We lift a vent grille and look at the board edge. Solid plank sands several times; a thin veneer sands once or never.
Boards that have cupped from a leak have to dry and settle flat before sanding, or they crown when they shrink back.
Pet stains that soaked through, split boards, and wide gaps get priced as replacement work, separate from the sanding.
Stair treads, thresholds, closets, and the edge against carpet each need hand work that a drum sander cannot reach.
Most houses in Potomac run wood through the hall and carpet up the stairs. That junction is where a refinish shows its quality. We hand-sand right up to the stair nosing and the carpet edge, then feather the finish so there is no dark halo where the machine stopped. If your stair runner is being replaced at the same time, we sequence the two so the wood cures before anyone tacks carpet next to it.
We measure what is left above the tongue, find cupped or damaged boards, and tell you if sanding is the wrong call.
We start coarse to cut the old finish, then step through medium and fine so no scratch shows under the stain.
We put stain samples on your own boards, not a showroom panel, and you choose in your own daylight.
We lay the sealer and finish coats, then give you exact dates for socks, shoes, rugs, and furniture.
Every sand removes wood. Once you reach the tongue, the boards are done. We check before we quote, not halfway through.
Pet urine and water rings that soaked into the grain often survive sanding. Replacing the board is the real fix.
Boards we replace are younger than the ones around them and can finish lighter. We show you a sample first.
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A refinish starts at a floor vent, not a stain chart. We lift the grille and look at the cut edge of a board. That tells us how much wood sits above the tongue and how many times the floor has been sanded already. Solid oak usually has more life in it. An engineered plank with a thin veneer may have none.
Then we look for trouble that sanding will not solve. Cupped boards from an old dishwasher leak need to dry and flatten first. Split boards, deep pet stains, and gaps you can drop a coin into get quoted as replacement work. If the floor is past saving, we say so and point you at hardwood flooring installation.
Sanding is a sequence, not a single pass. We start coarse enough to cut the old finish and any cupping, then step up through the grits so each pass erases the scratches from the last one. Skip a grit to save time and the stain will show every swirl the coarse paper left. Edges, closets, and the strip beside the stair nosing get hand-sanded, because a drum sander cannot reach them.
Color gets chosen on your floor. We put three or four stain samples on the sanded boards in the actual room and you look at them in your own morning light. Oak, maple, and pine each drink stain differently, and no showroom panel can tell you what yours will do.
Water-based finishes are quick, but nothing is instant. You will get sock traffic before shoe traffic, shoe traffic before furniture, and furniture before rugs. Putting an area rug down early traps solvent and leaves a permanent outline. We hand you the dates and hold up our end of them.
If carpet is going into other rooms in the same project, coordinate residential carpet installation so the wood cures first. For an early budget, use the carpet and flooring cost calculator.
No. Solid plank usually has several sandings in it. An engineered floor with a thin veneer may have none left. We pull a vent grille and look at the actual board edge before quoting anything.
Sometimes the light ones do. Urine that soaked through the finish into the grain usually stays, because it goes deeper than we can safely sand. Replacing those boards is the honest fix, and we price it separately.
Less than you expect, and more than zero. Our sanders run to vacuum containment and we seal off doorways, but fine dust still settles somewhere. We tell you which rooms to empty and which to close off.
It depends on the finish. Water-based coatings usually take light foot traffic within a day and furniture a few days later. Rugs go down last, once the finish has fully hardened. We give you the dates in writing.