Worn hardwood looks worse than it usually is. Scratches, dulled finish, pet damage, and dark traffic paths read as a floor that needs replacing, and a large share of the time the wood underneath is fine and the finish on top of it is not.
Refinishing typically costs a fraction of new flooring and produces a floor that is genuinely new at the surface. The question is whether your particular floor has another sanding left in it.
How Many Sandings a Floor Has
Solid hardwood is milled with a wear layer above the tongue and groove. Each full sanding removes a small amount, and a floor can generally take several over its life, which is why century old floors are still in service.
Engineered hardwood is a veneer of real wood over a plywood or composite core. The veneer thickness determines everything. A thick veneer can be sanded once or twice. A thin one cannot be sanded at all, and attempting it goes through to the core.
To find out where you stand:
- Look at a floor vent or a threshold. Removing a floor register gives you a cross section view of the board, where you can see the thickness above the groove and, on engineered material, the veneer layer.
- Check whether nail heads are visible at the surface. If fasteners are showing, the floor has been sanded down to them and has no more left.
- Look at the board edges. Excessive bevelling and thin, fragile edges indicate previous sandings.
- Count what you know. If the floor has been refinished twice already and is thin at the vents, treat it as done.
If you cannot tell, a flooring contractor can, and most will look at it without charge as part of quoting.
When Refinishing Is the Answer
- Surface scratches, scuffs, and a dull worn finish
- Traffic paths where the finish has worn through
- Pet scratches, which are almost always surface level
- Minor surface stains
- Wanting a different color or sheen, since stain is applied during refinishing
- Sun fading, particularly where a rug has left an outline
Water stains are the interesting case. Light surface staining often sands out. Black staining means water penetrated and reacted with the tannins in the wood, and that usually goes deeper than a sanding will reach. Those boards can often be replaced individually and blended in, which is far cheaper than replacing a floor.
When Replacement Is the Answer
- The wear layer is gone, or the floor is thin engineered material
- Structural problems, including boards that are cupped or crowned from a moisture issue, or a floor that is soft or springy underfoot
- Widespread water damage, particularly where the subfloor is affected
- Pet urine damage that has soaked into the wood, which does not sand out and continues to smell
- Extensive gaps from long term shrinkage, though gaps alone can sometimes be filled
- You want a different material, or a different plank width, or radiant heat underneath
- The species is not worth saving, which occasionally applies to thin older products
An important note on moisture: cupping and crowning are symptoms of a moisture imbalance rather than the problem itself. Refinishing or replacing without fixing the underlying moisture source will produce the same result again. Find the cause first.
The Cost Difference
Refinishing is typically quoted per square foot and lands at a small fraction of the cost of new solid hardwood installed. Published ranges vary, but the gap between refinishing and new solid hardwood is generally several times over, which is why it is worth establishing whether refinishing is possible before pricing anything else.
Additional cost factors on refinishing: stairs, which are labor intensive and priced separately; removing existing carpet or vinyl over the wood; board replacement where damage is localized; and the finish product chosen.
Material pricing on new flooring has been affected by duties on imported wood products, which we covered in wood product duties are showing up in flooring quotes.
Screen and Recoat, the Middle Option
There is a lighter treatment worth knowing about. Screening, sometimes called a buff and recoat, abrades the existing finish and applies a fresh coat without sanding into the wood.
It costs considerably less than a full refinish, takes a day, and removes no wear layer, which means it can be repeated indefinitely. It works when the finish is dull or lightly scratched but has not worn through to bare wood anywhere.
It cannot change the color, will not remove deep scratches, and will not work if the floor has been treated with certain waxes or oils, since the new coat will not bond. Ask the contractor to do an adhesion test in a closet before committing.
For a floor that is merely tired, this is often the right and much cheaper answer.
What Refinishing Involves
Expect the floor to be unusable for several days and the room to be inaccessible. Furniture comes out, and the process runs sand, stain if you are changing color, then several coats of finish with drying time between.
Dust is the main practical concern. Dustless systems capture most but not all of it, and the room should still be sealed off from the rest of the house.
Finish choice affects the timeline. Water based finishes dry faster, have lower odor, and are the common choice now. Oil based finishes take longer to cure, have stronger fumes, and amber over time, which some people prefer on older floors. Ask about cure time separately from dry time, since a floor can be walkable well before it is ready for furniture or rugs.
If You Do Replace
The decision then becomes what to install, and hardwood is only one option. Vinyl plank has taken a large share of the market on cost and water resistance, and the comparison is covered in vinyl plank versus hardwood. Which material suits which room is covered in choosing flooring room by room.
One consideration if you plan to sell: solid hardwood remains well regarded by buyers and can be refinished by future owners, which is a durability argument as much as a resale one.
Getting a Quote
Ask each contractor whether the floor can be refinished, how many sandings they think it has left, and whether a screen and recoat would be sufficient. A contractor who recommends the least expensive of the three options when it is appropriate is worth keeping.
If you want quotes for floor refinishing or replacement, tell us about your project and we will connect you with contractors serving your area. It is free to use, with no obligation to hire.