We’ve refinished hardwood flooring in 5 of the 6 properties we’ve owned. That doesn’t make us skilled ground refinishers, however as owners 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. So on this publish, we’ll reply your whole hardwood ground refinishing FAQs together with some earlier than and after pictures of our varied initiatives!
Refinishing hardwood flooring could be a daunting and disruptive challenge, but it surely’s at all times been effectively definitely worth the effort for us. You’ll be able to eradicate scratches and discoloration, restore richness and shine, and even change the colour totally! We’re constantly stunned by how a lot of a distinction a refinished ground makes to the entire house. Significantly, they will virtually make your own home look model new! So let this publish be a supportive-yet-realistic nudge in the direction of taking the plunge.
Hardwood Flooring Refinishing FAQS
Listed below 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 value it?
- What’s the course of like?
- Do I’ve to maneuver all of my furnishings out?
- Can I keep in my dwelling 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 knowledge on this publish is predicated on our private expertise throughout 6 homes in 3 completely different cities, every of which offered barely completely different eventualities.
Can I Refinish My Hardwood Flooring Myself?
Refinishing hardwood flooring is a challenge you are able to do your self, nevertheless, we’ve accomplished many many issues ourselves (like constructing a deck, making a pavered patio, and so on) and we like to go away our ground refinishing to the professionals. The precise refinishing course of is just not difficult – it’s principally sanding and marking! – however professionals convey particular gear, expertise, and experience that the majority DIYers gained’t have – particularly proper off the bat. It’s additionally a process that may be tedious, tiring, and time-consuming, so a talented refinisher can full the challenge sooner and extra effectively.
If the price of utilizing a professional prevents you from hiring out the job, listed here are some normal steps to refinishing hardwood flooring as a DIY challenge:
- Transfer all furnishings, decor, paintings, window therapies, and so on
- 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 increased grit sandpaper with every move. Use a belt sander or drum sander for the bigger areas and a hand or edge sander to do the perimeter. Make sure to at all times sand within the route 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 realize your required colour, following the producer’s directions. Permit 24 hours to dry between coats.
- Apply sealer to guard flooring, following directions. Permit 24 hours earlier than strolling and 72 hours earlier than transferring furnishings or rugs again in.
- Reinstall molding. Caulk and paint as wanted.
As you possibly can see, this challenge entails quite a lot of detailed and repetitive work. Plus, duties like working ground sanders could be bodily exhausting, particularly if you’re refinishing a big dwelling. And in case your challenge entails any particular or tough circumstances, an knowledgeable could also be higher outfitted to deal with them.
For instance, we hired pros to refinish the entire first floor of our third dwelling a number 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 sooner and with larger success than we may’ve on our personal.
This challenge additionally concerned eradicating slate tile in a single room and laminate in one other. It took three males an entire day to demo and prep these areas utilizing particular demolition instruments. I can solely think about how a lot time it could’ve taken us!
How a lot does refinishing hardwood flooring value?
Consultants say ground refinishing sometimes prices between $3-$8 per sq. foot. Meaning a 200-square-foot room may 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 challenge. As an example, a few of our initiatives 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. After all for the pricier jobs it was much more flooring (like a whole home – we redid the floors of the duplex and the pink house totally). On common we’ve paid about $5/sq. foot.
Is Refinishing Hardwood Flooring Value It?
Sure and sure! Refinishing hardwood flooring is a rewarding dwelling enchancment for each private and monetary causes. Actually, in response to a 2022 National Association of Realtors report, “Hardwood Flooring Refinish” is the #1 inside reworking challenge for resale value restoration – much more than putting in new wooden flooring! The NAR estimates owners will earn again almost 150% of the refinishing value in elevated dwelling worth.
Resale worth apart, refinished flooring are a high-impact technique to replace your private home on 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 onerous to articulate how shockingly good the transformation could be – and that is coming from individuals who have accomplished it 5 occasions! Individuals simply don’t notice how a lot worn, light, or outdated flooring can drag down the general look of their dwelling.
We all know firsthand that the expense and inconvenience of refinishing your flooring isn’t minor. However each time we’ve accomplished it, we’ve wished we had accomplished it sooner. Refinishing hardwoods can actually rework an entire 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 challenge. 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 suggest it normally).
Discovering a ground refinishing skilled
We propose asking associates, neighbors, or different dwelling enchancment contractors you’ve labored with for advisable ground refinishers. Now we have discovered all of our favourite ground refinishers this manner. Message boards like Nextdoor or Angie’s Checklist also can 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. Now we have urged questions for them additional down on this publish. We frequently will get 2 or 3 completely different estimates to select one of the best (not essentially least expensive!) particular person for our job.
