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Wood floors should be sanded and refinished every 6-18 months??

17 years ago

What so you make of this that was on this site:

http://www.woodfloorsonline.com/stylestrends/choices.html#specifics

Kitchens/Family rooms: These are most common spaces for wood floor installation in new construction. The ease of care, open floor plans, and the flow of traffic make this a very popular area for wood floors. Dark and white/bleached wood floors do NOT fare well in this area because of the high traffic, food & water continuously being on the floor. In some very grainy species, the direction of the wood floor can add to the wear of the product. NOTE: Kitchen wood floors should be screened (lightly sanded) and recoated as needed, say every 6-18 months, depending on the amount of traffic and cleaning habits. Make sure the finish used is recommended by the manufacturer and/or is a compatible with what you have. Good cleaning habits are very important part of maintaining a wood floor, high traffic or not. Clean regularly, and always wipe food & water spillage immediately.

I want maintainance free not all this work!

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Comments (4)

User
17 years ago
NO such thing as maintainence free. Every single choice in life will require some maintainence. Having said that, screening and recoating is NOT "refinishing". YOu lightly abrade the finish top coat, remove the dust, and reapply a finish coat. And yes, in homes with heavy wear, and who choose a higher gloss finish, it may be necessary every 18 months to 2 years. It'd have to be a beach environment with no rugs down to be every 6 months!

If low maintainence flooring is your top priority, then tile flooring in a porcelain that resembles stone along with epoxy grout would be your best choice. Everything has drawbacks, and I am not personally comfortable with wood flooring in a kitchen environment. But, then, I'm messier than your average cook, and klutzier too. I also have cats who tend to upchuck hairballs that might possibly sit there all day while I'm gone to work. I'll clean them up when I come through the door, but I don't want to have to worry about the moisture issues from cat hork sitting on a wood seam for 8 hours. THus, wood floors are not for me. They ARE for some people. People who don't mind a bit more work on their floors than I do.
iwantakitchen
Original Author
17 years ago
Wow, I don't think I want to do that every 2 years. I knew you had to make sure you don't get it wet and drag in dirt that will scratch it but to also have to recoat every 2 years on top of that? It's beautiful but....
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glennsfc
17 years ago
You don't have to recoat every two years if a commercial quality waterborne polyurethane is applied in a satin gloss level. You'd have to have really heavy and unrelenting use to wear one of them to the point where a recoat would be necessary.

If you're a 'brady bunch' household or one where anything goes in and out, like bicycles, big dogs and the entire neighborhood...then, yes, you might have to add finish to the thing after two years to keep it lookin good.

I've never had someone call to have me recoat a two-part commercial waterborne polyurethane finished floor.
floorguy
17 years ago
There are a lot of variables, to put in place to know how long it is going to be between a screen and topcoat.

Sanding to bare wood, is for extremes, when you let it go too far for just a recoat.

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