Hardwood floor refinishing services are like a facelift for your floor. There’s no better way to revitalize your floors to eliminate scratches and polish their surface. However, refinishing is an involved process that you should prepare for. Here’s a brief guide on several factors you should consider before getting your hardwood floors refinished.

4 Factors to Prepare for Before Hardwood Floor Refinishing Services

1. Don’t Expect Perfection

Wood is an organic material, which means it has knots and other irregularities in the grain. Refinishing the floor will not remove these imperfections, nor will it remove pet stains or fill in gaps. You can stain the floor a darker color, and this will help with marks. The most effective approach is to replace any stained or damaged boards. The contractor will check the grain and the species to get a seamless match before placing the new board in the floor.

2. Clear the Area of Furniture

All furniture has to be moved to another part of the home before refinishing can start. This protects the new finish from scuffs or scratches and your furniture from dust and fumes. You don’t have to move pictures off the walls, but dust may accumulate over them.

3.  Dust

Dust happens, and there will be a lot of it. The heat register, doorways, and windows need to be taped off with plastic. You cannot run your heating or air conditioning while sanding or the dust will clog the furnace filter and spread throughout the house. Some flooring experts offer dustless refinishing, which eliminates up to 95% of the dust produced from floor refinishing. 

4. Time Away From the Area

The timeline of the project depends on the square footage of the floors getting refinished. Typically, 1,000 square feet of flooring requires one day for the sanding, and possibly two to five days for the staining and polyurethane coating. This time frame depends on the number of coats that applied. After the last layer is applied, you should wait 24 hours before walking on it, and then only in socked feet. Pets should wait an additional 48 hours. Furniture cannot be placed back into the room for at least four days, but this excludes rugs. They suffocate the flooring, which needs 14 to 30 days to cure properly.

For dependable, high-quality hardwood floor refinishing services, contact Hardwood Rescue in Chesterfield, MO. They are a recognized leader in hardwood floor refinishing in the St. Louis area. Their experienced craftsmen have over a decade of experience and strive to use only first-rate materials. Call (636) 532-5476 to speak with a representative about securing a free estimate or visit them online to review their services.