Refinishing Hardwood Flooring – The whole lot You Want To Know
This site contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
We’ve refinished hardwood flooring in 5 of the 6 houses we’ve owned. That doesn’t make us skilled ground refinishers, however as householders and DIYers, we’ve developed experience for what to anticipate, what pitfalls to look out for, and the way a lot refinishing your hardwood flooring may cost a little. So on this publish, we’ll reply your entire hardwood ground refinishing FAQs together with some earlier than and after images of our numerous tasks!
Refinishing hardwood flooring generally is a daunting and disruptive mission, however it’s all the time been effectively well worth the effort for us. You may get rid of scratches and discoloration, restore richness and shine, and even change the colour completely! We’re constantly shocked by how a lot of a distinction a refinished ground makes to the entire house. Severely, they’ll virtually make your own home look model new! So let this publish be a supportive-yet-realistic nudge in direction of taking the plunge.
Hardwood Flooring Refinishing FAQS
Listed here are a few of the particular questions we’ll reply on this publish:
- Can I refinish my hardwood ground myself?
- How a lot does refinishing hardwood flooring value?
- Is refinishing your hardwood flooring price it?
- What’s the course of like?
- Do I’ve to maneuver all of my furnishings out?
- Can I keep in my residence whereas getting my ground refinished?
- How lengthy does refinishing hardwood flooring take?
- What questions ought to I ask my ground refinisher?
Please be aware that the data on this publish is predicated on our private expertise throughout 6 homes in 3 completely different cities, every of which offered barely completely different situations.
Can I Refinish My Hardwood Flooring Myself?
Refinishing hardwood flooring is a mission you are able to do your self, nevertheless, we’ve achieved many many issues ourselves (like constructing a deck, putting in a paver patio, and so forth) and we like to go away our ground refinishing to the professionals. The precise refinishing course of isn’t sophisticated – it’s mainly sanding and marking! – however professionals deliver particular gear, expertise, and experience that almost all DIYers gained’t have – particularly proper off the bat. It’s additionally a job that may be tedious, tiring, and time-consuming, so a talented refinisher can full the mission quicker and extra effectively.
If the price of utilizing a professional prevents you from hiring out the job, listed below are some normal steps to refinishing hardwood flooring as a DIY mission:
- Transfer all furnishings, decor, art work, window therapies, and so forth
- Take away all quarter-round and/or baseboard molding utilizing a pry bar
- Seal off doorways and air vents with plastic sheeting and painter’s tape
- Patch and restore any broken spots with wooden filler and/or new boards
- Sand the ground, normally 3-4 occasions, utilizing larger grit sandpaper with every go. Use a belt sander or drum sander for the bigger areas and a hand or edge sander to do the perimeter. Remember to all the time sand within the course of the wooden grain.
- Do a ultimate buff with a ground buffer or hand sander with high-grit sandpaper
- Vacuum up all mud
- Apply stain (non-obligatory) to attain your required colour, following the producer’s directions. Enable 24 hours to dry between coats.
- Apply sealer to guard flooring, following directions. Enable 24 hours earlier than strolling and 72 hours earlier than shifting furnishings or rugs again in.
- Reinstall molding. Caulk and paint as wanted.
As you’ll be able to see, this mission includes numerous detailed and repetitive work. Plus, duties like working ground sanders might be bodily exhausting, particularly if you’re refinishing a big residence. And in case your mission includes any particular or troublesome circumstances, an skilled could also be higher outfitted to deal with them.
For instance, we employed professionals to refinish the whole first ground of our third residence a couple of years in the past. This concerned tearing out the flooring for 2 rooms that didn’t have already got hardwood flooring and “feathering in” new boards to create a seamless look. The skilled refinishers executed these duties a lot quicker and with better success than we might’ve on our personal.
This mission additionally concerned eradicating slate tile in a single room and laminate in one other. It took three males a complete day to demo and prep these areas utilizing particular demolition instruments. I can solely think about how a lot time it will’ve taken us!
How a lot does refinishing hardwood flooring value?
Specialists say ground refinishing sometimes prices between $3-$8 per sq. foot. Which means a 200-square-foot room might value anyplace from $600 to $1,600. These prices will range relying in your space, the dimensions of your house, and if there are any particular circumstances to your mission. As an example, a few of our tasks have concerned additional demolition or patching of unsalvagable parts (like under).
Personally, we’ve paid anyplace from $900 to just about $10,000 for our ground refinishing jobs. The most affordable was an outlier (about $1.50/sq. foot) as a result of we agreed to do a few of the prep and molding restore ourselves. In fact for the pricier jobs it was much more flooring (like a complete home – we redid the flooring of the duplex and the pink home completely). On common we’ve paid about $5/sq. foot.
