If you're thinking of picking up that floor sander, reading this article may save your floor from a fate worse than death! Don’t disfigure your lovely wood floors just to save a few dollars. Staining the wood before applying the floor finish requires a different sanding technique than the method one would use if applying the floor finish directly to the wood.  In this article, I discuss both processes.

Applying the finish directly to the wood is sometimes called a "natural" or "blonde finish" and it quite easy to do. Sanding a wood floor in preparation for a stain, on the other hand, is a tricky job: professional floor sanders are still having some difficulty achieving consistent results with wood stains!  And I have to admit that staining
floors  -- especially with white and ebony stains – can even give me a case of the willies.  But this, dear reader, is a good thing for you.  Without feeling this dread, I’m afraid that I wouldn’t be so alert to the many pitfalls that one can run into when preparing a wood floor for a stain.

SANDING A WOOD FLOOR IN PREPARATION FOR A STAIN

I always start this job by going over the whole floor on my hands and knees.  This is the only way to check an old floor for split boards and broken top grooves or discover if the surface is too thin or damaged to handle the extensive sanding process that a stained floor needs.

If you’re a professional, this is your chance to decline a job before you end up with bad results.  If the floor couldn’t take it – and you do it anyway -- every body blames each other. Just remember that in all the small claims court cases that I have served as an expert witness, it was assumed that the floor mechanic alone had the expertise to determine if a floor could be sanded with good results.

If you’re an amateur and you think you are going to simply rent a floor-sanding machine and sand the floor yourself, please consider the following.  I have another (free) article that discusses in detail whether you should consider doing this rather difficult job yourself. It might be better to hire a professional and have him follow the prep for staining that I describe in this article.

If he refuses to cover all of the details I mention, do the final vibrator and buffer sanding yourself.  This, at least, you CAN do, for many companies rent good equipment for such a job.  By doing this, you can ensure that all the proper steps have been taken to prepare your floor for the wood stain. Buying this article, in other words, will be inexpensive insurance. You will know exactly what to look for after a floor is sanded -- before you pay – and thus avoid having a contractor leave machine marks.  In fact, you might even have your professional read this article so that he’s aware that you know a proper "sand only" job should cost about a buck a square foot or less.

A well-sanded floor will be a breeze to stain and finish, and this article will save you from hiring the wrong contractor. I do have another article that explains how to stain a floor, and yet another that details how to apply polyurethane to a floor. I know from experience that these tasks are often done better by the knowledgeable amateur than by a careless, so-called "pro" in a hurry to make money.  Remember: your beautiful hardwood floor is at stake here!

A rental drum sander cannot be tuned up like I am about to instruct, and will always cause "chatter" marks. These marks will show up as stripes across the grain of the boards once you stain, and by then it’s too late to get rid of them.  Believe me, these rental machines are just too light weight to do a decent job, and it will take months of training to use a floor sander without gouging the heck out of your fine wood floor.