How to Paint a Wooden Floor
Painted wooden floors are quite a common sight and are an easy way of giving a really fresh look to old, tired floors. Keeping them looking great, however, is a real challenge, especially in high-traffic areas. Often it is the actual wood that erodes away leaving unsightly patches and marks.
Depending on where the wooden floor is it can be subjected to a wide range of stresses from light and low stress all the way to enduring high mechanical stress while maintaining its perfect appearance. No matter where on this scale you fall it is important to ensure you invest time and effort when painting wooden floors to ensure a long-lasting finish.
All floors will have a bit of history to them in terms of how they have been treated before whether that be with floor paint, wax, varnish, or even untreated and left alone. All of this will need to be taken into consideration when giving your wooden floor a new look.
Tools & Materials Required
- Cleaning agent: Maalipesu
- Sandpaper: Abrasives
- brush and pan or vacuum cleaner
- Paintbrush: Our brushes
- Primer: Otex Akva Adhesion Primer
- Paint or Lacquer: Betolux Akva | Parketti Assa Floor Lacquer
Steps to Paint a Wooden Floor
Clean the Floor
Having a clean surface to paint is a key stage of any painting project, and wooden floors are no exception to this. You will want to use a cleaning agent such as our Maalipesu to ensure all grease and oil residue have been removed.
Depending on the condition the floor is in you may need to do this twice to fully clean it before proceeding. Make sure you take the time to allow it to fully dry completely before you move on.
Sand the Floor
The next step will be sanding your floor to ensure you can get a great adhesion and remove anything that could create an unstable surface to paint on. You will want to use 100 to 200-grit sandpaper depending on what you are dealing with. If you are dealing with a large area it will be far easier to deal with a sander than a sanding block. It would be quite the workout!
Give the floor a good clean before continuing to remove any dust and any other potential contaminants from the floor prior to continuing. A vacuum cleaner can be very helpful here.
Prime the Floor
Now that you have taken the time to properly clean and prime your floor it's time to apply your primer. Taking your time to properly prime your floor will ensure a good level of adhesion when you apply your top coat.
We have a couple of options when choosing a primer for a wooden floor. First, we have Otex Akva Adhesion Primer which is a water-based solution, or there is Otex Adhesion Primer if you would prefer a solvent-based option.
One more top tip is to have your primer tinted to the same colour as your top coat. This means that if there are ever any chipping or scrapes that go through the top coat you will be less likely to notice it.
Once you have applied your chosen primer you will want to leave it to dry for a further 24 hours before moving to your top coat. This offers your primer the maximum curing time which will further improve adhesion.
Apply your Top Coat
Now it's time to finally apply your top coat. Again there are a few options to choose from depending on whether you want to use paint or lacquer.
If you are looking for paint we have Betolux and Betolux Akva, these differ by the type of paint they are as the Akva paint is a water-based product while the other is solvent-based.
No matter which of these you opt for it is imperative that you allow it time to cure fully. You will need to consult the technical data sheets for the product you choose. It is likely you could lightly walk on it within a few days, however, it may take several weeks before it is fully cured.
You still have the option of a lacquer if you wanted to retain that natural wood feature or just adjust the colour of it a little. For this, we recommend our water-based Parketti Assa Floor Lacquer. If you would prefer a solvent-based product we have Unica Super 20 which will offer the same level of protection.
