SANDING & REFINISHING... back to new
Sanding and refinishing hardwood floors is our specialty. It’s what we do best. If you have hardwood floors in New Jersey that have seen better days and you want to bring them back to better than new condition, this is the service for you. We absolutely love bringing old, worn out floors like yours to back to life.
Whether you would like a traditional natural look, change up the color to something completely different, use a new hardwax oil finish with specialty pre-treatments, or anything else you are dreaming of… we have the experience and skills to make it happen.
The Refinishing Process...
There is quite a lot involved in sanding and refinishing a hardwood floor. Below is a brief outline of the 5 main steps involved…
STEP 1Clean rooms
and set-up
equipment
Prior to setting up our sanders, we take care of all the repairs you have asked us to look after. Then the floor is cleared of staples and nails and swept. Sanding machines and the dustless equipment is set up ready to go. You have a choice of the level of dust control you can choose between. If you choose the 'White Glove' service we'll put up the plastic sheeting and set-up the air scrubber.
STEP 2Begin sanding
and removing
current finish
We use multiple sanders running at the same time to remove the current finish and sand your floors down to bare wood. This will take place over a few sanding passes with different grits of sandpaper... depending on the finish you have and how even your floors surface is. We try to remove as little surface wood as possible during this stage.
STEP 3Finer grits are
used to smooth
your floor
Because the sanding step above used lower grits of sandpaper, we now need to use a series of higher grits to remove those deeper marks. We switch to different sanding machines including multi-head planetary sanders. If your floor is a candidate, we will also use filler on your floor in-between these steps. (Ask us if we can fill your floor during our in-home estimate.)
STEP 4Handscraping
corners and
clean up
Once the machine sanding is finished we take our time to complete the final touches by hand. Its the details in this step that separates a cheap job from a professional one. All the perimiter and corners, under radiators, around door trim etc. is checked and sanded to match the same standard as the rest of the floor. Then we vacuum like crazy!
STEP 5Staining (optional)
and applying your
chosen finish
If you would like to change your floors color, now is the time. You can read about the staining process and the extra steps needed here. Then we apply the multiple coats of finish. The time for this step will depend on the finish system you choose. You can find out all about our finish systems here. Once they're cured and dry, your floors are ready to enjoy.
Something to keep in mind...
Every time your floors and restored, a layer of wood is sanded off. You have a limited amount that can be removed. Once your hardwood floors have been sanded down to their limit, they will need to be replaced. That gets expensive very quickly.
For this reason, we strongly suggest you don't hire someone that will come in and flatten your floor by removing more than is needed. This is an easier and faster way to sand a floor and make it look good... but it greatly reduces their life.
If you have an older historic home here in New Jersey, your hardwood floors may have already been sanded a number of times. We like to preserve these antique floors. We have perfected a sanding process that, while it takes a little longer and is more difficult, sands floors by trying to remove as little as possible, while still producing a great looking end result. That way, if your floors need some love in the future, there will still be enough surface left to restore.
Below are some other common questions that come up about the sandning and refinishing process...
PHOTOS from past projects
HAPPY CLIENT feedback
The floors turned out amazing! We never expected that our old and beat-up wood floors could look so good. This company and Brian do excellent work and go above and beyond in the customer service area. I highly recommend them.Steve K - Collingswood, New Jersey | 5 Star Review on Yelp
