How to professionally stain a floor

Many builders and flooring contractors shy away from staining floors yet its not a difficult process at all. Follow each stage to make a floor look superb.

Preparation:

• After popping nails below the surface and filling any holes, sand the wood down to 120 grade (softwoods) and 180 grade (hardwoods) always finishing off along the grain. Rougher or poorly sanded wood will absorb more stain and look darker after staining so preparation is extremely important.
• Vacuum the floor and clean with warm water. Leave to dry and lightly touch sand.

Staining:

• Apply Finney's Professional Water Stain along the grain by brush or applicator. The wood will only absorb so much stain so put plenty on wiping off all of the excess stain with a porous cloth such as an old towel. The colour of the stain when wet will give an idea of final shade. Leave to dry for 1-2 hours.
• Apply a single coat of Finney’s Transparent Fixative by brush to seal in the stain. This product is touch dry in around 5 minutes and ready for recoating in 30 minutes.
• Finally, seal the floor with 2-3 coats of either Finney’s Extra Tough Floor Varnish, or Finney's Extra Tough HardWax Varnish or Finney’s Ultimate Floor Varnish.