floor service

Is it cheaper to have floors refinished or replaced?

Home renovation of all kinds and scales is an expensive affair. Whether you choose to repaint your walls, renovate your kitchen, the whole house, or even just refinish or replace your floors, the costs can drive up quickly. The flooring might not seem like something that needs too much attention or may need a refinish or replacement. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Floors require maintenance and often would also require a replacement or refinishing. The value of your home is greatly impacted by the condition in which your flooring is. Unkempt or damaged flooring would harmfully impact the value of your home But how do you decide which option is the right one?

Well, the cost is one factor that comes into play here. The cost for floor refinishing near Queens, NY versus floor replacement in the region can vary by a lot, so you might want to know which the best alternative is for you.

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hardwood flooring maintenance

While you find answers to these, here are the top kinds of hardwood floors that you can choose from:

Engineered Wood

Real wood veneers are attached to multiple thin layers of subordinate wood veneer, such as plywood, to create engineered hardwood floors. Because of its outstanding long-term stability, as a result, engineered wood is a fantastic option for any region of your home, including basements that are below grade. It is only possible to sand and refurbish engineered hardwood floors once or twice throughout the course of their lifetime, depending on the thickness of the hardwood veneer. They frequently arrive prefinished and are actually more resistant to warping and gaping than solid wood boards. These boards, however, probably cannot be refinished because they are constructed of thin layers. Therefore, these are likely not for you if you think you might want to change the color of your floorboards in a few years.

Solid Wood Flooring 

Just as the name indicates, solid wood floors are constructed from solid hardwood panels. They are typical of older residential properties and can be repeatedly stripped and colored. The typical thickness of solid hardwood flooring is between 5/8″ and 3/4″. However, they do have a drawback to them. If the air is damp, they could warp. It is not advised for the below basements since it is sensitive to variations in humidity.

Prefinished Wood

It takes little time to complete the process of the hardwood flooring installation for prefinished hardwood floors because they are already sanded and sealed when they leave the factory. The flooring is immediately usable and free of any smells or volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the on-site finishing process. The best option if you’re worried about fumes or dust is definitely to install prefinished floors because you won’t have to sand or stain them on-site. Additionally, because of this, they are frequently more expensive to buy. The stain is already on the majority of engineered floorboards when they are prefinished so that you may install them right away.

Unfinished Wood

Unfinished hardwood flooring is a fantastic choice if you want to match the color of existing flooring or if you wish to have a bespoke stain applied before the final finish. Numerous coatings of a protective treatment are applied to the floors after installation and staining of the hardwood. Unfinished hardwood floors are a wise choice if you’re considering installing them in your kitchen because the finish will go into the gaps between both the boards and seal them, preventing fluid from seeping through. Unfinished hardwood floorboards enable more discretion over the color and finish because they are sanded and stained on-site. Although the cost of these planks may be less than that of prefinished planks, the time and effort required to complete them on-site will probably result in a higher final cost.

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