We’ve refinished hardwood floors in 5 of the 6 homes we’ve owned. That doesn’t make us professional floor refinishers, but as homeowners and DIYers, we’ve developed expertise for what to expect, what pitfalls to look out for, and how much refinishing your hardwood floors might cost. So in this post, we’ll answer all of your hardwood floor refinishing FAQs along with some before and after photos of our various projects!
Refinishing hardwood floors can be a daunting and disruptive project, but it’s always been well worth the effort for us. You can eliminate scratches and discoloration, restore richness and shine, or even change the color entirely! We’re continuously surprised by how much of a difference a refinished floor makes to the whole space. Seriously, they can practically make your house look brand new! So let this post be a supportive-yet-realistic nudge towards taking the plunge.
Hardwood Floor Refinishing FAQS
Here are some of the specific questions we’ll answer in this post:
- Can I refinish my hardwood floor myself?
- How much does refinishing hardwood floors cost?
- Is refinishing your hardwood floors worth it?
- What is the process like?
- Do I have to move all of my furniture out?
- Can I stay in my home while getting my floor refinished?
- How long does refinishing hardwood floors take?
- What questions should I ask my floor refinisher?
Please note that the information in this post is based on our personal experience across 6 houses in 3 different cities, each of which presented slightly different scenarios.
Can I Refinish My Hardwood Floor Myself?
Refinishing hardwood floors is a project you can do yourself, however, we have done many many things ourselves (like building a deck, installing a paver patio, etc) and we like to leave our floor refinishing to the professionals. The actual refinishing process is not complicated – it’s basically sanding and staining! – but professionals bring special equipment, skills, and expertise that most DIYers won’t have – especially right off the bat. It’s also a task that can be tedious, tiring, and time-consuming, so a skilled refinisher can complete the project faster and more efficiently.
If the cost of using a pro prevents you from hiring out the job, here are some general steps to refinishing hardwood floors as a DIY project:
- Move all furnishings, decor, artwork, window treatments, etc
- Remove all quarter-round and/or baseboard molding using a pry bar
- Seal off doorways and air vents with plastic sheeting and painter’s tape
- Patch and repair any damaged spots with wood filler and/or new boards
- Sand the floor, usually 3-4 times, using higher grit sandpaper with each pass. Use a belt sander or drum sander for the larger areas and a hand or edge sander to do the perimeter. Be sure to always sand in the direction of the wood grain.
- Do a final buff with a floor buffer or hand sander with high-grit sandpaper
- Vacuum up all dust
- Apply stain (optional) to achieve your desired color, following the manufacturer’s instructions. Allow 24 hours to dry between coats.
- Apply sealer to protect floors, following instructions. Allow 24 hours before walking and 72 hours before moving furniture or rugs back in.
- Reinstall molding. Caulk and paint as needed.
As you can see, this project involves a lot of detailed and repetitive work. Plus, tasks like operating floor sanders can be physically exhausting, especially if you are refinishing a large home. And if your project involves any special or difficult circumstances, an expert may be better equipped to handle them.
For example, we hired pros to refinish the entire first floor of our third home a few years ago. This involved tearing out the flooring for two rooms that didn’t already have hardwood floors and “feathering in” new boards to create a seamless look. The professional refinishers executed these tasks much faster and with greater success than we could’ve on our own.
This project also involved removing slate tile in one room and laminate in another. It took three men a whole day to demo and prep these spaces using special demolition tools. I can only imagine how much time it would’ve taken us!
How much does refinishing hardwood floors cost?
Experts say floor refinishing typically costs between $3-$8 per square foot. That means a 200-square-foot room could cost anywhere from $600 to $1,600. These costs will vary depending on your area, the size of your space, and if there are any special circumstances to your project. For instance, some of our projects have involved extra demolition or patching of unsalvagable portions (like below).
Personally, we have paid anywhere from $900 to nearly $10,000 for our floor refinishing jobs. The cheapest was an outlier (about $1.50/square foot) because we agreed to do some of the prep and molding repair ourselves. Of course for the pricier jobs it was a lot more flooring (like an entire house – we redid the floors of the duplex and the pink house entirely). On average we have paid about $5/square foot.
