What To Know Before You Refinish Your Hardwood

If you have hardwood in your home, refinishing is a fantastic way to bring it back to life. Over time, hardwood can become dull and damaged or may no longer suit your tastes. Hardwood refinishing removes the top layer of the flooring, taking the old finish and a small portion of the wood with it. After sanding, a new finish can be applied. Refinishing is an excellent option for reviving your flooring, but there are a few things to know before you start.

Whether It's The Best Option

The first thing that you need to determine when it comes to hardwood refinishing is whether it is the right option for your floors. In some cases, there may be too much damage to make refinishing worth it. While many hardwood floors may be refinished six or seven times, one refinishing that's too aggressive may make it impossible to refinish again. Take a close look at the condition of your hardwood before you refinish. If there is a lot of movement between the boards or structural issues, refinishing may not be a possibility.

You Will Probably Want To Hire A Professional

Just because you can refinish your hardwood on your own doesn't mean that you should. Any mistakes that you make while tackling this project on your own can mean spending additional funds to fix the issue, or you may even ruin your hardwood flooring. Often hiring a professional to refinish your floors is going to be your best bet. On average, it will cost $3 to $8 per square foot to have a professional refinish your hardwood flooring for you. 

It Will Take A Few Days

Hardwood refinishing is something that takes time and effort on your part. You will need to remove furniture and other times from the rooms where the floors are being refinished. You will also have to wait until the new finish is dry before you can walk on your flooring again. You can expect your hardwood floor refinishing to take somewhere between two and five days. The condition of your floors will impact how long this process takes. The more damage there is, the longer it will take.

Refinishing your hardwood is an excellent way to bring your floors back to life, but there are a few things to know before you start this process. Not all hardwood floors can be refinished. Sometimes there is too much damage or not enough wood to work with. While you can tackle refinishing yourself, you may want to leave this work to a professional. You will also have to stay off your wood floors for a few days while work is ongoing.