Sanding hardwood flooring Manhattan is a job for the professionals simply because even if you’ve used a floor sander before, you could do more harm than good to your floors in no time at all. Before you can even begin to think about applying a new finish, you’ll need to have your hardwood floor sanded down to the natural wood to remove the old finish and repair any scratches or grooves.

Depending on your needs, a professional hardwood worker will determine which method is best to sand your hardwood floors: a commercial grade floor sander finishes the job faster and easier while a hand-held drum sander allows more control in the process. Either way, improper usage of a commercial grade floor sander or of a hand-held drum sander can cause severe damage to the floor, that’s why is important to always hire a serious professional.

Here are a few things you need to know when monitoring or doing a hardwood flooring job:

• Expect the unexpected: Be ready for the prep/finishing process to take more time and be more physically taxing than you think.
• Plan to remove the shoe molding and to replace painted shoe molding with a shoe that’s the same species as your floor.
• Try a practice run of the process on an area that is hidden most of the time.
• Use a belt floor machine with a very coarse 36 grit on to remove all of the old seal and to level the floor.
• Go with the wood grain and remove all wood chips and dust prior to each step of  polishing and lacquering to achieve the best result.
• Use a sweeping motion to obtain the desired finish.
• Avoid the temptation to keep going over stains or irregularities with the hope that they will go away; they won’t.

While it is true that many people dream of having stunning hardwood flooring in their home, they do not realize that this takes some periodic repair and finishing. Done regularly, floor repair and refinishing work best when executed by a professional hardwood flooring specialist. This way you can enjoy that nice finish and make sure to work is done without harm to both your floor and your checkbook!