Full Wood Floor Refinishing or Just Screening?

Most hardwood floor refinishing companies won't tell you this, but there are cases where you don't need a full hardwood floor refinishing. In some cases, your wood floors' condition wouldn't justify a full refinishing and all it will need is some touchup by gentle sanding and a new coat of finish. However, from our experience - some wood floors would require a full refinishing to get the floors looking good and prolong their life span, to enjoy the refinishing for at least 10 years more.

What's The Difference between Full Refinishing and Screening?

A full refinishing will include sanding the finish, including some of the wood floors itself to achieve a smooth surface again, and get rid of any wear or scratches on the floor. The full process can be found in our explanation about what is hardwood floors refinishing.

On the other hand, a screening is a simple process which includes very gentle sanding of the finish, smoothing it out and removing superficial scratches, and then applying a new coat of finish, probably polyurethane but it really depends on your floor's current finish.

Beware Of Scammers That Will Damage Your Floors

Some wooden floors were not meant to be sanded again, aside from the sanding they left the factory with. That means that sanding them again would damage them more than repair them. In addition, some old floors have been sanded so many times they can't be sanded anymore, and require a more elaborate refinishing and restoration.

The best way to get initial information on the condition of your floors, is to check their depth. You can easily check that with a business card, a pencil, and a ruler. Find a gap between floorboards in your wood floor, push the card in as far as you can. Try and play with it a bit to make sure it's gone all the way in. Now, mark the floor's surface level on the card with the pencil, and pull it out. Measure the distance between the line you drew and the edge of the card that was in.

If you measured more than 3/4 inch from the edge, you have enough wood in the floors to do a full refinishing, even yourself if you want to. If you measured less than 3/4 inch, your floors don't have lots of wood left, and refinishing them might be a very delicate job to prevent damage. Sanding can create a lot of damage if done wrong, so be sure that you or the company you hire know they're doing in the floorboards measured less than three quarters of an inch in depth.

Another damage potential is the type of finish your floors currently have. Misidentifying the finish of the floor can lead to distasteful results, including the need to do a complete restoration of the floors, or worse - replace them altogether. Don't believe us? Check the stories on Google for "hardwood floors refinishing gone bad".

Don't leave your wood floor in the hands of amateurs! Call Hardwood Revival today and schedule an onsite inspection.