It can be kind of tricky to figure out whether your should buff and recoat refinish or replace a hardwood floor altogether.
How to tell if wood floors need refinished.
If it forms droplets that stay on the surface of the wood the floor finish is still good.
So when you start to see gray it s a big watchout.
This method of determining if your floors are hardwood or engineered is also a great way to tell if the boards are thick enough to refinish.
How do you tell that your wood floors need to be refinished.
What you need to know about dark floor stains.
When your scratches or dents have moved from noticeable to unsightly the boards have changed their color or begun to warp it is time to do some maintenance.
Is hardwood floor refinishing needed.
If your floor does need to be refinished take care of it right away to prevent permanent damage to the wood.
To assess the condition of your hardwood floors start with traffic areas that get the most wear in your home and perform the following tests.
The problem is while you may think darker colors would hide dirt they make dust particles more noticeable.
Here are a couple of tests to do if you suspect that you may need to call in a hardwood flooring contractor to have your floor refinished.
This is great news because a screen and recoat is often one of the most profitable jobs a contractor can take on.
Most of the time you can simply buff and recoat the floor.
Furniture will have to be moved from room to room or out of the house entirely.
If your wood floor refinishing or installation job is extensive and you want it done in one job it might be best to stay elsewhere until the project s done.
If you decide to refinish your wood floors the fun part is picking a new stain color like rich mahogany or dark oak which are both very popular right now.
Reasons to leave include.
A plank of hardwood at full thickness should be able to stand between 6 and 10 refinishings in its lifetime.
Eventually if you don t repair your floors the wood will turn darker and darker until it s black.
There will be lots of fine dust no matter how well an area is sealed off.
At that point you will need to replace the floors as sanding won t solve it.
Refinish quickly and in the meantime make sure the gray areas don t absorb any more water.
1 locate the section of the floor that gets the most daily traffic.
A quality hardwood floor can be sanded down and refinished at least six times and up to ten times before you need to replace it.
You can change the color closely match and replace warped stained or termite ingested planks silence squeaky boards and fill gaps or patch knots.
First you should find a part of your wood floor that gets the most foot traffic every day.