5 Signs That You Need to Refinish Your Hardwood Floors
- Published By: District Floor Depot
Homeowners today prefer hardwood flooring over tile or carpet. Well-kept hardwood floors are extremely durable, require low maintenance, and can give your home both a classic look and a cozy feel.
Wood flooring has become so popular among homeowners such that the number of flooring businesses has grown 1.8% over the past five years. As much as hardwood floors have become the standard choice among homeowners, choosing the right hardwood can be quite a task. Oak, acacia, tamarind, and maple are among the options that you have to choose from.
You might be putting in a new floor or renewing an existing one, either way; a good hardwood flooring company should not be hard to find. Depending on what style you are going for and where you plan on installing the floors, make sure you are working with a flooring company with experience.
What To Watch Out For
Hardwood floors are not recommended for bathrooms because of the dampness. Moisture can make any kind of wood flooring rot. For areas like the kitchen and entry, it’s best to install hickory or oak hardwood flooring — since their quality can handle heavy foot traffic.
No matter how durable hardwood flooring is, there comes a point when wear and tear are to be expected. If you have a family, chances are your kids have done some visible damage on your once beautiful hardwood floors.
Some people, unless the damage on the floors can be seen, are unaware of when to refinish or replace their hardwood flooring.
Below are signs that you should refinish your hardwood floors.
1. Water Damage
If leaks are common in your house, then chances are that your hardwood floors are damaged. Water stains are different from water damage such as warping. Fixing a water stain is fairly simple: sand and then refinish the stained area.
With warping, however, you will need to replace the floor. Again, it’s best to work with skilled professionals during major projects.
2. Severe Scratches
It’s easy for wooden floors to get scratched. Scratches can be on the wood or the stain. If you have any deep scratches on the wood, then you will have to refinish your floors. Also, when you have small scratches spread out all over your hardwood flooring, then you should consider refinishing.
A scratch on the stain can be fixed by reapplying stain, but this will cause your floor to have different colored patches on the surface. Scratches can also cause more damage than you think since they can lead to water to reaching inside the wood and cause more damage. It is advisable to assess the extent of the damage before making any DIY decisions.
3. Chips or Gouges
This kind of damage is severe and needs to be addressed right away. Deep holes or gouges can cause physical harm to your family in addition to making your wood floors prone to water damage.
Chips or gaps on your floors can be caused by several things, including furniture, toys, and more. If your floors happen to be a few decades old, then it’s best to view this as a chance to refinish your floors.
4. Severe Staining
If you have children, then you are no stranger to extensive stains on your floors. Usually, you can clean stains using cleaning agents, but these products do not work on all stains. If you are dealing with plenty of stains or a few severe ones, refinishing can be an option worth considering.
5. Sun Discoloration
We all want our homes to have natural sunlight. However, when it comes to hardwood floors, too much sun can cause fading. While re-staining your floors can fix this, a longer lasting solution will be to refinish your floors.
By choosing to refinish your floors, you might end up causing more damage, for example, thinning your floors due to too much sanding, especially if you already have thin floors. It is always better to hire a professional wood flooring company to do the job.
If you want to learn more about staining, installing, and refinishing hardwood flooring, give District Floor Depot a call today!