Is Refinishing Hardwood Flooring Price It?
Sure and sure! Refinishing hardwood flooring is a rewarding residence enchancment for each private and monetary causes. Actually, based on a 2022 Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors report, “Hardwood Flooring Refinish” is the #1 inside reworking mission for resale value restoration – much more than putting in new wooden flooring! The NAR estimates householders will earn again practically 150% of the refinishing value in elevated residence worth.
Resale worth apart, refinished flooring are a high-impact solution to replace your property in your personal enjoyment. In the identical report, the NAR awards ground refinishing an ideal 10 on their “Pleasure Rating” for house owner satisfaction. It’s exhausting to articulate how shockingly good the transformation might be – and that is coming from individuals who have achieved it 5 occasions! Folks simply don’t notice how a lot worn, pale, or outdated flooring can drag down the general look of their residence.
We all know firsthand that the expense and inconvenience of refinishing your flooring isn’t minor. However each time we’ve achieved it, we’ve wished we had achieved it sooner. Refinishing hardwoods can actually rework a complete room or home.
What’s the course of like?
So that you’ve determined to have your wooden floors professionally refinished? Nice! Right here’s what to anticipate as a house owner throughout this mission. Scroll as much as the primary query for our overview of the DIY steps to refinish your hardwood flooring your self (and why we don’t advocate it usually).
Discovering a ground refinishing skilled
We advise asking buddies, neighbors, or different residence enchancment contractors you’ve labored with for really helpful ground refinishers. We have now discovered all of our favourite ground refinishers this fashion. Message boards like Nextdoor or Angie’s Record can even level you to respected tradesmen.
Getting an estimate
Your contractor (or potential contractors) ought to go to to measure the house and talk about any questions with you first. This is a chance so that you can get a really feel for them and higher perceive their course of. We have now instructed questions for them additional down on this publish. We regularly will get 2 or 3 completely different estimates to select the perfect (not essentially least expensive!) particular person for our job.
Acclimating the wooden
A number of of our refinishing tasks concerned including or changing sections of our wooden floors, which meant including new boards (or reclaimed boards, proven above). New hardwood flooring ought to acclimate to the moisture ranges in your house earlier than set up to stop swelling or contracting afterward. This implies new flooring ought to be delivered and saved indoors not less than 3 days earlier than set up. Some installers advocate as much as 2 weeks of acclimation. (Don’t go away the doorways and home windows open throughout this time).
Emptying your house
Take away all furnishing, rugs, home equipment, and/or different gadgets obstructing clear and open entry to your flooring. This might additionally contain uninstalling cabinetry or plumbing fixtures as effectively. Additionally, you will need to take away (or cowl) art work, window coverings, or different gadgets you don’t need to get dusty. In case you are solely refinishing one room, you’ll be able to normally transfer this stuff into a close-by room. In case you are refinishing a complete home, you could want to maneuver out virtually completely. We used a POD in our driveway after we refinished our first degree. A storage unit additionally works. Some individuals could even rent a shifting firm.
Selecting a stain colour
Sooner or later throughout the course of, you need to work along with your refinisher to pick out a stain colour. It’s possible you’ll be happy choosing from a swatch ebook or trusting your skilled to match a sure look. However we advocate having the ground refinisher stain small pattern sections straight onto the ground (which might be sanded off afterward). This lets you see massive swatches in your house, serving to you are feeling assured about your resolution.
Ready and extra ready
Flooring refinishing is a multi-day course of, irrespective of the dimensions of your mission. Stains and sealers want plenty of drying time (normally not less than 24 hours every) and it’s really helpful that you just wait a number of extra days for them to treatment (aka: harden) earlier than shifting heavy furnishings again in. When our first ground was refinished, we slept out of the home for six nights and didn’t absolutely transfer our furnishings again in for an additional 10 days.
Cleansing & touch-ups
Whereas our contractors have all the time achieved job of gathering as a lot mud by way of the method, we inevitably had mud left on some surfaces that we would have liked to scrub ourselves. Moreover, you or your contractor could should reinstall, caulk, and paint any baseboard or quarter spherical that was eliminated. We supplied to do that ourselves in a few cases to economize. Identical goes for home equipment, cupboards, or plumbing fixtures that will have been eliminated.
Do I’ve to maneuver all of my furnishings out?
