Caring for Hardwood Floors | Bankrate
Inevitably there will come a time when your hardwood flooring start to seem a small worn and in want of refreshment. You make contact with your pleasant flooring pro, who asks, “Do they have to have to be just refinished or entirely resurfaced?” Say what?
Whilst the conditions audio alike (and are sometimes utilized interchangeably), amongst contractors refinishing and resurfacing floors do signify two distinct issues, with unique processes and distinctive price tag tags. The two can be performed on a assortment of wood flooring, such as traditional hardwood and engineered wood (aka veneers). Here’s how to distinguish between refinishing and resurfacing.
What is refinishing a hardwood flooring?
Refinishing a ground mainly signifies providing it a facelift. Refinishing a flooring requires:
- eliminating the floor’s existing varnish, seal and stain
- sanding down the floor’s leading layer, to expose the bare wooden and its natural grain
- applying a refreshing stain and lacquer or varnish
- applying a new coat of sealant
Considering the fact that it is a considerably superficial procedure, “refinishing” can be finished on a selection of flooring sorts, which include tile and laminate — while the actual process differs, depending on the floor. If you have an engineered wood flooring — that is, a veneer of natural hardwood wooden covering a plywood or artificial core — it can only be refinished two or 3 periods (depending on the veneer’s thickness), ahead of you expose the core.
What is resurfacing a hardwood floor?
Resurfacing involves all of the previously mentioned, but a lot more. If refinishing is a beauty job, resurfacing is extra of a structural one particular. It arrives into engage in when there’s precise damage to the wooden, the wooden planks, and/or the fasteners (nails).
Resurfacing the ground implies repairing it: eradicating and changing planks, grinding planks down to even them out, reinforcing the floor with new nails. After all that is completed, then the ground can be refinished — sanded down, stained, varnished and sealed.
When to resurface vs refinish wooden flooring
If the flooring are in fantastic condition — just seeking worn and relatively scuffed or dull — then refinishing may possibly be your ideal possibility. In truth, you may well even be ready to get away with just recoating them, which skips the sanding system and just entails buffing and making use of a new topcoat.
Refinishing can assistance breathe new existence into an place of flooring that is worn out and in need to have of a refresh. It’s suitable for floors that aren’t structurally compromised and that are even now structurally seem, but not up-to-day.
In contrast, if a flooring needs a lot more than a facelift, you will need to resurface it — that is, change the old supplies. Symptoms the flooring demands resurfacing include:
- Extreme fading, discoloration or uneven shade
- Cracks, holes or lacking items
- Indicators of rot or h2o harm
- Warped, sagging or bent boards
- Missing or bent nails
Charges of refinishing and resurfacing flooring
There are numerous variables that go into the typical expense of refinishing or resurfacing floors together with the sq. footage, the condition of the flooring, the type of wood and neighborhood labor fees. In typical, though refinishing operates $3 to $8 for each sq. foot the countrywide typical variety for a task expenditures $1,075 to $2,520, according to HomeAdvisor. A uncomplicated recoating will price tag considerably a lot less: $1 to $2 per square foot, in accordance to FlooringStores, an online professional.
Not incredibly, resurfacing will cost extra than refinishing, since you’ll have the repair and replacement costs in addition. How considerably more can differ immensely, dependent on the mother nature and extent of the destruction. In common, though, hardwood flooring fix prices ordinarily run from $450 to $1,500, estimates HomeAdvisor.
Even so, that is a great deal less than the charge to switch a hardwood floor fully, which averages everywhere from $2,500 to $6,800.
Diy or use a pro?
Dependent on the extent of your floors, refinishing might just take a handful of days. Resurfacing may possibly get a few months.
That is if a flooring specialist does it. It’ll in all probability consider for a longer period if you try to do the occupation on your own. Refinishing is not out of a DIYer’s league though it is a messy, smelly enterprise, it mainly calls for an orbital sander. Until you are an seasoned carpenter, resurfacing on your individual is not advised. It demands a entire toolbox of gear, such as electricity saws, grinders and nail guns.
Base line on refinishing vs resurfacing floors
If your floor is basically scratched and scuffed, you are much better off refinishing than resurfacing it. That’ll restore its primary shine, and it’s considerably less invasive. Rather of removing the aged flooring elements completely, refinishing includes eradicating only the best layer of your existing flooring (which includes the finish), and then replacing it with a new layer.
However, if the flooring is in noticeably terrible shape, you are going to in all probability want to restructure it alternatively. It will expense far more and be a additional time-consuming process, but it will in influence develop a complete new surface area.
No make any difference which technique you select, you should not enable your flooring go far too long with out remaining effectively preserved. The longer you wait to restore your ground, the additional money it will consider to get your floors looking new all over again.
