Hardwood Floor Refinishing in Columbia, SC

Refinishing starts by taking the floor apart visually before we touch it with a sander, looking for old nails, staples, and any spots where a board sits proud or low. Sanding runs through a sequence of grits with a drum sander and edger to strip the old finish off evenly, since going straight to a fine grit leaves the old scratches and wear paths sitting underneath the new finish, and they show through eventually.

Once the floor is sanded to bare wood, it gets screened smooth and cleaned of dust before any stain or finish goes on. This is where oil based and water based finishes actually differ. Oil based poly ambers over time and gives an old floor a warmer look, but it takes longer to cure. Water based poly stays clear and cures faster, which matters in a humid stretch of the year when a slow cure means more time for dust to settle into a wet coat.

The finish goes on in multiple coats with drying time between each one, and Columbia's humidity has a real effect on how long that takes, so we plan the schedule around the weather rather than a fixed number of days.