My parents have hardwood flooring in the kitchen. It was installed years ago not quite sure how long ago. Does anyone have any recommendations for what to look for when calling around for quotes? I saw a place about six months ago that said resurfacing and sealing for $179. Not sure if that's reasonable or high. I know that a few of the planks have shrank on the ends.
Hardwood floor resurfacing
- Thread starter 97prizm
- Start date
Refinishing hardwood properly costs thousands of dollars, depending on size and condition. If you have to replace planks, sometimes matching can be tough.
Zee09
$200 Site Donor 2023
That sounds like the company Mr. Sandless
That's not the floor refinishing you're after.
More like a spit and polish at that price.
That's not the floor refinishing you're after.
More like a spit and polish at that price.
I highly doubt that is a sand and refinish. We refinished our floors ourselves around 5 years ago, believe the quotes for us were between $5 and $8 a square foot. I have seen online that quotes can range as low as $3 per square foot, but I did not find anyone that would do it that cheap.
regarding what you may want to look for, materials being used and number of coats. Floor refinishing is fairly simple but dirty laborious work. To (over)simplify the process: sand floor a couple of times, clean up, polyurethane floors multiple times.
Materials are cheap but if longevity matters to your parents you can research the quality of the materials used. Other than a company that is bad at the actual sanding it is hard to mess up.
regarding what you may want to look for, materials being used and number of coats. Floor refinishing is fairly simple but dirty laborious work. To (over)simplify the process: sand floor a couple of times, clean up, polyurethane floors multiple times.
Materials are cheap but if longevity matters to your parents you can research the quality of the materials used. Other than a company that is bad at the actual sanding it is hard to mess up.
It all depends on the type of flooring. In old style traditional hardwood floors they can take it down enough to get rid of scratches, they can change out boards damaged by my cat pee and can even change colour. With more modern stuff with an embossed pattern it becomes more difficult. A home visit is absolutely necessary. Don’t feel you need to take the absolute low ball estimate. A quality job costs money.
Many of the more modern hardwood floors have a simple, thin decorative layer of hardwood. Often they can be refinished properly, if great care is used. I've seen these as thin as 1/16" thick. Yikes.
You can easily see the difference. In years past, hardwood floors often came unfinished. In more recent times, it is possible to purchase the exact wood, stain color and style you want with "engineered" flooring.
You can easily see the difference. In years past, hardwood floors often came unfinished. In more recent times, it is possible to purchase the exact wood, stain color and style you want with "engineered" flooring.
We had a lot of hardwood floor refinishing done recently. The quote was based on $7/square foot with additional cost if the finish was difficult to remove. It was and it did cost more. Our guy went through a lot of sanding pads.
Refinishing is a hard job. It takes days to weeks depending on the size of the job. Our guy was obsessive. Every detail had to be just right. He was working along the edges with hand tools to get every last bit of old finish off and every square inch sanded and level. We had to move out for several days while he did the finish application. He wore white disposable coveralls, OR type booties and a mask during finish application. We were not allowed in the house. Nothing was allowed to get on to the wet finish. It was painful to have him around but the result is essentially perfect. It's astonishing how good it looks.
We had some hardwood custom milled (same material, same width) put down and then finished exactly the same way in a hallway.
The finish is water based. A non slip finish was applied on our stairs (extra cost) and the stairs are not slippery.
Ask around. People in the know (hardwood suppliers in our case), know who is good. I've seen bad jobs that probably cost as much or even more. You don't want just anyone redoing your floors.
Refinishing is a hard job. It takes days to weeks depending on the size of the job. Our guy was obsessive. Every detail had to be just right. He was working along the edges with hand tools to get every last bit of old finish off and every square inch sanded and level. We had to move out for several days while he did the finish application. He wore white disposable coveralls, OR type booties and a mask during finish application. We were not allowed in the house. Nothing was allowed to get on to the wet finish. It was painful to have him around but the result is essentially perfect. It's astonishing how good it looks.
We had some hardwood custom milled (same material, same width) put down and then finished exactly the same way in a hallway.
The finish is water based. A non slip finish was applied on our stairs (extra cost) and the stairs are not slippery.
Ask around. People in the know (hardwood suppliers in our case), know who is good. I've seen bad jobs that probably cost as much or even more. You don't want just anyone redoing your floors.
You don't want a cheap job. Hardwood refinishing is a time consuming job (several days at least) and you want someone who cares about how it's going to look.
Would you let some guy repaint your classic car for $60? Me neither.
Bottom line: It's expensive and worth every penny.
