We’ve refinished hardwood flooring in 5 of the 6 properties 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. So on this submit, we’ll reply your entire hardwood ground refinishing FAQs together with some earlier than and after pictures of our numerous tasks!
Refinishing hardwood flooring is usually a daunting and disruptive undertaking, but it surely’s all the time been nicely definitely worth the effort for us. You possibly can remove scratches and discoloration, restore richness and shine, and even change the colour totally! 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 submit be a supportive-yet-realistic nudge in the direction of taking the plunge.
Hardwood Flooring Refinishing FAQS
Listed here are a number of the particular questions we’ll reply on this submit:
- Can I refinish my hardwood ground myself?
- How a lot does refinishing hardwood flooring price?
- 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 house whereas getting my ground refinished?
- How lengthy does refinishing hardwood flooring take?
- What questions ought to I ask my ground refinisher?
Please observe that the data on this submit is predicated on our private expertise throughout 6 homes in 3 totally different cities, every of which offered barely totally different situations.
Can I Refinish My Hardwood Flooring Myself?
Refinishing hardwood flooring is a undertaking you are able to do your self, nevertheless, now we have completed many many issues ourselves (like constructing a deck, making a pavered patio, and so on) and we like to depart our ground refinishing to the professionals. The precise refinishing course of will not be sophisticated – it’s principally sanding and marking! – however professionals convey particular tools, abilities, and experience that almost all DIYers gained’t have – particularly proper off the bat. It’s additionally a activity that may be tedious, tiring, and time-consuming, so a talented refinisher can full the undertaking sooner and extra effectively.
If the price of utilizing a professional prevents you from hiring out the job, listed below are some common steps to refinishing hardwood flooring as a DIY undertaking:
- Transfer all furnishings, decor, art work, 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, often 3-4 occasions, utilizing larger grit sandpaper with every cross. 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 route of the wooden grain.
- Do a last buff with a ground buffer or hand sander with high-grit sandpaper
- Vacuum up all mud
- Apply stain (non-obligatory) to attain your required shade, 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 shifting furnishings or rugs again in.
- Reinstall molding. Caulk and paint as wanted.
As you may see, this undertaking entails loads of detailed and repetitive work. Plus, duties like working ground sanders could be bodily exhausting, particularly if you’re refinishing a big house. And in case your undertaking entails any particular or troublesome circumstances, an skilled could also be higher outfitted to deal with them.
For instance, we employed professionals to refinish your entire first ground of our third house 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 higher success than we may’ve on our personal.
This undertaking 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 price?
Consultants say ground refinishing sometimes prices between $3-$8 per sq. foot. Meaning a 200-square-foot room may price anyplace from $600 to $1,600. These prices will range relying in your space, the scale of your house, and if there are any particular circumstances to your undertaking. As an illustration, a few of our tasks have concerned additional demolition or patching of unsalvagable parts (like beneath).
Personally, now we have paid anyplace from $900 to just about $10,000 for our ground refinishing jobs. The most cost effective was an outlier (about $1.50/sq. foot) as a result of we agreed to do a number 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 totally). On common now we have paid about $5/sq. foot.
Is Refinishing Hardwood Flooring Price It?
Sure and sure! Refinishing hardwood flooring is a rewarding house enchancment for each private and monetary causes. Actually, in accordance with a 2022 Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors report, “Hardwood Flooring Refinish” is the #1 inside reworking undertaking for resale price restoration – much more than putting in new wooden flooring! The NAR estimates householders will earn again practically 150% of the refinishing price in elevated house worth.
Resale worth apart, refinished flooring are a high-impact solution to replace your house to 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 completed it 5 occasions! Individuals simply don’t notice how a lot worn, pale, or outdated flooring can drag down the general look of their house.
We all know firsthand that the expense and inconvenience of refinishing your flooring isn’t minor. However each time we’ve completed it, we’ve wished we had completed it sooner. Refinishing hardwoods can actually remodel an entire room or home.
What’s the course of like?
