Refinishing vs. Replacing: What's Best for Your Hardwood Floors?

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Benefits of Hardwood Floor Refinishing

If well-cared for, hardwood floors can last 100 years, but even the best flooring experiences wear and tear over time. Sunlight bleaches the wood, feet, and furniture, scuffs and scratches the surface, and the protective finishing degrades and peels. One of the first things homeowners consider when they see their beloved hardwood breaking down is refinishing.

Refinishing your existing floors comes with a list of advantages, including:

• Saving Money: Refinishing is usually the more cost-effective option when compared to replacing all your flooring. Prices to refinish run between $2 and $8 per square foot, according to Architectural Digest. Replacing floors costs $7 to $25 per square foot.
• Extending the lifespan: Refinishing hardwood floors that are beginning to wear automatically extends their lifespan. The wood is sealed against water, scuffing, and scratches. They can be refinished every 7 to 10 years to keep them looking luxurious and new.
• Revitalizing aged beauty: Hardwood is an amazingly resilient material. Refinishing old, scuffed floors can completely rejuvenate the beautiful wood underneath the scratches and stains, making your house look like an entirely new home.
• Ease of process: If you're refinishing your existing floors, you won't need to remove old flooring or measure and cut new boards to cover the old ones. Refinishing involves sanding, cleaning, buffing, staining, and finishing with a topcoat.

These are all significant aspects of the refinishing option, but understanding its downsides is also essential.

Drawbacks of Hardwood Floor Refinishing

Having gorgeous gleaming wood floors is always good, but sometimes, reaching that point has drawbacks. Some of the cons associated with refinishing include:



• Inconvenience and disruption: Refinishing can disrupt your daily life. It takes time to complete the process, but you must protect the rest of your home from debris during the procedure. Sanding hardwood causes a large amount of dust in your home. The dust makes a mess but could also pose a health risk if inhaled.
  

• Not all floors can be refinished: Depending on the age and thickness of your hardwood, it might not be an option to refinish all your floors. Because of the sanding process involved, the more refinishing your floors have undergone, the thinner they become. Working with a flooring refinishing contractor will ensure every surface can handle the chosen procedure.
  

• Lengthy process: Refinishing may not be as costly as new floor installation but can be more time-consuming. Again, this depends on how old and damaged the floors are and whether they require special treatment.
  

Even with these drawbacks, many homeowners refinish rather than install new hardwood. If you're still deciding which suits you, let's examine the replacement process closer.

Drawbacks of Replacing Hardwood Floors

Every home renovation comes with important considerations, and newly installed hardwood flooring is no exception. Before deciding on new floors, it's essential to keep these factors in mind:

• Price: As mentioned above, hardwood floor refinishing costs about three times less than installing new wood flooring. If you're on a budget, choosing an alternative floor type or refinishing existing floors may be preferred.
  

• Long timeline: Installing new floors can be a pain if you want to maintain your schedule with minimal disruption. While it's a cleaner process than refinishing, new floors often require removing the old flooring first, measuring and cutting to fit corners, and other time-consuming details.
  

• Unable to find planks: If you're replacing a portion of the floor rather than the whole floor, you might have trouble finding planks in the same style as the original. In this instance, refinishing is often the best answer.
  

New flooring has more pros than cons, but it's tough to choose if you're walking the fine line between refinishing and new installation. Luckily, there are also other flooring options to explore.

Epoxy flooring

This durable coating is best suited for garages and basements but makes a durable, streamlined surface to build.