Individuals with hardwood flooring know that overtime blemishes and scratches from everyday wear and tear, especially in high-traffic environments, are inevitable. However, it becomes tricky determining when your hardwood floors require a sand and finish or a buff and coat.
Buff and Coat
Why Doe You Need to Buff & Coat Your Floors?
Every home and business owner knows that hardwood flooring requires a healthy amount of upkeep to ensure it maintains its original qualities. However, no matter how diligent you are with the maintenance, a buff and coat will be necessary overtime. Why will your hardwood floors need a buff and coat when you are the ideal hardwood floor caretaker? Well, every hardwood floor is covered with a polyurethane coating and this coating will protect from everyday wear and tear but overtime, it wears down leaving the wood vulnerable to damage. This coating can take a good amount of abuse, but once its wears to a thin layer, it’s time to contact hardwood flooring professionals for a buff and coat to ensure no extensive damage occurs.
When Does Your Flooring Need a Buff & Coat?
The thinning of the polyurethane coating is not necessarily visible to the human eye. The only way to determine when it’s time for a buff and recoat is to watch closely for signs of evident wear and tear, like scuff marks and mild gauges. This sounds difficult to determine but it really just comes down to the amount of traffic you have in your house or business. For areas with extensive traffic, like kitchens and hallways, you may want to consider a yearly buff and coat, but for other areas, you can wait it out for 3-5 years. This may seem over the top, especially when your flooring looks perfectly fine, yet, if you want to avoid a sand and refinish down the road, it’s best to go through with a buff and coat.
Sand and Finish
Why Should You Decide To Sand & Finish Your Floors?
Determining why your flooring requires a sand and finish generally comes down to two situations; your flooring was installed before the 1970s and/or the floors have been poorly maintained. Before the 70s, wax, old-fashioned varnish or shellac was used as the finish. This is not an issue for the flooring’s appearance, however, a new finish will not adhere to a finish that has had wax applied to it. You can re-wax your floors, however wax is not as durable as a polyurethane coating and will need to be renewed every 6 months or so. With that said, it best to start fresh with a sand and refinish to ensure your floors remain beautiful and the upkeep is manageable.
When Is The Right Time For Sand & Finishing?
Hardwood floors that are poorly maintained will often sustain scratches, gouges, water damage and discoloration. If you’re lucky, this damage may just be to the top coat of the flooring, however, if it has made its way down to the wood, you will need a sand and refinish to regain your hardwood floors original luster.
In the Market for a Buff & Coat or Sand & Finish?
For over 40 years, Dave’s Floor Sanding & Installing, Inc. has completed numerous hardwood flooring projects throughout the Minneapolis & St. Paul metro area. Our dedicated and highly-skilled technicians complete all work in a timely and professional manner ensuring floors are not only beautiful, but healthy. Contact us today for a free in-home estimate!