Hardwood Floor Refinishing

Refinishing makes sense when your floor's finish is worn through to bare wood in traffic lanes, or when you've got surface scratches and dullness that buffing won't fix. We start by checking whether you have enough wood left to sand—if previous refinishes took the floor down near the tongue, or if you're seeing nail heads, the floor might be too thin. Most 3/4-inch solid floors handle five or six sandings over their life.

We use a drum sander for the main field, edger for perimeters, and hand-scrape corners the machines can't reach. First pass is typically 36-grit to level the floor and remove old finish, then 60-grit and 80-grit to smooth out drum marks, finishing with 100-grit for stain-grade smoothness. If you're keeping natural color, we can stop at 120-grit. The process generates fine dust—we use dust containment systems, but you'll still want to cover doorways and vents.

“Most 3/4-inch solid floors handle five or six sandings over their life—if you're seeing nail heads or the tongue is thin, the floor might be too thin to sand again.”

Staining is optional. Natural oak, maple, and hickory look good clear. Walnut and cherry don't need stain. Red oak takes stain the most predictably—you can go from honey to espresso. Maple is blotchy with stain unless we apply wood conditioner first. Stain needs 8-12 hours to dry in the area's humidity before we can topcoat.

Finish choice is polyurethane or oil. Water-based poly dries fast (2-3 hours between coats), low odor, doesn't amber the wood. Oil-based poly takes 8-12 hours per coat, strong smell for a few days, ambers over time—some people want that warmth. We apply 2-3 coats regardless of product. Oil-based is harder when cured, water-based is more flexible and less likely to show micro-scratches. Total refinish timeline is 3-5 days: one day sanding, one day staining if applicable, 2-3 days for finish coats and cure time. You can walk on it in socks after 24 hours; wait 72 hours for furniture, one week for area rugs.