At certain intervals of time, the wood installed in your house will get dusty because of dirt and dust. As a result, it will need some care and maintenance to bring it back to its original state. After multiple cycles of cleaning along with normal foot traffic, the floor color will start to fade. One of the common ways to refurbish wood flooring is to sand it, but many people make the mistake of over-sanding which leads to some damage and compromises the beauty of their wood floors.
So, if you want to know more about how to fix over-sanded wood, this blog will be the perfect guide for you. Let’s start!
What happens when you sand wood too much?
Sanding the wood in one single spot will begin to appear uneven and a little bit unbalanced with the other areas. This kind of error is possible for anyone regardless of their level of woodworking experience.
Most of the time this process begins with a simple attempt to sand away a stain, defect, scratch, or gouge. When wood dust is so fine that it can’t be seen, it clogs the wood’s pores. Due to this, even the final process of restaining and refinishing refurbished floors will not be able to permeate the wood effectively, resulting in a poor finished product.
Easy steps to follow on how to fix over-sanded wood
If you try to revive your wood by sanding it and accidentally end up overdoing it, don’t freak out! It is repairable and can be restored to its original state. For that, here are some golden steps on how to fix sanding mistakes
1-Lightly shade the over-sanded spot
In this step, you need to start by marking the troublesome spot with a pencil, then give the small area around the penciled spot a light shadow. The pencil marks outside the divot will go away as well as the light shadow area. Once they are gone, the wood is good to go.
It’s also important to note that using light shading will likely serve you best. You can always go darker later.
2-Smooth the wood out
Higher grit sandpaper will smooth the wood more quickly, but it will leave sandpaper marks that will require a lower grit to remove. Make sure you don’t spend too much time and effort on a single spot. If done cautiously, then eventually the planks will be leveled.
You can stop sanding when the pencil marks that were previously there begin to go away. The task at hand should not necessitate the use of excessive force if you do not have access to a wood surfacer to assist with the task. To do something correctly, you must not use unnecessary force.
3-Get rid of sanding marks
If you started with an orbit sander or high grit sandpaper you would need to use lower grit sandpaper in order to remove the marks that the other sanders left behind.
When sanding with the grain rather than against it, you should always keep the pressure constant and sand in the same direction. Grit sandpaper should not be used to remove things like pencil marks or dried glue, but it can be used to fill nail holes and smooth joints.
After finishing the sanding process, it is time to stain and finish your wood. As mentioned before, the wood dust can get into the pores of the wood and block them, keeping it from getting the right amount of stain and finish.
In worst-case scenarios, if your wood is no longer functional you may need to replace it. We can also help with that if it comes down to it.
We hope this has led you to confidently solve your unbalanced sanded wood issue. If you have more questions or need more feedback absolutely contact us today. There is no failure. You either succeed or learn. So go for it!
Learn how to refinish hardwood flooring: www.oldworldtimber.com/what-to-know-before-refinishing-engineered-hardwood-floors/
