Should you renovate your hardwood floors?

Should you renovate your hardwood floors and preserve the integrity of your original flooring? Find out how renovating or refinishing your hardwood offers many benefits.

Over the years your hardwood floors take a lot of abuse from foot traffic, common household accidents, and general wear and tear.

• Staining, warping, and dulling are just a few problems hardwood floors face as they age.
• Even if your flooring begins to appear worn, you can renovate hardwood floors and restore them to their original shine without having to deal with the hassle of tearing them out and completely replacing them.

Hardwood floors add elegance, beauty, and value to any home. It’s a great investment for your property because hardwood offers many benefits.

• Hardwood floors are hypoallergenic, durable and long-lasting when well-maintained.
• They're also easy to keep clean with only regular sweeping and mopping.
• When your hardwood floors have become worn or stained over the years, renovating them is great for a much needed “face-lift.”

Choosing to salvage your old hardwood floors honestly comes down to personal preference. The majority of the time, refinishing the hardwood, replacing a few boards, and making necessary repairs will do wonders for your old floor.

• If you aren’t looking for a brand-new floor and still want to keep the original flooring, renovation is a good choice.
• For example, renovating hardwood floors is great for historic buildings where preservation of the original material is preferred.

Refinishing hardwood floors is a common renovation that offers many benefits over replacement. Here are a couple of reasons why refinishing is preferred:

Price: On average, replacing your hardwood floors costs more than refinishing them.

• Often, you can offset the cost of a new floor by installing it yourself, but the project itself can be complex and requires specialized knowledge and precision.
• On the other hand, refinishing hardwood floors is much simpler and can be done on your own.

Aesthetics: If you’re just looking to brighten and restore the shine of your hardwood floors, refinishing is the better option.

• Unless there are severe structural problems or you want to change the style of wood, the direction of the planks, or the material’s consistency, refinishing your floors is better than replacing them.

Some conditions in old floors are beyond repair. If your flooring shows any of the following symptoms, replacing your hardwood may be the better option for you.

• Extreme movement between boards: Boards that move too much are not good for refinishing as the movement will affect the ability to sand and finish.
• Significant structural problems: Major structural problems mean the old flooring needs to be removed in order to fix the sub-floor beneath.
• Over-sanding: Over-sanded floors don’t have much wood left to work with, especially if the tongue and groove are falling apart and the nails are exposed.