Preparing the Floor

• 1). Remove everything from the room. You will be sanding the floor to make it even. Although removing furniture is an obvious necessity, you will also want to remove wall art and light fixtures to prevent the fine dust from gathering in hard to clean areas.
  
  
• 2). Rent a drum sander and edge sander from your local equipment supply store.
  
  
• 3). Remove molding around the edges of the room. This may get in the way of the sander, making your job more difficult.
  
  
• 4). Use the drum sander and 20 grit sandpaper to sand the entire room. It is easiest to sand in one direction. After the room is completely sanded with the 20 grit sandpaper, sand it using 36 grit and then 100 grit paper. This will leave you with perfectly smooth wood floors.
  
  
• 5). Use your edge sander to sand the edges of the room. You will make three passes around the room. One each with 20, 36 and 100 grit sandpaper attached to the sander.
  
  
• 6). Sweep the floor to remove as much dust and debris left from sanding as you possibly can.
  
  
• 7). Wet a washcloth and move it against the grain of the wood, picking up any small particles that you may have missed with the broom. This is known as tacking and is necessary to prevent small grains of dust and dirt from being sealed into the wood floor when you apply the waterborne floor finish.
  
  
• 8). Protect the walls by applying painter's tape to the perimeter of the room. This prevents you from accidentally getting floor finish on the walls.
  
  

Applying the Finish

• 1). Apply a thin coat of your waterborne floor finish to the floor roller. Beginning at the edges of the room, roll the finish onto the floor with the roller. Move with the grain of the wood. Reapply finish to the roller periodically as you go.
  
  
• 2). Smooth out the finish along the edges of the room and in the corners with a paint edger.
  
  
• 3). Allow the finish to dry for 24 hours. Although waterborne finish typically dries within an hour, you want to make certain it is a dry as possible before the final sanding.
  
  
• 4). Sand the finished floor with the drum sander and a very fine grit sandpaper. Only make one pass. You do not want to strip the finish from the floor. Your goal is only to roughen up the floor finish for a second coat.
  
  
• 5). Apply a second coat of waterborne floor finish using the same process that you used to apply the original coat with the floor roller and edger.
  
  
• 6). Remove the painter's tape.
  
  
• 7). Allow the floor finish to dry completely before walking on it, reapplying the molding and moving furniture back into the room.