Site finished and Pre-finished hardwood floors

7 years ago

I recently moved into a new house that has hardwood in the kitchen (the hardwood is pretty beat-up) that opens up to a carpeted dining room. I would love to replace the carpet in the dining area with pre-finished engineered hardwood floor, but I'm not sure what to do with the existing site-finished hardwood floors in the kitchen.

I really don't want to install site finished sold hardwood floors in the dining room as the finishing process takes days and is messy (I went through with my last house and I swore I'd never go through it again). However, putting down pre-finished engineered hardwood next to site finished hardwood is going to look silly. Ideally, I'd like the same flooring surface in both the kitchen and dining room. So I figure that my options are the following:

1. Tear up the floors in the kitchen and put down new engineered hardwood.

2. Lay the new flooring over the top of the existing hardwood floors.

3. Suck it up and install solid hardwood floors in the dining area and then finish and restain the kitchen and dining room.

So I was wondering if any one had an options I had not considered? I'm looking for the most cost effective yet reasonably mess free solution.

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emma1420
Original Author

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

That doesn't surprise me. Thanks all for your feedback. But, I didn't think about finding the same species and doing this project in stages. That is something that I had not considered.

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Comments (7)

User
7 years ago
Pics? YOu miht be able to find a pre-finished solid floor that matches or at least blends with your existing floor.
emma1420
Original Author
7 years ago
Not a great photo unfortunately, as I'm at work, but they give you the general idea. The kitchen floor is currently 90's orangery oak.
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User
7 years ago
First off I would discard option 2. Putting wood over wood is generally not something I would recommend and I would think that if the dining room carpet were replaced with wood, they would finish up at the same height. Plus it could cause problems at the appliances.

It sounds like the kitchen needs to be refinished or replaced. Get options for both with options to do the dining room the same.
When did you previously have floors sanded? There have been solid advances in dust capture machinery. It still takes some time but with proper care it will last a long time. It's worth it to take a little time to get what you want. If budget is an issue, put the same wood width and species in the dining room, either in the same color as the kitchen or in a color you like. Maybe you can find a trustworthy refinisher (with good machinery, zipwall poles, plastic and tape) to do the kitchen floor to match the new dining room the next time you go out of town. We do this all the time. Or install new unfinished matching solid wood in the dining room now and apply a coat of oil sealer temporarily until you can have it all finished to match. This way you get a better match without eased/beveled edges or overwood and all the cracks filled and poly'ed over.
emma1420
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I last had floors refinished about 9 months ago. I had to move out of my house for a week, and I spent weeks cleaning the dust. I definitely don't want to do that again. And as I'd also do the hallway as it leads from the dining room, I'd have to move out, as I'd have no access to the bathroom or bedrooms.

Right now, I'm thinking I may just have to pull up the existing hardwood or live with two different colors. I was just hoping there might be another option that I had not considered.
User
7 years ago
Nope. You have the options correctly summarized, all new or part new and live with the existing.
User
7 years ago
Site finishing with oil based finishes is the gotcha---odor, time, and mess.

Site finishing with water based finishes is not nearly as intrusive. No(very minimal) odor, much less time, and less mess.

Now, the above require emptying the dining room. And the above have curing times to move back in. Total time would be from 3 days to 10 days.

And site finished finishes are not as tough as prefinished (factory finished).

Replacing all the flooring with prefinished flooring would take the same emptying of the dining room, but you could move back in in two days. And have a tougher floor.

The cons of prefinished are moisture intrusion and 'hollow' sounds. There are underlayment materials to minimize the noise.

Site finished and Pre-finished hardwood floors

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