Restore Your Hardwood Floors With Luxurious Stains And Finishes
Hardwood is the most desirable flooring material, so you want to protect your investment—wood floors are not inexpensive—through regular upkeep and maintenance. For the first couple of years, you only have to whisk away any spills, vacuum, and do spot care to protect your hardwood. But at some point, wood will require more intensive care, like sanding, to reinvigorate and buff out the surface imperfections. Or perhaps you’re renovating a room and the hardwood flooring no longer matches; in this case, you can protect your original flooring wood installation cost by refinishing and staining it.
Read on to find out how to bring new life to hardwood floors!
How To Maintain Your Hardwood Floors
If your dreams of installing hardwood flooring are coming to fruition and you’re unfamiliar with their day-to-day maintenance, this is everything you need to know.
- If water gets onto your floors, clean it up quickly. However, don’t use a wet mop, as moisture leads to warped boards.
- Prevent dents or dings using furniture pads for heavy items, like sofas and chairs.
- Dust daily to prevent dust accumulation in the floorboard seams.
- Once a week, do a deep clean with a vacuum to pick up dust, dirt, and debris off the floor.
- Try a wood floor cleaner every month.
- And finally, refinish your floors every 3-5 years.
Signs It’s Time To Refinish Your Floors
For homeowners who want to protect their flooring wood installation cost, you want to watch for imperfections. If you notice any of these red flags, it’s time to refinish your flooring immediately.
- Water damage staining
- Plenty of scratches
- Grey-tinged boards
- Splintering or cracking
- Floorboard discolouration
Refinish Your Floors With Lux Stains And Finishes
If your hardwood floors are due for a refinish, it’s a three-step process of screening, sanding, and adding a finishing product. Screening means removing the polyurethane topcoat with a floor polisher.
Once the polyurethane coat is gone, sand the floors with a drum sander. Handling a drum sander and managing the dust is a job better suited to an experienced flooring contractor. Lastly, it’s time to think about stains and finishes.
Here’s everything you need to know about staining and refinishing your hardwood flooring.
Staining 101
Adding a stain means you can change the colour of your flooring with a light, mid, or dark stain. Stains are an excellent choice if you’re updating the design of the space. Or you can opt to retain the look of your flooring and forgo staining it. An ideal time to avoid using stains is with exotic woods because they are naturally beautiful and stains don’t absorb properly.
- Stains come in matte, glossy, satin, or semi-gloss, satin being the most popular option.
Floor Finishes 101
Once the staining process is done, now it’s time for finishes. There are three types of floor finishes:
- Polyurethane: Polyurethane is a plastic coating that improves the durability of your floors while making them water-resistant. However, you have to decide whether you want oil or water-based polyurethane.
- Oil-based: Oil-based gives your wood a light golden amber colour, so it’s excellent if you’re changing the colour of your flooring. This finish is slow-drying, taking 24 hours to cure; it’s a great DIY; the stain emits fumes; it’s more durable that water-based; and a gallon of oil-based is cheaper than water-based.
- Water-based: Water-based finishes are transparent, so it’s best for showcasing the wood grain; it’s quick-drying, which means it’s better left to the professionals to prevent streaks; and it’s more expensive per gallon than oil-based.
- Oils and sealers: This is an uncommon finish; once it’s applied, you must add a wax topcoat to seal it. You cannot use a polyurethane topcoat with an oil or sealant.
- Waxes: Sometimes, floors have only a wax finish, or it’s used on top of polyurethane. If the floor has a wax coat, you’ll have to sand it off before refinishing your floors.
The Benefits Of Stains And Finishes
Protect your floors by maximizing your flooring wood installation cost investment. Here are the benefits of staining and finishing your hardwood flooring:
- It is cheaper than replacing your hardwood flooring and, thus, a more environmentally friendly option.
- It protects and lengthens the lifespan of your wood floors.
- It takes less time to refinish your flooring than shopping for new floors and installing them.
- A flooring refresh adds value to your house—great for homeowners considering selling.
- A properly sealed floor is hygienic as it prevents allergens from building up. It also protects you from injuring yourself on damaged boards.
- It’s an effective way to beautify your space!
Revamp Your Hardwood With Stains And Finishes
Hardwood flooring is not only beautiful but also sought-after. However, hardwood flooring requires regular maintenance and the occasional refinishing via stains and finishes to restore it to its “first-installed” glory. After all, hardwood flooring is an investment and, like all investments, it requires some tending for it lasts a lifetime!
If you have hardwood floors that need some TLC or are wondering whether your floors need refinishing, give us the Brothers Flooring a call for a free consultation. We have over 20 years of experience as flooring contractors, so we’re confident we can help you with any flooring questions or needs!