Is Refinishing Hardwood Floor Worth It?
Yes and yes! Refinishing hardwood floors is a rewarding home improvement for both personal and financial reasons. In fact, according to a 2022 National Association of Realtors report, “Hardwood Floor Refinish” is the #1 interior remodeling project for resale cost recovery – even more than installing new wood flooring! The NAR estimates homeowners will earn back nearly 150% of the refinishing cost in increased home value.
Resale value aside, refinished floors are a high-impact way to update your home for your own enjoyment. In the same report, the NAR awards floor refinishing a perfect 10 on their “Joy Score” for homeowner satisfaction. It’s hard to articulate how shockingly good the transformation can be – and this is coming from people who have done it 5 times! People just don’t realize how much worn, faded, or outdated flooring can drag down the overall appearance of their home.
We know firsthand that the expense and inconvenience of refinishing your floors isn’t minor. But every time we’ve done it, we’ve wished we had done it sooner. Refinishing hardwoods can truly transform a whole room or house.
What is the process like?
So you’ve decided to have your wood floors professionally refinished? Great! Here’s what to expect as a homeowner during this project. Scroll up to the first question for our overview of the DIY steps to refinish your hardwood floors yourself (and why we don’t recommend it in most cases).
Finding a floor refinishing professional
We suggest asking friends, neighbors, or other home improvement contractors you’ve worked with for recommended floor refinishers. We have found all of our favorite floor refinishers this way. Message boards like Nextdoor or Angie’s List can also point you to reputable tradesmen.
Getting an estimate
Your contractor (or potential contractors) should visit to measure the space and discuss any questions with you first. This is an opportunity for you to get a feel for them and better understand their process. We have suggested questions for them further down in this post. We often will get 2 or 3 different estimates to pick the best (not necessarily cheapest!) person for our job.
Acclimating the wood
Several of our refinishing projects involved adding or replacing sections of our wood floors, which meant adding new boards (or reclaimed boards, shown above). New hardwood flooring should acclimate to the moisture levels in your home before installation to prevent swelling or contracting afterward. This means new flooring should be delivered and stored indoors at least 3 days before installation. Some installers recommend up to 2 weeks of acclimation. (Don’t leave the doors and windows open during this time).
Emptying your space
Remove all furnishing, rugs, appliances, and/or other items obstructing clear and open access to your floors. This could also involve uninstalling cabinetry or plumbing fixtures as well. You will also want to remove (or cover) artwork, window coverings, or other items you don’t want to get dusty. If you are only refinishing one room, you can usually move these items into a nearby room. If you are refinishing a whole house, you may need to move out almost entirely. We used a POD in our driveway when we refinished our first level. A storage unit also works. Some people may even hire a moving company.
Picking a stain color
At some point during the process, you should work with your refinisher to select a stain color. You may be satisfied picking from a swatch book or trusting your professional to match a certain look. But we recommend having the floor refinisher stain small sample sections directly onto the floor (which can be sanded off afterward). This allows you to see large swatches in your space, helping you feel confident about your decision.
Waiting and more waiting
Floor refinishing is a multi-day process, no matter the size of your project. Stains and sealers need lots of drying time (usually at least 24 hours each) and it’s recommended that you wait several more days for them to cure (aka: harden) before moving heavy furniture back in. When our first floor was refinished, we slept out of the house for 6 nights and didn’t fully move our furniture back in for another 10 days.
Cleaning & touch-ups
While our contractors have always done a good job of collecting as much dust through the process, we inevitably had dust left on some surfaces that we needed to clean ourselves. Additionally, you or your contractor may have to reinstall, caulk, and paint any baseboard or quarter round that was removed. We offered to do this ourselves in a couple of instances to save money. Same goes for appliances, cabinets, or plumbing fixtures that may have been removed.
Do I have to move all of my furniture out?
