Do you do free estimates?
Absolutely. Call or email us to make an appointment. We are doing other jobs during the day so most of our estimates are done in the evening and on Saturday. If you call and we do not answer we are probable running one of our machines on a client’s floor. Leave a message and we will get back to you on our next break.
Are you licensed?
In North Carolina you are required to have a NC contractor license if your job is greater than $35,000. If your jobs are less than $35,000 they do not issue licenses in our service area. We have not quoted on a job of that size but would get that license if one comes available.
How much does sanding cost?
There are many factors that go into the cost for sanding, the condition of the floor, size of the room, whether wax is present, the type of finish needed and a whole host of other things. Generally speaking our floor sanding rate starts at $2 per square foot plus the finish cost, which can be from $0.25 to $3.00 per square foot or more depending on selection. We recommend waterborne finishes due to the low V.O.C. and impact on health, but also do oil, Waterlox, Tung oil, paste wax and more.
How many coats of finish do you use?
That depends on the finish and application. If we are using a penetrating oil; Pallmann Magic Oil or Monocoat Oil, etc.; there is no finish applied afterwards. Commercial applications can require a minimum of 4 coats. For residential applications, we will always apply a minimum of three coats whether it is oil or water based.
There is a need in some residential homes to treat as commercial wear and to use a fourth coat of finish.
Does the finish price include stain?
Let’s start by defining stain. Some contractors count stain as a coat of finish. Stain does nothing to protect your floor and will scuff off in a week. We define stain as anything deliberately applied to the floor to change the color while still allowing the grain of the wood to show through.
The process of staining a floor involves an extra sanding pass to minimize scratch visibility. We do another process called water popping when staining the entire floor to ensure consistent stain absorption, which requires overnight drying. Stain is a separate cost item and begins at $0.50 per square foot.
A word of warning: Floors made from maple, birch, pine, fir and some exotics are notoriously difficult to stain evenly and well. They require more sanding, time and stain to meet customer expectations and cost more to apply.
For the floors done this year, we have finished more natural than stained. We do not feel comfortable setting a one price for everything, especially when we will not even use any stain.
My floor doesn’t look so bad, do I really need to sand it down to the bare wood?
Maybe not. We have three tests we perform on your floor to see if your floor is a candidate to not be sanded to bare wood. If the existing finish shows no evidence of paste wax, has only surface scratches, has no obvious wear areas and is largely intact, it is possible to do what is called a screen and coat or using a true 100% dustless process called TYCOAT Recoating.
The screening process involves using a buffer with a high grit screen to lightly abrade the top layer of finish so that a new layer of finish will bond to it. The TYKOTE Recoating process involves a deep clean to remove all contaminates from the floor and applying TYKOTE which is a chemical bonding agent so our finish will adhere to the old finish. It is truly dust free because there is no sanding or dust generated. The cost is much less, starting at $1.25 per square foot, and the process takes less than a day.
If our testing shows acrylic wax is present, which typically comes from using the wrong cleaning products, we have a process and cleaning solution that will take this type of wax off your floor. This allows us to begin restoring your floors to their original beauty, at a reasonable cost.
Will these black stains sand out?
This is always a hard question. It is almost impossible to tell by looking if a stain will sand out. Dark stains from urine are the worst, largely because urine is corrosive and chemically burns the wood. However, it is always best to try to sand out a stain before trying more drastic measures – occasionally they sand right out. If the stains don’t lighten on sanding, patching is an option.
Do you do patching?
Absolutely. This is usually done when adding to an existing wood floor or doing floor repairs from changing the heating and air conditioning duct work. Patching is required to make your floors look natural and not like it was repaired.
How long will refinishing take?
It depends on the type of finish specified, stained or natural and the total square feet and what defines a job being finished. In answering this question we included when furniture can be replaced. Oil based urethanes must dry overnight for light foot traffic and water base urethanes dry within 4 hours for light foot traffic. So for a 750 square foot natural job our time schedule is
Oil based product
- Day 1 – sand and apply 1st coat of oil
- Day 2 – buff and apply 2nd coat of oil
- Day 3 – buff and apply 3rd coat of oil
- Day 4 – let oil cure
- Day 5 – set furniture in place, do not slide.
- Note: on day 33 OK to set area rugs down
Water based broduct
- Day 1 – sand and apply 1st coat of sealer/finish
- Day 2 – buff and apply 2nd and 3rd coat of finish
- Day 3 – set furniture in place, do not slide
- Note: on day 16 OK to place area rugs down