Acclimating the wooden
A number of of our refinishing initiatives 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 forestall swelling or contracting afterward. This implies new flooring ought to be delivered and saved indoors a minimum of 3 days earlier than set up. Some installers suggest 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 wish to take away (or cowl) paintings, window coverings, or different gadgets you don’t wish to get dusty. In case you are solely refinishing one room, you possibly can normally transfer this stuff into a close-by room. In case you are refinishing an entire home, you might want to maneuver out virtually totally. We used a POD in our driveway after we refinished our first degree. A storage unit additionally works. Some individuals could even rent a transferring firm.
Selecting a stain colour
Sooner or later throughout the course of, it is best to work along with your refinisher to pick out a stain colour. It’s possible you’ll be glad selecting from a swatch guide or trusting your skilled to match a sure look. However we suggest having the ground refinisher stain small pattern sections immediately onto the ground (which could be sanded off afterward). This lets you see massive swatches in your house, serving to you’re feeling assured about your choice.
Ready and extra ready
Flooring refinishing is a multi-day course of, regardless of the dimensions of your challenge. Stains and sealers want plenty of drying time (normally a minimum of 24 hours every) and it’s advisable that you just wait a number of extra days for them to treatment (aka: harden) earlier than transferring heavy furnishings again in. When our first floor was refinished, we slept out of the home for six nights and didn’t absolutely transfer our furnishings again in for one more 10 days.
Cleansing & touch-ups
Whereas our contractors have at all times accomplished a great job of accumulating as a lot mud by the method, we inevitably had mud left on some surfaces that we would have liked to wash 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. Similar 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 on), and possibly even cabinetry. We additionally suggest eradicating paintings, window coverings, and different decor you gained’t wish to fear about dusting later.
For this reason it’s best – if potential – to refinish your flooring earlier than transferring into a house or as a part of one other renovation (like a kitchen transform) the place your private home is already disrupted. If that’s not potential, deal with it like you’re transferring out quickly. In the event you can’t transfer your furnishings into unaffected rooms or ranges of your private home, you might have to lease a storage unit or POD to carry your furnishings.
Shifting out of your house is just not a small process, we all know. It’s the principle cause we delay refinishing flooring in a few of our homes. And sadly, in contrast to initiatives like portray, you possibly can’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 finest 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 challenge. Listed below are some GENERAL time allotments you might have to account for.
- Prep (demo previous flooring, take away quarter spherical, uninstall plumbing, and so on): 0-2 days
- Restore, patching, or laying new sections of hardwood: 0-2 days
- Sanding: 1 – 2 days (about 1,000 sq. ft per day)
- Staining: 1 – 2 days (about 1,000 sq. ft per day)
- Sealing: 3 – 6 days (about 1,000 sq. ft per day, 1 coat per day)
- Curing: 1 day
Our shortest challenge solely took 4 days for 600 sq. ft. Our refinisher was capable of sand and stain on the primary day, then spent the following 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 totally dissipate.
One technique to velocity up a refinishing challenge is to skip stain and simply clear coat the pure colour of the ground. You too can shorten the sealing course of by selecting water-based finishes, which dries sooner than oil-based finishes. That 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 finest to debate the timeline along with your contractor upfront and ask concerning the execs and cons of assorted choices. The quickest consequence might not be finest long-term final 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 properties. Listed below are some issues we suggest discussing with them up entrance to ensure you are on the identical web page earlier than the challenge begins.
- Are my flooring good candidates for refinishing?
- Do any areas should be repaired or changed with new wooden?
- How lengthy does any new wooden have to 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 may do to scale back the challenge value?
- Are there any duties I may pay you to do to extend the challenge velocity?
- How lengthy do you count on the challenge to take?
- Are there any choices that might velocity up the challenge?
- How a lot time will I should be out of the home?
- How do I partake within the stain colour choice? Can I see take a look at spots in my dwelling?
- What different selections will you want me on web site for throughout the challenge?
- What sort of sealer do you suggest? What are the professionals and cons of my choices?
- How lengthy till I’m capable of 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’ll be able to definitely Google a few of the solutions to those questions (some are on this publish!) however we at all times suggest conferring along with your on-site skilled as effectively. This helps them know you’re a considerate consumer 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 want to learn extra about our particular hardwood ground refinishing initiatives, 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 want to examine different flooring initiatives we’ve accomplished, please try the posts under:
NOTE: This information was initially printed in 2009 after our first refinishing expertise. We up to date it with extra data and pictures to incorporate a wider vary of initiatives in 2024.