Sure, you have to to take away all obstructions from any rooms the place you’re refinishing the flooring. This consists of furnishings, rugs, home equipment, plumbing fixtures (bathrooms, sinks, and so forth), and perhaps even cabinetry. We additionally advocate eradicating art work, window coverings, and different decor you gained’t need to fear about dusting later.
Because of this it’s best – if doable – to refinish your flooring earlier than shifting into a house or as a part of one other renovation (like a kitchen rework) the place your property is already disrupted. If that’s not doable, deal with it like you’re shifting out briefly. In case you can’t transfer your furnishings into unaffected rooms or ranges of your property, you could must lease a storage unit or POD to carry your furnishings.
Shifting out of your house isn’t a small job, we all know. It’s the primary motive we delay refinishing flooring in a few of our homes. And sadly, in contrast to tasks like portray, you’ll be able to’t merely scoot issues into the center of the room and throw a tarp over them. There isn’t a shortcut right here. To get the best high quality, most effective consequence, it’s greatest to present your contract clear, unobstructed entry to each space that wants refinishing.
How lengthy does refinishing hardwood flooring take?
Having your flooring refinished sometimes takes 3 to 14 days or extra, relying on the scope of your mission. Listed here are some GENERAL time allotments you could must account for.
- Prep (demo previous flooring, take away quarter spherical, uninstall plumbing, and so forth): 0-2 days
- Restore, patching, or laying new sections of hardwood: 0-2 days
- Sanding: 1 – 2 days (about 1,000 sq. toes per day)
- Staining: 1 – 2 days (about 1,000 sq. toes per day)
- Sealing: 3 – 6 days (about 1,000 sq. toes per day, 1 coat per day)
- Curing: 1 day
Our shortest mission solely took 4 days for 600 sq. toes. Our refinisher was in a position to sand and stain on the primary day, then spent the subsequent 3 days making use of one coat of oil-based polyurethane every day. We nonetheless waited one other 3 days to maneuver again in, permitting the end to treatment and the fumes to completely dissipate.
One solution to velocity up a refinishing mission is to skip stain and simply clear coat the pure colour of the ground. You may as well shorten the sealing course of by selecting water-based finishes, which dries quicker than oil-based finishes. Which will enable your refinisher to use a number of coasts in in the future, versus oil-based polyurethane that sometimes requires 24 hours between coats.
It’s greatest to debate the timeline along with your contractor upfront and ask concerning the professionals and cons of assorted choices. The quickest consequence might not be greatest long-term end result for you.
What questions ought to I ask my ground refinisher?
We’ve labored with 4 completely different ground refinishers throughout 5 completely different houses. Listed here are some issues we advocate discussing with them up entrance to be sure to are on the identical web page earlier than the mission begins.
- Are my flooring good candidates for refinishing?
- Do any areas have to be repaired or changed with new wooden?
- How lengthy does any new wooden must acclimate earlier than you start?
- What must be faraway from every room? Who’s doing that, me otherwise you?
- What must be coated, protected, or sealed off with plastic? Who’s doing that, me otherwise you?
- What different preparation do you counsel / count on me to take earlier than you arrive?
- Are you eradicating & reinstalling any baseboard molding? If not, ought to I?
- Are there any duties I might do to cut back the mission value?
- Are there any duties I might pay you to do to extend the mission velocity?
- How lengthy do you count on the mission to take?
- Are there any choices that might velocity up the mission?
- How a lot time will I have to be out of the home?
- How do I partake within the stain colour choice? Can I see take a look at spots in my residence?
- What different choices will you want me on web site for throughout the mission?
- What kind of sealer do you advocate? What are the professionals and cons of my choices?
- How lengthy till I’m in a position to stroll on my new flooring?
- How lengthy till my pet can stroll on them?
- How lengthy till I can put furnishings, rugs, or different heavy objects on them?
You may actually Google a few of the solutions to those questions (some are on this publish!) however we all the time advocate conferring along with your on-site skilled as effectively. This helps them know you’re a considerate shopper and you’ll hopefully get reassurances that they’re a educated refinisher. It additionally helps keep away from confusion round timelines, budgets, and scope of labor.
Our Hardwood Flooring Refinishing Initiatives
If you need to learn extra about our particular hardwood ground refinishing tasks, please see the posts under. They vary from matching authentic hardwoods to new prefinished flooring (under) to restoring 100-year-old pine flooring!
Extra Flooring Initiatives
If you need to examine different flooring tasks we’ve achieved, please take a look at the posts under:
NOTE: This information was initially revealed in 2009 after our first refinishing expertise. We up to date it with extra info and images to incorporate a wider vary of tasks in 2024.
