduce drum pressure to its lowest setting and slow the drum speed if your machine allows for it. You will remove a lot of wood stock even when sanding the hardest of wood floor species. Sand away the old finish if the floor is badly worn. The use of grits up to 600 is certainly allowed but is not standard practice.

I have some good news and bad news. This old maple differs a bit from newer maple floors. Prepare the room for sanding by removing all furniture window treatments and wall hangings. Recently a wood floor finisher asked for some advice regarding a job he was about to begin.

The floor was to be sanded stained a dark brown color and finished with four coats of a leading waterborne finish in a satin sheen. For finish sanding on most furniture hardwoods e g cherry and mahogany use 180 grit or 220 grit.