Are you licensed?
Under Minnesota statute 326.84 subdivision 1, hardwood contractors who do not provide more than two special skills are not required to be licensed. If you have further questions, the Minnesota Commerce Department enforcement line is 651/296-2488. Or use their website: commerce.state.mn.us.

How much does sanding cost?
While cost can vary based on the shape of the rooms to sand, amount of finish remaining, number of radiators or closets, our rates start at $3.75 per square foot for sanding, one coat of oil-modified sealer and two coats of oil-modified polyurethane.

Does that price include stain?
Be careful with the word 'stain' - it's the most abused word in the wood flooring industry. Most people use it to describe any coating that goes on the wood, but when we say 'stain' we mean anything deliberately applied to the floor to change its color, but that is translucent enough to allow the wood grain to still be visible . Stain alone is not a protective layer - it would scuff right off in a week!

The process of actually staining a floor involves an extra sanding pass at 100 grit (to minimize scratch visibility and to ensure even stain absorption) and the price of the stain and its application, and prices begin at $5.00 per square foot. This includes sanding, stain, and two coats of oil-modified polyurethane.

A word of warning: Floors made from maple, birch, pine, or fir are notoriously difficult to stain evenly and well. We generally will decline to bid stain on those types of floors.

My floor doesn't look so bad, do I really need to sand it down to the bare wood?
Maybe not. If the existing finish shows no evidence of having been waxed, has only surface scratches, has no obvious wear areas and is largely intact, it is possible to do what is called a screen and recoat. This involves using a buffer with a 180 grit screen to lightly scratch the top layer of finish so that a new layer of finish will bond to it. The cost is much less - $1.50 per square foot, and the process takes less than a day.

Will these black stains sand out?
This is always a hard question. It is almost impossible to tell by looking if a stain will sand out. Dark stains from urine are the worst, largely because urine is corrosive and chemically burns the wood. However, it is always best to try to sand out a stain before trying more drastic measures - occasionally they sand right out.. If the stains don't lighten on sanding, patching is an option.

Do you do patching?
Absolutely, though we limit laced-in or "finger-joined" patches to 16 boards

How long will refinishing take?
We can usually refinish 400-500 square feet (a typical living/dining room/entry) in 3-4 days. The sanding is usually finished in one day; subsequent days allow for the finish to dry.

Do I have to move out while you do it?
Not necessarily. However, if the floor we're sanding is the only access path to bedrooms or your bathroom, we would recommend finding another place to stay during the coating process. And anyone who might be adversely affected by the finish fumes from oil-modified finishes (waterborne finishes are fine) -infants, pregnant women, asthmatics--should not stay in the home during the finishing process.

Can you refinish in winter with the heat on and windows closed?
Yes, but we recommend closing vents in the room being sanded to keep dust out of the air circulation system. Cracking windows slightly overnight helps to dissipate fumes without significant heat loss.

Do you take off the quarter-round moulding?
We recommend that quarter-round moulding be removed for sanding - it prevents a visible ledge from forming at room edges. However, we do charge for the service of removing the moulding. Most customers prefer to remove and reinstall it themselves because it's easy and saves them money.

What else should I do to get ready for the refinishing process?
Remove all furniture and take pictures down from walls in the affected rooms. If your window treatments come down easily, remove those too. Fumes from oil-modified polyurethane can be lethal to small pets (birds, gerbils, guinea pigs - anything smaller than a rabbit) so we require that those animals be removed from the premises for the entire coating process. Larger pets can stay in the home, but we recommend securing them on another level to keep them away from the work area. If your pets are traumatized by strangers or noise, you might consider sending them on a short vacation while the work is completed.

How dusty will my house get?
Unfortunately, sanding is a dusty process. We have upgraded our machines so that dust is contained at the machine level - internal dust collection and vacuums actually attached to our edgers have made the process of taping off the entire house with plastic sheeting obsolete. There will be some dust on horizontal surfaces of the rooms that were sanded, but this will wipe off easily warm water and a sponge.

What's the difference between oil and water-borne finishes?
There is no easy answer to this question because finishes vary greatly from brand to brand. In general, oil modified finishes are cheaper, reliably durable (up to 3 years before another top coat is needed) and have a faint yellow or amber color which some people feel adds character and warmth to wood. Oil-modified finishes have higher VOC (volatile organic compound) levels and have a distinctive paint-thinner odor. Because they dry slowly, flaws and puddles "flow out" and level themselves before the finish hardens. Waterborne finishes, especially the harder commercial finishes, are more expensive (up to 3 times the cost, per gallon), dry completely clear and have low VOC levels (350 grams/L or less). They can be recoated in 2 to 3 hours, but dry so fast that flaws are frozen in the finish before they can be removed.

