REFINISHING

Hardwood floors add beauty and value to your home. The best way to protect and enhance that beauty is to have your hardwood floors refinished.

A few of the most common reasons why to decide to have your floors refinished:

• Floors are completely worn and have deep scratches
• Decided to remove carpet or linoleum and refinish the hardwoods underneath
• Want to change the color of the hardwoods

Whether Prospect Hardwood Flooring is sanding and finishing hardwood floors that we recently installed, or restoring an existing floor to its original beauty, we are experts at hardwood floor refinishing.  We provide our customers with custom colors to compliment your décor.  We will thoroughly describe the pros and cons of all procedures and finishes to you.

The process to refinish a wood floor is sanding down the hardwood down to raw wood, effectively removing the existing finish and stain. This used to be an extremely dusty process that caused clean-up nightmares.  However, Prospect Hardwood Flooring uses a State-Of-The-Art Dust Containment System.

Benefits of using a dustless system include:

• Less airborne dust reduces chance of finish getting contaminated
• Blessing for homeowners and employees who are allergic to dust
• Easy clean-up for our crew when finished, no need to hire cleaning professional

After the sanding is complete, you will select the stain color.  We will apply the stain to a small area, to ensure that your wood is taking the stain/color as you want.  Then your choice of finish is applied; high-gloss, semi-gloss or satin. Applying finish is the last step in the refinishing process. Finishes affect the floors appearance and give it protection. Usually 2-3 coats are needed for adequate protection of the floor; your choice of oil-based (2 coats) or water-based (3 coats).

FINISH SHEEN

Think of sheen in terms of “shininess.” There are more or less, three types of sheen: high gloss, semi-gloss and satin. Sheen will have an impact on the appearance of your floor. Be sure you know what you’re getting.

Gloss:
Gloss is the shiniest sheen and has a “wet” look. It is often thought of as having a very high-end appearance. However, it can be very difficult to achieve satisfactory results with gloss when finishing on-site due to its high amount of reflection. Gloss is harder to maintain because it shows dust, scratches and scuffs more easily.

Semi-Gloss:
Although semi-gloss is less shiny than gloss, it still maintains a fair amount of shine. Many homeowners with site-finished floors choose semi-gloss for its compromise of shine and maintainability.

Satin:
Satin has the least shine of the three and gives floors what’s called a matte appearance. This is a popular choice for homeowners. It has a silky appearance and is the easiest to maintain out of all three finishes.  Satin has a wonderful ability to “hide” small surface scratches and scuffs. This is the most common sheen for site-finished floors.

Oil-Modified Urethane:
Oil modified urethane is often called “poly” and is the most common wood floor finish. It is very durable and adds a rich, amber tone due to its golden blond color. Drying time is 7-8 hours; the finish is durable and has a moderate odor when drying.

Water-Based Urethane:
Water-based finishes can be fast drying, non-yellowing, have very little odor, offer great durability and can give your floor an excellent look. Drying time is 2-3 hours; to be easily coated 2-3 times in a day.