So that you’ve determined to have your wood flooring professionally refinished? Nice! Right here’s what to anticipate as a house owner throughout this undertaking. 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 typically).
Discovering a ground refinishing skilled
We recommend asking mates, neighbors, or different house enchancment contractors you’ve labored with for really helpful ground refinishers. We now have 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 now have steered questions for them additional down on this submit. We frequently will get 2 or 3 totally 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 tasks concerned including or changing sections of our wood flooring, 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 must be delivered and saved indoors no 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 nicely. Additionally, you will need to take away (or cowl) art work, window coverings, or different gadgets you don’t need to get dusty. If you’re solely refinishing one room, you may often transfer this stuff into a close-by room. If you’re refinishing an entire home, it’s possible you’ll want to maneuver out virtually totally. We used a POD in our driveway once we refinished our first stage. A storage unit additionally works. Some folks might even rent a shifting firm.
Choosing a stain shade
Sooner or later through the course of, you must work along with your refinisher to pick out a stain shade. 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 instantly onto the ground (which could be sanded off afterward). This lets you see massive swatches in your house, serving to you are feeling assured about your choice.
Ready and extra ready
Flooring refinishing is a multi-day course of, regardless of the scale of your undertaking. Stains and sealers want a number of drying time (often no less than 24 hours every) and it’s really helpful that you simply 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 one more 10 days.
Cleansing & touch-ups
Whereas our contractors have all the time completed a very good job of accumulating as a lot mud via the method, we inevitably had mud left on some surfaces that we wanted to wash ourselves. Moreover, you or your contractor might should reinstall, caulk, and paint any baseboard or quarter spherical that was eliminated. We provided to do that ourselves in a few situations to save cash. 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’ll need to take away all obstructions from any rooms the place you’re refinishing the flooring. This contains furnishings, rugs, home equipment, plumbing fixtures (bogs, sinks, and so on), 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 potential – 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 house is already disrupted. If that’s not potential, deal with it like you’re shifting out quickly. Should you can’t transfer your furnishings into unaffected rooms or ranges of your house, it’s possible you’ll have to lease a storage unit or POD to carry your furnishings.
Shifting out of your house will not be a small activity, we all know. It’s the primary motive we postpone refinishing flooring in a few of our homes. And sadly, in contrast to tasks like portray, you may’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, best end result, 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 undertaking. Listed here are some GENERAL time allotments it’s possible you’ll have to account for.
- Prep (demo outdated 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 undertaking 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 solution to pace up a refinishing undertaking is to skip stain and simply clear coat the pure shade 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 someday, 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 in regards to the professionals and cons of assorted choices. The quickest end result will not be greatest long-term consequence for you.
What questions ought to I ask my ground refinisher?
We’ve labored with 4 totally different ground refinishers throughout 5 totally different properties. Listed here are some issues we advocate discussing with them up entrance to be sure you are on the identical web page earlier than the undertaking begins.
- Are my flooring good candidates for refinishing?
- Do any areas must 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 lined, 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 undertaking price?
- Are there any duties I may pay you to do to extend the undertaking pace?
- How lengthy do you count on the undertaking to take?
- Are there any choices that would pace up the undertaking?
- How a lot time will I must be out of the home?
- How do I partake within the stain shade choice? Can I see check spots in my house?
- What different choices will you want me on website for through the undertaking?
- What kind of sealer do you advocate? 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 possibly can definitely Google a number of the solutions to those questions (some are on this submit!) however we all the time advocate conferring along with your on-site skilled as nicely. 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 Tasks
If you need to learn extra about our particular hardwood ground refinishing tasks, please see the posts beneath. They vary from matching unique hardwoods to new prefinished flooring (beneath) to restoring 100-year-old pine flooring!
Extra Flooring Tasks
If you need to examine different flooring tasks we’ve completed, please try the posts beneath:
NOTE: This information was initially printed in 2009 after our first refinishing expertise. We up to date it with further data and pictures to incorporate a wider vary of tasks in 2024.
