Hardwood Floor buffing and staining
If your hardwood floors look dull, there is a service Wilson Harwood Floor Specialist offers that can rejuvenate your floors without heavy sanding or having to replace them altogether. It’s called a hardwood floor buffing and staining service, or buff and coat service. We are proud to offer that service to homeowners in the Charlotte area. It’s not the same as refinishing wood floors. A wood floor buff and coat service won’t remove deep scratches and dents, nor the original stain color, but it will allow for a new coat of stain to be applied to bring back a floor’s luster.
Wood Floor Buffing and Staining Process
After years of foot traffic, sunlight exposure and normal wear and tear, wood flooring often becomes lackluster. If your floors are still in good shape (no major dents, scratches, damages and no stains), but have lost their shine, Wilson Hardwood Floor can bring your hardwood floors’ luster back with a buffing and staining service, instead of having them sanded and refinished, which is a much more involved process. See some of our most recent work.
Buffing and staining your hardwood floors will not remove stains, but will remove light scratches and prepare your floor for a new coat application (same stain color as the original) and will restore your floors’ shine and coloring.
The process involves scuffing the top layer of the wood floor to remove fine scratches and dirt, as well as create a surface to which a coat of stain can bond. Very fine grit paper is used during the buffing process. Once the buffing is complete, left over dust is vacuumed and the floor readied for the stain application (same stain color as the original stain). The process is completed by applying clear coat of polyurethane finish to enhance luster and protect your hardwood floor.
Hardwood floor buffing and coating is not recommended if:
- Your floors have deep scratches and stains that extend deep within their layers
- Your wood floors have excessive wear and tear
- You want to change the color of your wood flooring
- You have waxed your hardwood floors or used products that contain silicone that would prevent the polyurethane coat to adhere to the surface
Buff and Coat Service Or Refinishing - Which is Best For Your wood Flooring?
The main difference between buffing and refinishing is how much of the wood floor surface is removed through the process. With buffing, the top layer is lightly sanded and screened in preparation for a coat of stain to be applied, followed by a coat of polyurethane. On the other hand, hardwood floor refinishing is a much more involved process requiring multiple sanding passes, followed by multiple coat applications of stain and polyurethane.
Refinishing will remove deep scratches, deep stains and the existing finish. The process uses different grits of sand paper to remove the old finish, scratches and embedded stains within the wood floor. Once the the wood floors have been sanded to the desired depth, rotary screening is used to achieve a smooth surface. Before coats or stains and polyurethane can be applied, the wood floors are thoroughly vacuumed and cleaned to remove left over debris and dust.
To extend the life of your hardwood flooring, we recommend a buff and coat service every 3 to 5 years. Doing so will avoid having to refinish your floors which is a more involved and costly process.
If you live in the Charlotte area and would like to find out the best way to improve the look of your hardwood floors, call Wilson Hardwood Floor today or fill out our online contact form. We offer free in home estimates and will tell you whether your existing wood flooring can be improved using our buff and coat service or if a wood floor refinishing service would be better.