If you have hardwood flooring throughout your home you likely enjoy the benefits of the flooring day in and day out. With hardwood flooring your maintenance is simple, clean up is a breeze and you create a beautiful warm environment in your home. Hardwood floors are also great because if you want a new look you can just select the area rug of your choice and throw it down. These are all benefits that you may not be able to find so easily in other varieties of flooring such as carpeting and tile. While hardwood flooring does have numerous benefits at some point in time you may find that you have to refinish your flooring. Whether you have had your flooring for years and you are starting to notice the wear that any floor would incur over time or you simply want your hardwood flooring to have a different appearance without replacing it you will find staining your floors quite useful.

Once you make the decision to re-stain your floors it is important that you evaluate you capabilities and decide whether you want to tackle the project yourself or hire a professional to complete the job. If you have experience completing do-it-yourself projects in your home and feel confident in your abilities then you can likely do the project yourself. But if you have never so much as painted a wall or picked up a piece of sandpaper then you may want to consider hiring a professional. If you have decided that you are going to do the project yourself it is time to head to your local home improvement store; if you are going to go with a professional then it is time to turn to the internet or phone book to find the right hardwood expert for the job.

Before starting the project it is important to make certain that you have all of the necessary supplies including: a sander, sandpaper, a lint free cloth, stain, polyurethane, and a pad or natural bristle brush for application. After you have all of your supplies at hand it is time to remove all of the furniture from the room so it will not be in the way while completing the project. The first step is to remove the old stain from the floor by sanding the floor thoroughly. After you have sanded down the floor you will find a great deal of dust behind so you should sweep and vacuum the floor as well as dust the walls, windows, and any other permanent fixtures in the room. A thorough cleaning will prevent any dust from settling into the stain after application.

Next it is time to apply the stain using a lint free cloth; it is important that you follow the directions that come with the stain of your choice. After you have thoroughly read the directions and applied the stain to the floor it is time to wait for it to dry. If you are happy with the first coat of stain after the floor dries you can now move on to applying the polyurethane finish, if not then apply another coat of the stain to make the floor appear darker. Like you did with the stain it is important to read all of the instructions for application on the polyurethane finish to ensure that it is applied correctly. After all of the application steps are complete and your floor is dry you can move your furniture back in and you will be able to enjoy your beautiful new floors for years to come.