Your parquet is starting to be worn and lose its lustre and you want to give it a second youth? You can entrust the renovation of your wood floor to a professional or choose to do it yourself. If you still hesitate to get started, read the steps to follow: you can decide which way you prefer to proceed.
Prepare the room
Before starting work, you must free up all the space in the room and remove all furniture, rugs, and other objects. Then a rigorous vacuuming is necessary to remove all the coarse dirt and dust that is between the boards and in the corners.
Clean the floor
Next, the floor should be decontaminated of all potential contaminants such as wax residue, furniture polish, and grease. A cleaning product is known as “surface preparation for wood and laminate floors” is then used, which also has the advantage of optimizing the adhesion of topcoats. Just pour a small amount of product on the floor, spread it evenly with an applicator, leave it on for five minutes then vacuum up the residue before rinsing two or three times.
Sand the floor
As the floor has already been varnished, the entire surface must be roughened or decluttered by sanding with 180 to 220 grit sandpaper. Never replace the sandpaper with steel wool, like this -Here leave particles in the wood which oxidize on contact with the water contained in the varnish.
Sanding can be done either by hand or using a sand block, but it is best to use a single-disc polisher (which rents around $ 25 a day) or an orbital sander. This operation makes it possible to optimize the adhesion of the surface during the installation of the varnish.
After sandblasting, complete dust removal with a powerful vacuum cleaner is required.
Prepare the varnish
Preferably opt for a water-based polyurethane varnish: in fact, contrary to popular belief, water-based products are more resistant than oil-based varnishes, are more resistant to abrasion, and offer better resistance to contaminants. In addition, they do not emit any odour and are not harmful to health.
Once the varnish has been prepared according to the manufacturer’s instructions, it can be applied using nylon polyester brushes, short nap rollers, or applicator pads. The latter has the advantage of offering a faster and smoother application, without bubbles or streaks.
Apply the first coat
Mark the first area of the room you are going to treat. Pour a puddle and then a bead along a wall in the same direction as the planks. Generously moisten the applicator pad then spread the varnish, always respecting the direction of the slats. Use the snowplough technique. After you have completely covered the area, you should wait approximately for the varnish to dry, a little longer if the air in the room is cold or humid.
Pass the second layer
Observe the waiting time indicated by the manufacturer, then sand the surface using 180 to 220 grit sandpaper. Vacuum the floor and then apply the second coat.
All you have to do is clean the tools with water, put protective felts under the furniture and wait 24 hours before replacing them.
Varnishing a hardwood floor is neither expensive nor even complicated. This operation, which only takes one day, brings a real breath of freshness to your interior, and this, for several years.