More often than not, pre-finished floors are getting refinished day-in and day-out. Which is awesome, because most people think that pre-finished hardwood flooring cannot be sanded. That is false. There are a few draw backs however.
Having the gaps in your floor. This is one downside to prefinished flooring. Most prefinished hardwoods have a beveled edge, which, leaves a decent size gap between the slats of each board. Doesn’t look too bad when the prefinished is installed. When the prefinished flooring is sanding that’s when it becomes noticeable. As seen in the pictures above.
The industry standard says to NOT fill the gaps when refinishing prefinished hardwoods. The fact of the matter is that if you do fill the gaps on prefinished hardwoods then the filler will just end up flaking out in 6 months. Trust us – we tried it and had to redo our clients floor 6 months later. Live and learn, right!?
There’s another downside to refinished prefinished hardwoods. Most of prefinished hardwoods nowadays are coming out with hand-scraped look. This absolutely looks amazing, for time being. When you decide to eventually have those floors refurbished, those hand-scraped characteristics will be gone. And unfortunately, you pay much more for hand-scrapped than plain.
But, the good news is that you can still have them refinished and stained a new color. This is one of the greatest advantages of buying solid oak flooring, pre-finished or site-finished! You can always keep up with the trends and update accordingly throughout the years.
As you can tell, this project turned out amazing! Yes, you can see the gaps but the new floor color is outstanding. This customer was extremely happy with the final outcome. Ash hardwoods are the easiest floor to stain. The customer selected espresso stain color. Blending the walls with the main floor was flawless. Final coat was a semi-gloss industrial water based finish. We provided all new felt pads and the cleaning supplies for the new home owner. We believe these refinished floors are going to sell this home! Not to mention, increase the home value by 20%!
Project Overview
- Hang plastic
- Pull base shoe
- Sand and stain
- Pre-finished gaps
- Final coat and general care
Tags: ash hardwood, ash pre-finished hardwood, ash wood flooring, ash wood trees, Dark Stained Floors, Dark Walnut Hardwoods, Dark Wood Floors, dustless hardwood floor refinishing, Espresso, hardwood floor refinishing, hardwood installation, leawood ks hardwood sanding, refinishing ash hardwood, sand and finish ash wood