If you are doing renovation work on your house, you might want to pull up any carpeting you have in order to see what kind of flooring you have underneath. If you find that you have hardwood flooring under all that carpeting, you might decide that you want to keep it. But, odds are that the floor is going to need to have some work done. Years of having carpeting over the top of it can actually cause some problems with the hardwood floors, so getting them restored may be necessary to bring them back to their original splendor. So, what does the restoration process look like?

Evaluation

The first part of the process is going to be to bring in a flooring contractor who handles floor restoration. They will come and look at the floors. The contractor is going to look at the floors to see what is going on with the flooring. They are going to check to see if there is any major structural damage, if there is staining, and what kind of scratches or dings there might be on the floor. Once the contractor has fully evaluated the floor, they will be able to tell you what your options are and if the floor can be restored or if it needs to be replaced. 

Stripping

After evaluating the floor, the contractor will start doing the work. That will start with stripping the floor. Stripping would include taking off all the stain, wax, or paint that is on the floor. All of that stuff has to be removed in order to get down to the wood so that the floor can be restored or replaced properly. Usually, stripping your floor will be done with chemicals, and once the chemicals have loosened the stain, varnish, or paint, the person doing the work will have to use a special tool in order to scrape it all up and off the floor, taking all the coating with it. 

Sanding

There is most likely going to be a lot of sanding. Pretty much every step is going to include some sanding, since it will leave the floor nice and smooth, and ready for the next step. The contractor will generally use a large floor sander because it will get the work done faster and give a better, more even result. 

Staining

After all the stripping, sanding, more sanding, and replacing any damaged boards, it will finally be time to stain, varnish, wax, or paint the floor. That will make your floor look like it did when it was first installed. 

Restoring your hardwood floor can take some time since there are several steps that have to be done first. The more flooring you have, the longer it is going to take. But, you can end up with something beautiful when you're done. For more information, contact a local hardwood floor restoration service near you to learn more.