What about penetrating finishes or wax?
Unlike polyurethane, which builds a layer of polymer over the surface of the wood, penetrating finishes sink into the grain. These penetrating finishes (usually some combination of tung or linseed oil) still protect the wood from water and other staining agents, but the physical wear is taken by the grain of the wood itself. Wax is usually applied over a penetrating finish to give the floor an attractive sheen They are a viable alternative to polyurethane, but do require considerably more maintenance. They need to be reapplied and buffed every 3 to 6 months. Waterlox™ and Rubio Monocoat™ finishes are brands of penetrating finish that we use and recommend that do not require top-coating with wax.  Rubio Monocoat has the added advantage of being VOC free.  Check out our article on Monocoat: ARTC Monocoat.htm

Why does my bid say "one coat seal, 2 coats poly" - is sealer different from polyurethane?
When polyurethane is applied directly to bare wood, it can glue the boards together along their length, effectively eliminating the "crack" between the boards. While this sounds like a good thing, it's not. When the weather gets dry and cold and the heat goes on in your house, the wood shrinks. Normal boards would pull away from each other just a little bit, but because the shrinkage is spread across so many cracks, it is difficult to detect. When the boards are glued together, they "panelize" and act like wide boards, causing wide cracks to appear regularly across the floor. Sealer prevents the boards from being glued together and keeps them from panelizing. It still counts as a layer of polyurethane because it protects the wood from water and staining.

Do you install new wood floors?
Oh yes.

Is my subfloor the right composition and thickness to hold strip flooring? What if it isn't?
The ideal substrate for regular ¾" strip flooring is a minimum of ¾" of plywood or solid wood. Most homes built prior to 1965 will have an adequate subfloor. The next best option is is ¾" of OSB (Oriented Strand Board). If you have OSB that is thinner than ¾" or particle board of any thickness, then we have a small problem because both are "crumbly" and won't hold a nail permanently. Inadequate subfloors can be torn out and replaced or, sometimes, we can put a new subfloor directly over the existing one.

I have carpet and a pad laid directly on the subfloor - do you remove that?
We can charge you for tearout of carpet, pad and tack strip or you can do it yourself. It isn't a difficult job, but it is a tedious one because you have to be sure to remove every carpet pad staple.

Do you have to remove the baseboards?
Yes, installing a floor requires a completely empty room. And we do mean empty. Not only do all the baseboards and quarter-round moulding have to go, but any radiators or appliances must be removed as well. If we're doing a kitchen install as part of a kitchen renovation, it is often easiest if we install the floor after the old cabinets have been removed but before the new ones have gone in.

Is one species of wood better than another? Is there a difference between different grades of wood?
Hardwood flooring does vary in hardness, but not usually enough to warrant picking one species over another. Coniferous woods (fir or pine) are significantly softer than most hardwoods and deep dents and dings will appear quickly in floors made of those materials. Still, even those dents do not seriously affect the performance of the floor, and some people consider such marks a form of character or patina.

"Appearance alone determines the grades of hardwood flooring since all grades are equally strong and serviceable in any application". The higher the grade, the higher the cost, the more uniform the appearance of the boards and the higher the proportion of long boards in any given set of flooring. The one grading category that can make a difference to the performance of your floor is "quarter-sawn" or "quartered". Wood of any species that is quartersawn is much more dimensionally stable through changes in humidity and is much less prone to gapping and cracking over time. Minnesota has one of the country's largest annual ranges of humidity change so dimensionally stable lumber makes an especially good investment here.

How long does a new floor take?
Installing a straightforward 300sqft room, including sanding and finishing, will take 5-6 business days. Allow more time for tearout of carpet or subfloor, intricately shaped rooms and stairwells.

Why do you have to sand new wood after you install it - isn't it smooth already?
The faces of the boards of new flooring may be smooth when it comes from the mill, but we're worried about the board edges whose heights don't quite match --the 'overwood' that you can feel with your bare toes as you walk across the floor. Sanding that new wood makes every board edge exactly the same height as its neighbor, so all you feel is continuous flatness under your feet. Don't worry - sanding a new floor doesn't take off more than 1/32" so it won't shorten the life of your floor.

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