Refinishing Hardwood Floors
Bring the life back to your home’s unique style: consider refinishing your hardwood floors rather than replacing them. Touchwood Flooring’s team in Edmonton offers high-quality wood floor refinishing with over 20 years of experience.
From site-finished, pre-finished, to pre-war original flooring, we’ve seen it all. Rest assured, our team can bring your home’s flooring back to its former glory.
Why Choose Hardwood Refinishing Over Replacement
In many cases it’s actually preferable to refinish your flooring rather than replace them: obviously a big part of this is affordability but another part is that hardwood is made to last for a long time, so having your floor refinished is a natural part of its lifecycle.
Refinishing your floor rather than replacing it doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the flooring facelift or a change in style: in many cases, it’s still possible to change the stain of a floor and replace any boards that might be too far gone. We sand existing site-finished floors as well as prefinished floors or engineered hardwoods (with a wear layer of at least 3mm).
Like the look of a site-finished floor? We can also source unfinished wood and then finish it in your home for a very custom look. Lastly, we get asked all the time to do repairs on an existing floor, we can source the wood even if it is the narrow strips from the 50s!
You don’t always have the option as sometimes a floor is simply too damaged to be refinished. Give us a call to come out and assess the damage.
Is my floor too damaged to be refinished?
There are a few situations in which your floor might be too damaged to consider a refinishing job. Firstly, if your floor has sustained severe water damage, chipping, or stains, it’s less likely that you will be able to refinish it as is. Secondly, if your floor has been refinished too many times you will begin to see some issues cropping up. Every time a floor is refinished it has to be sanded down; if it has been refinished too many times the wear layer of your hardwood deteriorates and you will start to see nail heads on the flooring’s surface. Floors will generally be very squeaky at this point.
Hardwood Refinishing Costs
It should come as no surprise that the cost to refinish your hardwood floors is more affordable than installing a new hardwood floor from scratch. However, we know that regardless of whether or not you decide to install or refinish your hardwood flooring, the cost is a considerable investment.
It’s for this reason that we provide our customers with a detailed estimate; we’ll give you an itemized breakdown of what you can expect to pay for your project to be completed.
The Hardwood Refinishing Process
As with any home renovation, special attention must be paid in preparing your home for your floor refinishing. This includes having 220 V power source near your project, not painting within the space until the floor has been completed, removing or protecting any furniture inevitable dust, and removing baseboards doors and floor coverings. For a full list, view our sanding and finishing checklist.
Depending on the condition of your hardwood floors, the refinishing process might look very different.
Once we have been able to repair any damaged planks, we will move onto to getting your floors sanded. This process removes anything from grit to a buildup of wax or dirt. During this process, we will try our best to sand out only the minimum amount of wear layer of the floors to ensure their longevity for years to come. Please remember that the depth at which we need to sand your hardwood will be influenced by the condition of your floors and other factors like deep scratches, prefinished bevels or any dents.
After we sand the floor, we fill in any cracks or nail holes, sand again and then apply 3 coats of a commercial grade water-based urethane. We would then stain the floor if you do not want to leave it with its natural colour. We have many colours to choose from in Semi, Satin or Matte Gloss sheen – we recommend the lower sheens to hide wear. After we stain your flooring, we end with three coats of two-component commercial grade water-based urethane, which will be applied over a number of days.
After the final coat has been applied, in two days the floor is 75% cured and fully cured within the week. We recommend waiting the week before moving any area rugs back into your space or fully going back to your regular use of the space.
The Truth About Dustless Refinishing
You’ll have probably seen countless companies promoting a “dust-free” refinishing service – unfortunately, there is no such thing as a dustless refinishing. In any refinishing project, there is always going to be a bit of dust but we do our best to minimize it. Our sanders contain up 90% of dust leaving very little behind: we like to say that it would be like you haven’t dusted for three months – not terribly messy but truthfully, some dust is left behind.
In our preparation checklist, we provide some helpful hints to prepare your space before any home renovation, such as taping up cabinets and moving hard to dust items from adjoining rooms.
Does Hardwood Refinishing Smell?
In the past, the odour from oil-based urethanes was a concern during any re-finishing process. At Touchwood Flooring, we use a commercial-grade water-based finish. This has decreased the smell that people have previously expected with any hardwood refinishing project. Many clients have said that the smell is like water-based paints. However, if you are sensitive to smells, it might be good to be out of the house during the renovation and for a few days after.
The Time It Takes To Refinish Floor
The time-consuming nature of refinishing hardwood floors is often a stumbling point for our clients. However, a renovation that used to take weeks can now be completed in around 3 to 4 days for sanding, staining and refinishing.
That being said, the timeline for your hardwood flooring refinishing project can vary based upon a number of factors; from the size of space, whether the floor was previously sanded or if it is a prefinished floor and whether or not you need extensive repairs.
Our team is happy to walk you through the steps involved. Book an in-home consultation and we’ll help give the most accurate breakdown of costs and time projected to complete your project.