Hardwood floors - site-finished and pre-finished in adjoining rooms?
9 years ago
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- 9 years ago
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Pre-finished or site finished hardwood
Comments (6)As a hardwood floor enthusiast, having been in the hardwood floor business all my life, it is site-finished hands down for me. Aside from the aesthetic knocks I have against prefinished floors (seams you can see and feel with your feet, a funny sheen, no choice on sheen, color fading problems, etc.) the main point I stress with my clients is maintenance. You mention small children and a dog, both of which I have to contend with on my own floors. Any hardwood floor you choose will eventually show signs of wear. With the proper finishes on a site finished floor, restoring your floors to new is very feasible. With a factory finished floor, it is virtually impossible. With the current cost of unfinished red and white oak in standard widths of 2 1/4" and 3 1/4" at extremely low prices, we have been finding that site finished floors can actually be less costly than even median factory finished floors. The difference in material price easily offsets the cost of sanding and finishing. Of course, any homeowner making this decision must consider the possible issues of dust, fumes, and time off the floors. It is imperative to find a top-notch floor finisher who works primarily or exclusively in occupied homes. You need a finisher who can keep dust to an absolute minimum (which is possible) and who uses high-end water based urethanes such as Bona, Glitsa or Basic Coatings. Each of these companies makes a commercial grade water based urethane that will be prefect for your traffic needs. They are also very low in VOC's and some are green guard certified. The best reason to use them, though, is that 5, 8, 10 or more years from now when you see a traffic pattern becoming visible, a good floor finisher can use the same finish to "re-coat" just those areas showing wear. It is possible to blend these newly recoated areas into the surrounding areas without moving all your furniture. This is typically very affordable and takes only a few hours to complete and dry. In this way you are able to indefinitely maintain your floors making it possible to avoid ever sanding them back to the wood. Unfortunately, with prefinished floors, once they wear out, all you can do is to sand them back to the wood and do exactly this process. To make matters worse, most of them now come with aluminum oxide finishes which make this refinishing very difficult. I say, why install a floor trying to avoid refinishing when refinishing will eventually be the only way to make them look good again? Get it right from the start, use the best finishes out there, the right finisher and then maintain your floors. You will have floors you love for life....See MorePre-finished hardwood versus finished on site
Comments (2)I didn't know they made engineered floors finished on site. I have solid hardwood, 3/4 select white oak, stained and finished on site. when we made the decision we ewre between site finished and prefinished. at first my wife was piushing for the prefinished b/c she thought it would be significantly faster, we weren't living there at the time. it really isn't for a good flooring company. All the wood was down in 1 day, and another 3 of finishing. Price for the oak wasn't significantly different either way, maybe 5%. Either or, I like the seamless look and feel, it was what I grew up with as "normal" so that may be why. I know a few people with prefinished, sometimes it looks/feels fine, sometimes not so much. If I fell in love with a prefinished product that had a special finish applied, ie some of the handscraped stuff, the exotic woods that have some real interesting coloring etc, I would go with that. Otherwise I prefered site finished. Again though, for me the difference was 5%. at 50% difference I might have a different opinion...See MorePre finished or site finished hardwood?
Comments (3)Thanks cpartist. I've been thinking the same. Can you recommend any quality brands for engineered hardwoods? What are the must haves?...See MorePre-finished hardwood floors in kitchen - any regrets?
Comments (8)I have pre-finished hardwood in my kitchen (and entire house) that was installed about 18 months ago. So far there are no issues and no regrets. I just wipe up spills, go over the area with a damp cloth and then dry. Knowing my husband, I’m sure some stray ice cubes have melted, but they’ve left no evidence. I vacuum weekly or as needed, and use a bona mop about monthly. One thing I did do was buy new vacuum with a special soft brush designed for hardwood. The “hardwood setting” on my previous vacuum simply lifted the brush so it wouldn’t scratch the floors, but I felt like all I was doing was blowing around dirt and certainly not getting into crevices. There are pros and cons to all flooring, but one of the advantages with the pre finished is the strong seal that reportedly makes them somewhat more resistant to staining or discoloration. Prior to the hardwood I had tile for 23 years; sometimes it was really hard on my then much younger legs and back....See MoreRelated Professionals
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