Yes, you will need to remove all obstructions from any rooms where you are refinishing the floors. This includes furniture, rugs, appliances, plumbing fixtures (toilets, sinks, etc), and maybe even cabinetry. We also recommend removing artwork, window coverings, and other decor you won’t want to worry about dusting later.
This is why it is best – if possible – to refinish your floors before moving into a home or as part of another renovation (like a kitchen remodel) where your home is already disrupted. If that’s not possible, treat it like you are moving out temporarily. If you can’t move your furniture into unaffected rooms or levels of your home, you may need to rent a storage unit or POD to hold your furniture.
Moving out of your space is not a small task, we know. It’s the main reason we put off refinishing floors in some of our houses. And unfortunately, unlike projects like painting, you can’t simply scoot things into the middle of the room and throw a tarp over them. There isn’t a shortcut here. To get the highest quality, most efficient result, it’s best to give your contract clear, unobstructed access to every area that needs refinishing.
How long does refinishing hardwood floors take?
Having your floors refinished typically takes 3 to 14 days or more, depending on the scope of your project. Here are some GENERAL time allotments you may need to account for.
- Prep (demo old flooring, remove quarter round, uninstall plumbing, etc): 0-2 days
- Repair, patching, or laying new sections of hardwood: 0-2 days
- Sanding: 1 – 2 days (about 1,000 square feet per day)
- Staining: 1 – 2 days (about 1,000 square feet per day)
- Sealing: 3 – 6 days (about 1,000 square feet per day, 1 coat per day)
- Curing: 1 day
Our shortest project only took 4 days for 600 square feet. Our refinisher was able to sand and stain on the first day, then spent the next 3 days applying one coat of oil-based polyurethane each day. We still waited another 3 days to move back in, allowing the finish to cure and the fumes to fully dissipate.
One way to speed up a refinishing project is to skip stain and just clear coat the natural color of the floor. You can also shorten the sealing process by choosing water-based finishes, which dries faster than oil-based finishes. That may allow your refinisher to apply multiple coasts in one day, versus oil-based polyurethane that typically requires 24 hours between coats.
It’s best to discuss the timeline with your contractor upfront and ask about the pros and cons of various options. The fastest result may not be best long-term outcome for you.
What questions should I ask my floor refinisher?
We’ve worked with 4 different floor refinishers across 5 different homes. Here are some things we recommend discussing with them up front to make sure you are on the same page before the project starts.
- Are my floors good candidates for refinishing?
- Do any areas need to be repaired or replaced with new wood?
- How long does any new wood need to acclimate before you begin?
- What needs to be removed from each room? Who is doing that, me or you?
- What needs to be covered, protected, or sealed off with plastic? Who is doing that, me or you?
- What other preparation do you suggest / expect me to take before you arrive?
- Are you removing & reinstalling any baseboard molding? If not, should I?
- Are there any tasks I could do to reduce the project cost?
- Are there any tasks I could pay you to do to increase the project speed?
- How long do you expect the project to take?
- Are there any options that could speed up the project?
- How much time will I need to be out of the house?
- How do I partake in the stain color selection? Can I see test spots in my home?
- What other decisions will you need me on site for during the project?
- What type of sealer do you recommend? What are the pros and cons of my options?
- How long until I’m able to walk on my new floors?
- How long until my pet can walk on them?
- How long until I can put furniture, rugs, or other heavy objects on them?
You can certainly Google some of the answers to these questions (some are in this post!) but we always recommend conferring with your on-site professional as well. This helps them know you are a thoughtful client and you will hopefully get reassurances that they are a knowledgeable refinisher. It also helps avoid confusion around timelines, budgets, and scope of work.
Our Hardwood Floor Refinishing Projects
If you would like to read more about our specific hardwood floor refinishing projects, please see the posts below. They range from matching original hardwoods to new prefinished flooring (below) to restoring 100-year-old pine floors!
