If you want the finish on your wood to look its best, it’s vital to put in a bit of prep-work at the beginning of your project.
The following guide will assist you with preparing wood for varnishing using Owatrol Vegafloor – our water-based wood varnish with a matt finish.
- Preparing new wood
- Previously treated wood (oiled or polished)
- Previously varnished wood in good condition
- Previously treated wood in poor condition
New wood
Degrease surface with denatured alcohol, acetone or similar solvent based product.
The surface must be clean, dry, free of dirt, grease and other contaminants, including previous coatings or mill glaze. Vegafloor can only be applied to bare wood, or wood previously finished with Vegafloor, or a solvent / waterborne floor varnish in good condition. All other finishes must be completely and thoroughly removed.
Always clean meticulously with a vacuum cleaner after each sanding, including any dust traps (skirting, radiators, pipes, window sills, etc).
Sand wooden floor using appropriate system and abrasive grades, depending on condition of surface and wood species. Cracks of 2mm wide or less should be filled and sanding resumed with 80 or 100 grit paper depending on the last grit used.
Finish with finishing grade up to grit No. 120 or 150, depending on the wood species and thickness of wear layer.
Prime all bare wood surfaces with Primafloor.
Sanding grades (change only one sanding grade at a time):
- Coarse Grades: 24, 30, 36
- Medium Grades: 40, 50, 60
- Finishing Grades: 80, 100, 120, 150
Previously treated wood (oiled or polished)
Previously oiled or polished surfaces should firstly be stripped with a product such as DSP800.
After stripping, degrease the surface with with denatured alcohol, acetone, white (mineral) spirit or similar solvent based product.
Then, prepare and sand the surface as instructed in the above section ‘new wood’.
Previously varnished wood in good condition
Clean wood meticulously and then sand with grit No. 100 or 120 to remove surface imperfections and dull existing finish.
Meticulously vacuum surface.
Previously treated wood in poor condition
Remove existing finish by sanding or stripping with a product such as DSP800.
After stripping, degrease surface with with denatured alcohol, acetone, white (mineral) spirit or similar solvent based product.
Then, prepare and sand the surface as instructed in the above section ‘new wood’.
Using a multi-purpose stripper
Owatrol’s DSP 800 Stripper is a powerful, ‘Dichloromethane’ free, multi-purpose stripper, suitable for removing a wide range of coatings, including acrylic, epoxy and cellulose.
Fast acting and ready to use, DSP 800 leaves a clean, coating-free surface that can be refinished after only 6 hours. Even better, as it contains no acid, caustic soda or potash, it will not darken wood and therefore requires no neutralisation after use.
This stripper is ideal for a wide variety of projects, as it can be used on both interior and exterior wood surfaces. Additionally, it can remove car paint, get rid of unwanted carpet glue and strip paint from stone and cement walls.
Before using DSP 800 on your whole project, it’s important to apply it to a small test area. Full instructions for use can be found here.
Get rid of those small surface imperfections
Before applying your top coat of varnish, you could fill these imperfections with a transparent grain filler. It’s important to note that you shouldn’t apply grain filler to bare wood. You’ll need a coat of varnish first.
When it comes to preparing your wood, there’s no need to reach straight for the sand paper. On some occasions, it may be possible to strip your wood with a multi-purpose stripper instead and save yourself both time and effort.
We hope you found this post on how to prepare your wood for varnishing helpful. If you have any handy tips or advice, please feel free to leave them in the comments below.
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