One more thing. We removed the baseboards so the floor could be sanded under them. You want to avoid sanding up to a finished edge or a finished surface wherever possible. There will inevitably be damage to the edge or surface and a tiny unsanded strip that will detract from the final appearance.
We had new cupboards installed about 7 years ago and I didn't want them damaged. So I held a wide metal putty knife right up against the finished surface as the tradesman sanded right up to the putty knife (he almost wore it through a couple of times so I needed to grind it off to a new edge). We did the same thing for patio door frames.
Our old baseboards weren't the greatest (poorly done corners, damaged areas, etc) so we replaced them with a similar pattern that was a touch wider. And we painted the walls while the baseboards were off too.
So yes our job became a major production, but does it ever look good. Worthwhile? Definitely.
We had new cupboards installed about 7 years ago and I didn't want them damaged. So I held a wide metal putty knife right up against the finished surface as the tradesman sanded right up to the putty knife (he almost wore it through a couple of times so I needed to grind it off to a new edge). We did the same thing for patio door frames.
Our old baseboards weren't the greatest (poorly done corners, damaged areas, etc) so we replaced them with a similar pattern that was a touch wider. And we painted the walls while the baseboards were off too.
So yes our job became a major production, but does it ever look good. Worthwhile? Definitely.
Great case for removing shoe molding to sand or installing shoe molding after the fact if you can get it to blend to the existing trim.
We took the opportunity to replace all the trim when we did our floors…. I think I’d rather do the floor refinishing over trim if I had my pick again. Trim in my house reminded me how unsquare all my rooms and doorframes are!
Depending on the quality of the floor you may not want to refinish it...i.e. if it's really thin plank.
I think it somewhat depends upon what is needed. If the wood is scratched then it needs a full refinishing. But if only the finish is scratched then you might be able to get away with less.
We have wood floors scratched by dogs. To me it looks like only the finish is scratched. I have yet to do anything to remove the scratches. But I have articles on things to try short of getting the floors sanded and refinished.
We have wood floors scratched by dogs. To me it looks like only the finish is scratched. I have yet to do anything to remove the scratches. But I have articles on things to try short of getting the floors sanded and refinished.
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- Apr 20, 2021
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We paid $700 for 560 sf but that was for a screen and re-coat with oil based polyurethane. I think water based might cost more. Did a great job and it's holding up very well.
With all furniture removed by the homeowner, two guys first thoroughly vacuum the floor. They then sand it lightly with a rotary floor machine using an abrasive screen to scuff the existing polyurethane coating. They then vacuum thoroughly again and I think they go over with tack cloth. Then they put down a new coat of polyurethane including matching shoe molding if you have it.
It's a less expensive alternative to completely sanding, staining and coating the floor. It does not correct existing stains or gouges or other imperfections and is only for floors that are already in otherwise good shape.
This sums it up perfectly:
www.peteshardwoodfloors.com
With all furniture removed by the homeowner, two guys first thoroughly vacuum the floor. They then sand it lightly with a rotary floor machine using an abrasive screen to scuff the existing polyurethane coating. They then vacuum thoroughly again and I think they go over with tack cloth. Then they put down a new coat of polyurethane including matching shoe molding if you have it.
It's a less expensive alternative to completely sanding, staining and coating the floor. It does not correct existing stains or gouges or other imperfections and is only for floors that are already in otherwise good shape.
This sums it up perfectly:
Screen and recoat hardwood floors • AKA Buff and coat • Pete's
Learn how to screen and recoat your floors so you never have to sand them again. It's the best-kept secret in the hardwood flooring world.
www.peteshardwoodfloors.com
That’s an excellent site you linked. I order a thing or two from Pete’s Hardwood Floors when we did our floors and the company was very patient with all my questions. They have lots of good DIY knowledge articles!We paid $700 for 560 sf but that was for a screen and re-coat with oil based polyurethane. I think water based might cost more. Did a great job and it's holding up very well.
With all furniture removed by the homeowner, two guys first thoroughly vacuum the floor. They then sand it lightly with a rotary floor machine using an abrasive screen to scuff the existing polyurethane coating. They then vacuum thoroughly again and I think they go over with tack cloth. Then they put down a new coat of polyurethane including matching shoe molding if you have it.
It's a less expensive alternative to completely sanding, staining and coating the floor. It does not correct existing stains or gouges or other imperfections and is only for floors that are already in otherwise good shape.
This sums it up perfectly:
Screen and recoat hardwood floors • AKA Buff and coat • Pete's
Learn how to screen and recoat your floors so you never have to sand them again. It's the best-kept secret in the hardwood flooring world.
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