- Refinishing Mid-Century Oak Floors in Our First House
- Matching New & Old Hardwood Floors In Our Third House
- Refinishing Historic Heart Pine Floors in Our Beach House
- Repairing Historic Oak & Pine Floors In Our Duplex
- Clear Sealing Our Refinished Floors In Our Florida House
More Flooring Projects
If you would like to read about other flooring projects we’ve done, please check out the posts below:
- How To Install Hardwood Flooring Yourself
- How To Select Hardwood Flooring
- How To Install Hardwood Floors Without Nails
- How To Install Click-And-Lock Cork Flooring
- How To Paint A Floor
- How To Stain A Concrete Floor
- How To Remove Carpet
NOTE: This guide was originally published in 2009 after our first refinishing experience. We updated it with additional information and photos to include a wider range of projects in 2024.
Amy says
Hi there!
I have a quick question…do you know if your floor guy sanded again between the 2nd and 3rd coats of poly? Or just between the 1st and 2nd coat?
I’ve been keeping up with your blog for over a year. I find it very helpful and just a lot of fun! :-) Thanks so much!
Amy
YoungHouseLove says
I believe he sanded lightly between each one, but I’m not 100% sure. Good luck!
xo,
s
Eric C says
Hi guys! What a great site/blog… we’re getting a lot of inspiration from you. We’re refinishing and staining our floors from a typical yellow-woody hue to a minwax dark walnut. But, the floor folks are saying 2 poly and one coat of stain. I know 3 is best, but looks like we’ll live with 2, but do you think one coat of stain is enough? They say anymore and it’ll be too dark. Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, I would trust them about the color because they probably do dark floors a lot and have learned from experience that they can get super deep. I’m no expert though, so maybe calling someone for a “second opinion” might make you feel better- perhaps another floor person in your area?
xo,
s
Eric C says
Thanks Sherry! I see you guys met in Queens? I’m from Jamaica/Fresh Meadows, but have lived in Massachusetts for a while now and we’re moving to our 1920’s home in Dedham MA next week. First job — floors! Then I’m going to tackle the basement like you guys. God bless!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, Queens. Those were the days! Good luck with your home!
xo,
s
Betsy says
I am just in love love love with your blog. Truly, I have been scouring your site and I just love your style. Didn’t realize how much I could improve our house on a budget – just been ‘living’ with things as-is and hating it! Anyway, I have 4 larger project priorities in my house:
– painting my kitchen cabinets,
– refinishing the hardwood floors (just a hallway and dining/kitchen area),
– painting or re-doing trim & baseboards (from wood to white)
– and painting and/or replacing some interior doors (from wood to white)
Can you give advice on if there is a good, logical order of doing these? I am not sure if refinishing hardwoods might negatively impact the baseboards? Or should I just for whatever bugs me most!
YoungHouseLove says
I would say that you could get away with those things in pretty much any order. Maybe the slightly preferred method might be to refinish hardwood floors, paint and redo trim/baseboard, paint cabinets, replace doors. That way when you refinish and the baseboards or the base cabinets get a bit stained you’re still going to redo them next!
xo,
s
Linn says
Before moving into our house we spent a few days refinishing our oak floors. And boy was that a lot of work! We rented a drum sander which was a really evil machine (=terrible to work with!) and inhaled sawdust and then some more sawdust. We chose a water based polyurethane which I’m really happy with. It dried really quickly, didn’t leave any weird smell, and the floors look great! More info on the process: http://www.christonium.com/HomeProject/refinishing-wood-floor-process-removing-carpet-sanding-finishing
YoungHouseLove says
Great to know!
xo,
s
Charles says
Your floors look fantastic!
We had ours professionall finished a few weeks ago and never realized that the odor would be so strong – despite ventilation and raising the heat up for days.
Although the odor has been reduced, it still is quite noticeable when one enters the house.
Is there any odor absorbing substance out there? Reading this blog in search of a way to get rid of the odor has not been successful. (We replaced the heat pump air cleaners right away)after the sanding and polyurethaning. Am growing concerned that we may be harming ourselves, as we spend considerable time in the 30×15 family room
YoungHouseLove says
Ugh, I wish! We had the same experience and have basically just vowed to use eco-friendly water-based sealer next time since it shouldn’t smell as much. Hope you find some great tips somewhere else online though! Good luck!
xo,
s
AceProFinder says
I really like the way you did the transition from one type of hardwood to another in the first picture. Thank you for the post.
