Professional painting contractors and floor re finishers use techniques and skills for hardwood floor refinishing that any do-it-yourself-er can acquire. Apply the following 8 methods and you should be on the road to great looking hardwood floors in your home at a fraction of the cost.

1. Don't cut your prep work short. Proper Preparation is the most important key to achieving a nice looking floor. While sanding away the old finish with a power belt sander, always sand in the direction of the grain in the wood. Avoid start and stop marks and feather sand areas that need it. This helps achieve an even absorption of the stain, lessening the splotchy appearance.

2. Proper clean up is crucial. Proper clean up is also where a lot of people go wrong. Once you have sanded all the old stain and varnish from the wood, you have to remove all dust and debris from the floor and cracks. Vacuum the floor thoroughly and use a crevice tool to help lift dust and debris from cracks and crevices. Once you have completed a thorough vacuuming of the floor, use a tack cloth on the entire area to pick up any remaining particles. The tack cloth will remove more debris that the vacuum cleaner can't remove. Many people make the mistake of forgoing this step. Don't leave off this very important step. It will help you achieve a clean mirror smooth surface.

3. Stop air flow in the room. Once you have cleaned the room you will need to stop dust from getting to your work area. Air flow brings dust into the room. Close all windows, doors, and heating and air vents. Keep all people and pets out of the room as they will track small particles of dust and hair onto the floor. Resume normal air flow after you have stained the wood, and the final coat of varnished applied to the floor has had time to dry to touch.

4. Use a wood conditioner before applying stain. Wood conditioners even out the absorption of stain in wood. This will achieve a more even appearance of color. You will have less of a splotchy appearance.

5. Be sure and maintain a temperature range in accordance to the recommendations specified on the product labels. Improper temperature will effect the drying time of the products. Too hot or too cold can cause streaking, crawling and film formation problems.

6. Mix stain properly. If you have several gallons or quarts of stain, then box them all together so that your stain is uniform. Furthermore, remember that the solids in stains settle to the bottom of the can. It's real important to stir the stain very well making sure the solids are no longer settled to the bottom of the cans. Otherwise, your stain color will not be accurate.

7. Strain your top coat finish. Pour the top coat finish through a cone strainer or a five gallon pail paint strainer to remove any solid finish particles from the top coat finish product prior to application.

8. Your top coat needs to be a minimum of 3 mils thick. Two coats of the top finish is necessary to achieve this thickness, leaving a more uniform sheen.

Remember to allow adequate time for the finish to cure. Cure time is usually 2 to 3 weeks. So be careful how you slide furniture or objects across the uncured floor. You don't want to damage all your hard work.