With regular wear and tear, the finish on your hardwood floor should last about 7-10 years. Floors in high-traffic areas or that are exposed to a lot of sunlight may need to be refinished more often. So if we do some quick math, your hardwood floors will last up to 60 years with being refinished every ten years!
In the same respect, most properly maintained hardwood floors can go anywhere from 20 to 30 years without needing any significant work done. Their longevity makes hardwood floors a great investment for any house. However, there will come a time when every hardwood floor will need to either be refinished or replaced.
Hardwood flooring can last a lifetime, but the glossy shine of original wood flooring will fade over the course of its life. You'll notice fading after about 25 years. Hardwood floors, if installed properly, can last 100 years.
Yes, refinishing your hardwood floors is worth it. It keeps them looking their best, and it's always less expensive than replacing them.
As a general rule of thumb, hardwood floors should be swept or dusted every few days, vacuumed weekly and deep cleaned every one to two months or as needed, depending on how much daily use your floors get.
3. Walking barefoot on non-carpeted surfaces. Did you know that simply walking around on your living room hardwood floor can be incredibly damaging to the protective cushion of your foot. Hard surfaces lack shock absorption, meaning that the pads of your feet absorb the impact from every step you take.
Generally speaking, it is almost always less expensive to refinish your hardwood floors than to replace them. That's because replacing them involves paying for additional wood, the installation itself, as well as labor costs for tearing up and hauling away the existing hardwood.
You cannot glue your new floor over existing strip or plank hardwood floors because hardwood flooring will expand and contract during seasonal changes. In this case, you will either have to remove the existing hardwood flooring or install a minimum 1/4" approved subfloor on top.
Buff and polish it.
Buffing your floor is a great way to breathe new life into it without having to go the whole hog and resand it. In very simple terms, a buffer is a machine with a heavy rotating pad that uses its movement to create a professional looking finish on tired wood flooring.
Generally, the sheet flooring itself does not contain asbestos. Prior to the 1980s, however, manufacturers would often incorporate a felt-like backing to provide a cushion underneath the flooring surface. This felt-like backing often contains very high concentrations of asbestos.
Vinyl Flooring
These floors are incredibly durable, and they can imitate many other types of flooring such as hardwood or stone. Depending on how much traffic the flooring receives, and the level of care, vinyl floors can last anywhere from 10 to 20 years.
As time goes on; your floorboards might start needing a bit of care and attention. If they've dried out or worked loose from their fittings, they could have started to creak. And if they've split, warped, shrunk or broken, you may need to replace them completely.
Most solid hardwood planks are thick enough to be refinished up to ten times. Refinishing is essential to caring for your solid hardwood and helps it last longer. However, while solid wood can take multiple refinishing over the decades, we can only refinish engineered hardwood once or twice.
If you get a badly damaged board min the middle of your floor you can easily replace it. Experienced fitters can do this for you very effectively as the pictures below show.
Hardwood floors are not low maintenance by any stretch of the imagination. They require regular sweeping and cleaning to prevent surface damage and to keep them looking nice. And you need to clean them with products that won't damage the finish, and be extra careful with water.
You will need to determine whether the wood floors in your house are solid hardwood or engineered wood. That is an essential distinction because engineered flooring cannot be sanded and refinished in the same way solid wood floors can.
Whether it's to repair the damage, to change the stain, or just as part of your regular maintenance process, you might find yourself needing to renew your floor's finish. Before it's time to sand the floors, many homeowners ask: “Can I stay in my house while my floors are refinished?” The answer is usually yes.
Unless your floors are very old and thin or have structural or water damage, chances are they can be saved. If you want a new or exotic type of wood or are unhappy with the current pattern or thickness of your floorboards, you may want to consider replacing them.
The Not-So-Good:
Bathroom– Water is hardwood flooring's arch nemesis. In the bathroom, there is almost always water coming from somewhere. Even if it's just by accident, water can easily get on the bathroom floor. If that floor happens to be hardwood, it can quickly be ruined.
Keep Your Floors Clean
Wearing outdoor shoes on your hardwood floors increases the amount of dirt and bacteria that you track inside. Approximately 90 percent of the germs on your shoes can transfer to your floor — why risk it? Kicking your shoes off at the door will keep your floors cleaner.
“Most people nowadays have hard floors, whether wood, laminate or tile,” he continues. “What we're seeing as a result is a higher incidence of some of the more common foot conditions, like plantar fasciitis — an inflammation of the ligament on the bottom of the foot — and capsulitis, a bruising of the foot joints.