Repairing, refinishing, or resurfacing wood floors can make any room in your home beautiful again. The trick is knowing when you can refinish, and when you should refurbish your floors. Many older Chicago homes have original hardwood floors that have probably seen better days. As the hardwood gets older over the years, the color fades and dulls. Dents and scratches may scar the surface of the wood due to wear and tear.

The solution is to repair the damaged boards, and then either refinish the wood or resurface the wood. Learn more about both options so that you can make the right decision for your needs.

Refinishing and Resurfacing: What’s the Difference?

Resurfacing and refinishing are terms that are sometimes used interchangeably, but they have different meanings.

• Refinishing involves sanding the top layer of the floor and applying a fresh coat of stain and finish. It’s a relatively simple project — all you need to get the job done is a sander for floors, stain, and finish to make the floor look new again.
• Resurfacing your floor needs more than just a layer of polish on top. It may require replacing old floorboards, grinding down uneven boards, and reinforcing wood planks with new nails. This process is more time-consuming — it requires experience, wood-grinding equipment, lumber, a nail gun, power saw, and other specialized tools.

To Resurface Hardwood Flooring or Refinish?

You can refinish your floors if the damage is superficial scratches and discoloration. If the planks are reasonably even and smooth, all it needs is a light sanding and few new coats of stain and finish. Here are a few signs that your floor may need resurfacing:

• The floorboards are noticeably warped or bent.
• The planks are water-damaged or rotted.
• When sanded, some or all of the planks still have an unattractive or uneven color.
• Parts of the wooden planks are missing or cracked.
• There are holes in some pieces of wood.
• Nails are missing from the floorboards.

Floors that need resurfacing will not look good if you just put a coat of stain and finish on top. Another alternative to resurfacing is to put hardwood laminate flooring on top of the existing wood planks, which is another do-it-yourself project.

The condition and age of your hardwood flooring has an impact on the overall look of your home. Use these tips to decide if refinishing or resurfacing wood floors is the solution that will help restore your Chicago home to its original beauty.

If you want to improve the interior of your home, refinishing  or resurfacing your floors is your first step. Midwest Hardwood Flooring can make your floors look new again, saving you time and money. Money that you would have spent  on new flooring unnecessarily. Any professional improvements for your floors is an investment. Hardwood floor refinishing gives you the opportunity to update the style of your floors too. By changing from a high gloss finish to a satin or matte finish, it’s like getting new hardwood flooring all over again.

Hardwood finishes

Hardwood floor finishes are manufactured to specific  VOC standards, which means they abide by environmental, required regulations. If odor is a concern, there are many water-based and non-toxic natural finishes available for you to consider. We can offer a wide variety of stains and finishes, that are durable, safe and easy to maintain, Hardwood floor finishes are now manufactured to specific required VOC standards, meaning they abide by environmental regulations. If odor is a concern, there are many water-based and non-toxic natural finishes available for you to consider. Different finishes on your floors will change the whole look and feel of your home. We can show you the differences between finishes like gloss, satin, semi-gloss or matte.

“Marian is superb, both in his guidance for choices, his explanation of materials and processes, his follow though with a superb result, and his responsiveness, throughout every detail of the project. Tremendously passionate about what he does, and incredibly professional. Marian is in the Must Hire category of you are refinishing floors: wonderful results. Marian came though on an incredibly tight timeline, including finding a way to keep up with changes to the work description. Fantastic!”  — MJ Chicago, Il 5/2019

Our expertise is in all aspects of professional hardwood flooring. Additionally, we use different techniques for stripping, sanding, and re-staining floors made from different materials based on that experience. Each specie of hardwood requires it’s own level of humidity to thrive in your home. Attempting to do this job yourself may lead to damaging your floors beyond repair. This is also true for new . Additionally, we use professional equipment, and years of experience to determine the right way to do each project we undertake.

Is Hardwood Floor Refinishing Going to be Messy?

Dust is the biggest annoyance of every hardwood homeowner who’s thinking about repairs or refinishing. Refinishing is not as messy as resurfacing hardwood floors. Because we are only sanding the topmost layer of finish and stain, and not sawing and cutting away sections of your flooring for replacement, we can.  work quickly, efficiently and neatly to sand, repair and restore the beauty of your hardwood. With our virtually dustless containment system, the dust problem is no problem.

There’s no need to replace your wood floors – have them refinished by our experts. Refinish those high-traffic areas and those areas that get faded by direct sun exposure. No matter how long it’s been since your floors were installed, it’s important to take care of them.Follow these basic guidelines to prolong the life of your hardwood floors:

• Never let moisture sit.
• Never drag heavy items like furniture or appliances across your hardwood floors.
• Use protector pads under furniture legs.
• Watch the humidity in your home. Ideally it should stay between 35% and 55%.
• If possible, shield the floor from direct sunlight.
• Never use harsh chemicals like ammonia, bleach, or acidic cleaners on hardwood floors.
• Never use abrasive cleaning supplies or tools on your floors.

A few hardwood refinishing tips :