Home Flooring Guide

When you install hardwood floors, that is an interior decorating step that is meant to be permanent.  The investment you make in quality hardwood floors comes with an implicit agreement that you will put the time and effort into care and maintenance of those floors .     But from time to time, the need arises to change the look of the room where your hardwood floors have been installed.  

It might come when you change how the room is used such as when the kids move out and you change a bedroom into a workout room or a study.  Furniture wears out and when you need to buy a new living room suite, you may wish to change the colors of that room and in doing so, go another direction with the feel of the room.

It is impractical to pull up the old hardwood floor each time you make such a change.  And you don't have to do that because you can change the look of your existing hardwood floor by simply re-staining them to a tint that is more in step with the new furniture or the new look and feel of the room.

The goals of staining your hardwood floor

There are a number of good reasons that you would take the step of staining your floor.  One of the obvious reasons is when there is a spill or a scratch that damages part of the floor.  Often the best way to get rid of that flaw is to strip, sand, re-stain and then finish that part of the floor.  It is a bit of an effort which is one reason to take care that spills and scratches are avoided on your beautiful hardwood floor.  But if they do happen, the floor is not ruined because that part of the floor can be made beautiful again.

To create a entirely new look to the floor, you would seek to stain the entire floor of the room being redone. Its a bigger job but not as big as replacing the floor entirely.  If you are going to change the room that significantly, you should include a re-staining project in your plan and in your budget.  That means either allocating the time to stain the floor yourself or allocating the budget to have a flooring expert come in and do the job for you.

A stain the fits the job

To find the right stain for the job, the first step is to make sure you understand your hardwood flooring completely.  If you moved into the home and did not install the floor yourself, you should get a reliable identification on the kind of wood that comprises your floor.  Different woods react differently to different stains.  If you are not an expert in identifying woods, get someone from your flooring supplier retailer to come out and evaluate your floor.  If you inherited the name of the supplier or the installer who put in the hardwood floor in the first place, they can help you.

When you know what kind of wood makes up your hardwood floor, you can then shop for stains that fit the wood time so you are bringing out the natural tint of the wood.  These factors could limit your choices somewhat especially if the décor you have in mind cannot be achieved with the hardwood flooring you have.  Of course you can re-stain the floor to find a tint that is compatible with your vision and then use area rugs to smooth over the differences.  Where there is a will, there's a way.

Bringing the beauty back.

The objective of your project will have a big influence over how you go about finding the right stain.  If the goal is to repair a spill or scratch, you should use the same stain that was applied to your floors when they were installed.  Often you can find a can of that stain in the garage or in a utility closet left over from the original project.  If not, there may be some documentation about what kind of stain was used to achieve that beautiful look that you wish to preserve.

The steps of re-staining your floor are not complicated.  After a good cleaning, you strip and sand the area to be refinished.  You apply the stain according to the instructions that you will get with the product.  Then, after the stain has dried, you finish and buff the floors so they are good as new.  Its a good process to get familiar with.  If you want to keep  those hardwood floors looking elegant and beautiful or if you want to update them to your current interior decorating vision, knowing how to stain your hardwood floors will be an important step in realizing that vision.