Flooring
Hardwood Floor Refinishing in Charleston, SC
Sanding back and recoating a floor that is worn rather than failed.
Sanding back and recoating a floor that is worn rather than failed.
Quick answer: A scratched, dull or patchy hardwood floor is usually a refinishing job, not a replacement. Solid hardwood can be sanded several times; engineered floors only as often as the wear layer allows, which is measured before a price is quoted. Cupped boards are a moisture problem from below and are not sanded until that is fixed. A North Charleston refinisher publishes around $3,500 for 300–500 sq ft and $6,000 for 800–1,200 sq ft (cost guide; not our quotes). Call (843) 718-8177.
Related: Why Are My Hardwood Floors Cupping (and Will They Flatten Out)?.
The decision comes down to thickness. A solid hardwood floor can be sanded several times over its life; an engineered floor has a wear layer and can be sanded as many times as that layer allows, which may be once or not at all. Anyone quoting a refinish without establishing which one you have is guessing.
Humidity is the local complication. Wood takes up and gives off moisture with the air around it, and finishing a floor while the house is at a different humidity than it will normally sit at is how gaps open up later. That is a scheduling question as much as a technical one.
Cupping — boards higher at the edges than the middle — is not a refinishing problem. It is a moisture problem from underneath, and sanding a cupped floor flat before the moisture is fixed removes thickness you cannot get back and leaves you with a crowned floor when it dries.
We take this work across greater Charleston, from Summerville and Goose Creek to Mount Pleasant, West Ashley and the sea islands, and on the York County side around Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Tega Cay and Lake Wylie. More on our flooring services.
It depends on what is left to sand. A solid hardwood floor has thickness to give several times over; an engineered floor has a wear layer, and once that is gone sanding goes through it.
The answer is a measurement, not an opinion, and it should be made before a price is quoted.
Almost always moisture from below — a damp crawl space, a slab without a barrier, or a leak that was fixed after the floor had already taken up water.
Sanding it flat before that is dealt with removes thickness permanently and leaves the boards crowned when they dry out.
Not exactly, and anyone promising otherwise is overselling. Old finish ambers with age and new finish does not, so a refinished room next to an untouched one will read slightly different.
Doing connected areas together avoids the line.