Lydia says
Hi! I know you’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but how long did the odor linger after you had the floors done? Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
It lasted a while! Far longer than we wanted. If we had to do it again we’d use an eco sealer! On hot days even 6 months later we could smell it!
xo,
s
Alex says
1$ per sq. ft is almost criminal robbery for the work this guy did. Please readers understand the is far from presidence and do not be mislead into thinking that your hardwood floor refinishing project can be done for a dollar per sq. ft.
YoungHouseLove says
I think it just varies by region (my mom paid so much more in NY). The kind man who did our floors has been doing them for lots of our readers over the past few years and is still using similar prices (he even stopped by our house to thank us for the referrals). Such a great guy! He was definitely happy for the work and happy with his prices.
xo
s
Pam Groom says
Sheri:
We are planning on having our living room floors refinished. We have the same late 1950s flooring that y’all had in your first house. Where you guys pulled out a nasty room divider, we pulled out a built in shelf that made receiving guests awqward. I noticed that you had something like flagstone in your entry. Was there hardwood beneath that? We lack hardwood under where we pulled the bookshelf and under the tiled entry. How did you guys replace yours for a good match or was it already there?
Pam
Michigan, USA
YoungHouseLove says
That was actually faux stone laminate with flooring running right under it, thank goodness! So we didn’t replace any wood. Maybe google around for tips on that?
xo
s
Jamie R. says
John & Sherry:
I am curious about how you guys feel about mixing tones of wood flooring. Here’s the quick skinny. Last November we installed a super glossy (READ: OBNOXIOUSLY SHINY) darker laminate in our living room that has become my worst enemy. It’s dark so you can see every speck of dust, crumb, etc. Not to mention sweaty foot and hand prints from a toddler, a 9 month old and a husband (I float over the floors, thank you very much). Okay, now on to the question: We are currently in the middle of a kitchen/dining room/ entryway mini reno and we’ve ripped out the flooring and plan to replace it with a much lighter toned laminate (much like the color of your dining room). My husband has offered to take up the flooring in the living room if it will make me sane again, but I feel like that is such a huge waste of time and money put into that flooring just over a year ago. However, I’m worried that it might look odd having 2 tones of wood so close together. I should mention that our living room is sunken so the woods won’t physically be “touching”, if you will but I wondered how you felt that would look, visually. I like a lot of cohesiveness, but my husband thinks it makes the living room look more defined. Any thoughts. (P.S. Is this the longest comment ever or what?)
YoungHouseLove says
In total honesty I would do it all at once (replace it all). Not only will it make you happy, it’ll be better for resale and all that (seamless = better, and anything that looks less dirty and hard to clean – better). So as annoying as it is to do it all during the new phase of flooring, it’s probably less annoying than wishing you had. Haha! Hope it helps!
xo
s
Jamie Redmond says
I don’t know how you find the time to answer all of our silly design questions, but, seriously, you guys are amazing! Thanks again! Up the floors come!!!!!!!!11
Jill says
Hi,
We are refinishing our oak floors too and I love the mocha color versus just staying with the honey tone. I have a brick fireplace I am painting. Black furniture, Creamy and light brown furniture and a dark brown rug what do you think for the fireplace color and the wall color. Sorry no picture to help, but what do you think. Thanks.
JIll
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds gorgeous! I’d go for it!
