Many people know that floors can be sanded multiple times. However, there is a limit to how many times you can sand a floor before you need new wood. Sanding a floor one too many times can lead to splintering and cracking. The limit for 3/4-in. solid flooring is when the wood above the groove is near 3/32-in. after sanding. There are other things you should consider before sanding your floor. Sever stains, or even scratching may require board replacement, and that tends to be more work than most of our customers are willing to do themselves. Read on to see what preparations anyone should take before they consider sanding their floors.
A seriously scratched floor
With some stains, too much sanding might be required to gain any real benefit. In these situations, board replacement is recommended. Anything from pet stains, water stains, severe scratches, and dents can require board replacement. Loose boards can also be a problem and can lead to the sanding machines to cause waves in the floor. If you have access from below, you can add screws from the bottom, or use top nails if the first option isn’t feasible. This may also be a good time to fix any squeaking you've been noticing.
"Wax can be extremely difficult to sand as it quickly clogs up sandpapers."
We’ve run into a few situations where customers called us after they had an exceptionally hard time sanding their floors, so they asked us to come take a look. Wax can be extremely difficult to sand as it quickly clogs up sandpapers. You can determine if a floor has been waxed by scraping it with a fingernail. If your floors are waxed, you may require a little bit of professional help because the process for sanding waxed floors can be tricky. The process involves not generating too much heat in one specific loaction when sanding so as not to creat too much heat. The heat is what leads to wax melting and gunking up your sandpaper. Contact us if you’d like tips on sanding a floor that’s been waxed. We’d be more than happy to help.