Sand and Refinish Hardwood Floors

Properly maintained hardwood floors can remain beautiful for decades. Although, if your hardwood floors have been in place for years without care, sanding and refinishing them can restore them to original glory.

Oil based poly finishes have been around far longer with a decent track record of success. Issues arise with the tendency to yellow over time, long dry time, and release vapors and VOCs, both enemies of the environment and your home. Recently, there has been an industry shift towards water based polyurethane finishes. They are non-yellowing, non-toxic, environmentally safe and dry very quickly. In general oil based polyurethane is cheaper than water base.

Every sand and refinish job varies, depending on the wear and tear of the hardwood floors. Floors can be anywhere from lightly scuffed to those with deep scratches, yet almost all can be rescued and renovated. Sanding a hardwood floor usually involves utilizing a professional sander to strip the wood back to its “raw” state, removing imperfections that have appeared over time. The floor is then refinished with several coats of polyurethane. Customers can also opt for a staining before the floor is refinished. The end result is fresh, clean hardwood floors.

Anyone can rent a sanding machine and give it ago; just don’t be too surprised when the results are not quite what you expected. There are various reasons that point to sand and refinish as a professional project, not a DIY. Aladdin Carpet & Floors knows which products are the best for each individual floor and how to apply. It’s a delicate and labor intensive process, so to get the best results sanding and refinishing hardwood floors is a job best left to experienced professionals. There are lots of how to videos on YouTube You can rent a sanding machine at a number of locations and give it a go yourself, but don’t be too surprised when the results are not quite what you expected. A key factor prohibiting most homeowners from doing it themselves is the kind of equipment we use as it is not available to the public. The average rental sander plugs into a standard 110 volt outlet and usually only usually only ¾ horsepower and frankly even our most experienced sanding and refinishing techs have a hard time getting a good job done with one of those. We also know which products are the best to use on each individual floor and how to apply them so that they are both effective and attractive and are compatible with one another, otherwise the finish will wear prematurely, crack, peel or worse.

Albeit tricky, the answer is yes, under certain circumstances by highly trained professionals with engineered hardwood experience.