xo
s
Phoebe says
Hello Sherry and John! I must say that I had never heard of your blog until yesterday when my new issue of HGTV magazine arrived. I loved the article and the pictures of your home are so inspiring! Today, I was doing a google image search for hardwood floors, transitions from room to room and different hardwood colors from hallways into rooms. Kind of a confused search, right? Wouldn’t you know…the first image I clicked on happened to be from your house! We bought our 1920s bungalow almost three years ago and recently ripped up the nasty carpets upstairs to reveal the hardwood underneath. Our downstairs floors are hardwood, as is the hallway upstairs. Only the three bedrooms were carpeted. We are having our floors refinished this week, and I am trying to make some decisions about staining vs a natural finish on the floors upstairs. Our downstairs floors and trim are a medium”ish” color. The steps going upstairs and the hallway upstairs are a similar (but not and EXACT match) to the floors downstairs, but all of the trim upstairs is painted white…which I really like. We were going to refinish the hallway and all three bedrooms, but now I am toying with the idea of leaving the hallway upstairs as is (it really is beautiful) to keep the continuity from downstairs to upstairs, but then doing a natural finish in all three bedrooms. I like the idea of keeping the floors a little lighter in those rooms to work with the white trim to brighten things up. What do you think? I know that you say that there are no rules, but I am so indecisive right now and would really like your honest opinion. If you walked in to see much lighter floors in bedrooms as opposed to a darker color in the hallway, what would your reaction be? Honestly.
Thanks so much for all the work that you do with your blog. This will be my new go-to place for design ideas. I love that you are real people doing real stuff, one step at a time. And I especially appreciate the pic of you sitting in the room among all of the STUFF that you had to move out of your other rooms during the floor refinishing process. I am currently typing this on our couch wedged in between a dresser, mattresses, and a chest of drawers…so cozy!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Phoebe! You’re so sweet. I think my instinct would be to do all the upstairs floors in the same tone that’s on the stairs and downstairs along with white trim, since it sounds like you love that look and it’ll be great in a hallway/bedrooms as well! It can feel more continuous and elegant to keep the same floor color (not as chopped up and irregular as two different tones) so I’d gravitate towards that look. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Phoebe says
Thanks so much Sherry! I took your advice and went with the same color on all of the floors upstairs. You are so right about the elegance and continuity. We have only had the first coat done, but I can already tell that I love it. I decided on the natural finish as opposed to the stain. I was surprised at how similar in tone it is to the steps going upstairs. Since our floors are older, the natural finish brings out all the variation of color in the wood, which I really like, and it looks much darker than I thought it would. Just a couple more days until the job is done! I’m so excited to see the finished product. Thanks again for your help!
Alicia says
where is your metal/glass coffee table from???
YoungHouseLove says
It was actually a thrift store find!
-John
Debbie Gartner aka The Flooring Girl says
Inga – I’m so glad your floors turned out well. The reason the floors are different is that a) you have a lower grade wood in the existing area (it looks like No 1 vs. the prefinished looks like select grade, 2) the prefinished hardwood manufacturers have their own proprietary blends making it next to impossible to match and 3) you may have a different species. The part your refinished looks like it is red oak, and it’s possible that your prefinished hardwood is white oak…hard to tell from the picture.
I always recommend that my customers wait 4 days before putting furniture back and 30 days before area rugs. You can read more about the timing/process on the link above.
Re: the person above, that sounds odd. We usually use bona for water based poly. It’s a few yrs later, so hopefully this is solved now, but in general if its smells it’s best to air it out w/ open windows/fan. Also, heat makes things smell more, not less. (from a sensory perspective)
David T says
Love your floors. Excited to get ours done. In the process of getting our 60 year old home ready to have the original red oak floors sanded and refinished. My wife thinks we need to vacate the house during the process and put the furniture in storage. Our contractor states that the job will be done in 4 days. Can the heavier furniture be stored in perhaps the kitchen? Can you please give me some tips on what to expect during this process?
YoungHouseLove says
We lived through our house for it, we just lived in the half he wasn’t refinishing and put all of our furniture there and sectioned it off with plastic tarps so no dust got in. You can do that if you have room for all of your furniture in a room they’re not doing, and might need storage if you don’t. You can leave if you’d like or section yourself off (it’s noisy though, and pretty stinky, so maybe planning a few day trips or something to be away might be helpful.
xo
s
Sabine says
Your floors look great. I purchased a fixer-upper and refinished the hardwood floors that were hidden under yucky carpeting. It was a ton of work but well worth it.
Peter says
Nice design for my living room! I really like it…so thanks for sharing
Tracey says
I love this idea. It’s amazing
Michael says
this house looks so nice, I wish I could have a house like this in the future.