When to have hardwood floors refinished Atlantic County and Cape May County, New Jersey by Extreme Floor Care.

When you start to see the grey in your floor it means your polyurethane has worn away and you have to have a full sand.

After about 20 years, most hardwood floors start showing their age; scratches, dullness and discoloring are the most common signs that the wood is due for refinishing. Fortunately, the typical ¾-inch-thick hardwood floor can be sanded about eight times during its lifetime. So unless you live in a particularly old house, or a previous resident was an especially aggressive refinisher, chances are good that your wood floors can be brought back to life.

 

You need at least 1/32 of an inch of wood on the top of your floors to sand them. If your home has heat registers in the floor, remove a grille and take a sidelong look at the surrounding planks to see if that’s available. If that’s not possible, you can remove a plank from an inconspicuous location (like the inside of a closet) or ask a professional floor refinisher to appraise the situation. You can’t refinish laminated wood floors (such as Pergo); you might be able to refinish an engineered wood floor, depending on the finish and how thick the top layer of wood is. Most Engineered floors ARE  NOT REFINISHABLE unless you bought a high end one.

 

Project: Refinishing hardwood floors.

 

Why: To restore the wood’s original appearance and shine, change its color or finish, or blend it with newly added wood.

 

Who to hire: A professional hardwood floor refinisher. You can either choose someone who specializes in refinishing or hire a hardwood floor installer, as most of them do refinishing, too. 

 

Compile leads from friends, the Yellow Pages or online listings like YELP or Angie's List looking for professionals who have great reviews from people that have hired the company to do the job.  Read online reviews, gather leads, then call and ask:

 

How long has the company been in business?

Do they use a dust control system?

What kind of polyurethane do they prefer?

 

If you go to our website at www.extremefloorcare.com we have a Consumer Awareness Guide to help you understand questions you should ask. You can always call is at 609-272-9173 if you have any questions, we would be happy to help.

 

Who not to hire: Yourself. While many of us know people who have sanded their own floors, professional floor refinishers strongly caution against this. While their warnings might sound self-serving, they point out that you can’t get professional-quality results with the 110-volt sanders available from rental companies (pros use 220-volt equipment), and by the time you’ve acquired all the tools you need and invested the time, you’re not going to save a lot of money. 

 

“In the end you’re going to screw it up, and you’re going to pay more money,” warns Joe from Extreme Floor Care. And don’t be seduced by offers from painters or handypeople, either, Joe adds. “People should look for a professional who’s only doing one thing,” he says. “You don’t go to a shoe repairman and ask him to do an eye exam.”

 

Cost range: Most floor refinishers charge by the square foot, but prices will vary considerably, depending upon your region, your home’s accessibility, the size of the job and the work you want done (including the color of the stain — dark stains take more prep time). The quality of the helpers he has working for them. Many refinishing companies hire illegal immigrants who don't know what they are doing and won't be covered under insurance and make pennies on the dollar to someone who has training in the field. You also want the Owner of the company doing you job not just dropping guys off at your home. At Extreme Floor Care, Joe the owner is the one doing your work.

 

Plan on spending anywhere between $3.00 and $5.25 per square foot for sanding, staining and two coats of finish. Does your carpet and padding need to be removed - time is money so if you do this it will save you $$.  Typical project length: Allow three to seven days, depending on the size and complexity of the project. Due to dust, odor and general disruption, it’s a good idea to move out of the house while the work is being done. At Extreme Floor Care we have bags on all of our machines (look under our video tab on our website to watch Joe sanding a floor) so it controls the dust. We also use top of the line products so the odor is gone in 2 days.

Permit: Not required.

Best time to do this project: You can refinish floors anytime. But if you’re planning on storing furniture outside while the work is being done, you’ll want to avoid rainy weather. Some people rent pods and other things if they don't have room in the home I suggest renting a U-Haul - much more affordable.

 

Alternatively, if you don’t want to go to the hassle and expense of refinishing the floors, consider having them rescreened. In this process a machine roughs up the existing polyurethane, then the floor is buffed and a new coat of polyurethane is applied. This can only be done on floors that are in good condition. Lots of surface scratches but not missing polyurethane. If you have used a product to clean your floors that has wax in it this process cannot be done on your floors. This is not to be confused with “sandless” hardwood floor refinishing, a less effective process that simply cleans the existing floor.