Did I choose the right company to refinish my hardwood floors?

June 10, 2007 11:51 AM

I'm having my hardwood floors refinished by professionals. It will take 3 days and in addition to the sanding they'll be applying 4 layers of polyurethane (no sealer) Does this sound good to you? Did I pick the right guys?

Some of these companies come in and do it all in one day and use one coat of sealer and one of polyurethane. And some other companies bad mouth these guys and say that their work doesn't last. I plan on staying in this house for another 25 years, if not longer so longevity of the finish is important.

posted by Lorna to home & garden (6 comments total)

Sounds good to me. May I ask where you live and how much you are paying per room?
posted by LarryC at 12:12 PM on June 10, 2007

Depends on how many Sq feet your house is, but three days sounds about right for an average sized home.
posted by bondcliff at 12:40 PM on June 10, 2007

My floors took 4 days. Day 1 was repairs and rough sanding, Day 2 fine sanding, Day 3 stain, and Day 4 finish. So if your floors don't need any repairs, 3 days sounds about right. I wouldn't trust the durability of a 1-day job, and I would definitely want more than one coat of poly.
posted by boomchicka at 1:10 PM on June 10, 2007

You need several coats and plenty of time for the coats to cure. My memory is we had 3 coats with 24 hours between each coat. You also need 48 hours after the final coat for it to fully cure.

It's been six years and we're still finding dust from the sanding. It makes a huge mess. Seal off any doors you can, then prepare to spend several hours removing dust from the entire house before doing anything else.
posted by Nelson at 2:16 PM on June 10, 2007

For the most durable floor the first three coats of poly should be high gloss the last coat can be a less shiny if you want. A semi gloss or matte finish for the last coat generaly is better because it causes inperfections in the wood and finish to be less apparent, scratches will show up less in the future too.

A four coat finish is a much better then a one or two coat job.

Nelson is right about the dust. Talk about this with the the refinisher and see if they have a plan to mitigate.
posted by flummox at 4:29 PM on June 10, 2007

to digress a bit--
i just installed a cork floor, our contractor finished it but moved appliances around before each of the three coats of minwax fast-dry, uh, dried. now there are big scars.

how should i remove the finish so i can hire someone to do it right? can i save this cork?
posted by oigocosas at 5:33 PM on June 10, 2007