Professionals calculate the cost to refinish hardwood floors per square foot. They also account for the amount of labour the project involves. To refinish your hardwood floor, you should budget $3 to $8 per square foot, which means that you may end up spending around $800 to $1,600 for the project, with the surface size being the main factor.
However, hardwood refinishing is a cost-effective hack that makes your floor look like you just installed it. It also serves as a soft home remodelling as it boosts the overall appearance of your house. But you need to be careful, so you don’t overspend when refinishing your floor.
This article is a price guide to help you navigate your hardwood floor refinishing and the likely costs you may encounter. Learn more about hardwood refinishing prices as you continue.
Cost to Refinish Hardwood Floors
The cost to refinish hardwood floors largely depends on the size of the floor. However, it’ll cost you between $800 and $1,600 to refinish hardwood floors. The most common hardwood refinishing cost among homeowners is around $1,200 for a 200 square feet floor. The same cost includes sanding, cleaning, staining, and applying wax for finishing.
There are several benefits of installing hardwood floors in your home. However, one of the best benefits of hardwood flooring is that you can refinish the floor when it starts to age. Hardwood floors tend to develop scratches and dents, which reduces their attractiveness and glossiness.
The best way to restore or revitalize your hardwood floor and make it glossier is to refinish it instead of buying a new one. Hardwood floor refinishing will save you the cost of having to install new floors. For instance, installing hardwood floors here in Canada costs $2,200 and can get as high as $8,500.
But the highest possible cost to refinish hardwood floors is about $3,100 for mahogany flooring, including 15 stairs. The $3,100 also includes finishing the hardwood floor with a non-eruptive organic compound and staining.
One thing you’re to understand about the cost to refinish hardwood floors is that it’s quite unstable. In the sense that, it’s almost impossible for the cost of refinishing hardwood floors to be the same for two individuals. The instability in the cost to refinish hardwood floors is due to certain factors. These factors make some people pay higher, and vice versa. Have a look at the factors influencing the cost of hardwood refinishing below.
Cost to Refinish Hardwood Floors per Square Foot
Surface size is an important factor to consider when refinishing hardwood floors because it determines how much it’ll cost you. Professionals usually charge by measuring the floor per square foot. On average, homeowners pay from $3 to $8 per sq.ft, including the cost of materials and labour to complete the project.
About 80% of the total cost of refinishing hardwood floors goes to labour and not even the materials. The exact cost to refinish hardwood floors also depends on the duration of the project. The surface size closely follows behind.
It costs $300 to $800 to refinish a 100 square foot hardwood floor, while 150 square foot refinishing costs between $450 and $1,200. The bigger the surface size, the higher the cost of refinishing.
For instance, the cost of refinishing 150 square foot hardwood flooring is lesser than that of a 200 square foot floor size, which costs about $600 to $1,600. In contrast, a 300 square foot hardwood floor refinishing costs from $900 to $2,400. If you own a bigger hardwood floor size of 375 square feet, refinishing may cost you up to $3,000.
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Cost to Refinish Hardwood Floor According to Type
Hardwood floor refinishing costs anywhere between $3 and $8 per square foot, irrespective of the flooring type you have in your home.
While the cost to refinish the different types of hardwood floors doesn’t vary much, some flooring options are more expensive. Maple and mahogany hardwood floors are the costliest to refinish, others follow closely behind. See below the different types of hardwood flooring and how much refinishing them costs.
How much Oak Hardwood Floor Refinishing will Cost
For hardwood floors, oakwood flooring remains one of the best and most popular options for homes and businesses. As the name suggests, it’s gotten from Oak hardwood trees, and it’s quite popular among Canadians. One of the main benefits of oakwood flooring is that it’s affordable and durable.
There are three types of Oakwood flooring, namely red, black, and white oak. If you own any of the oakwood types in your home, it won’t affect the cost of refinishing. However, you may need to revitalize oak wood flooring to make it look appealing once again, and it costs between $3 and $5 for refinishing.
Refinishing oakwood floors isn’t time-consuming. The contractor can do it within some hours, depending on the floor size. The fastness of refinishing oak wood flooring makes it cheaper than other materials.
Cost to Refinish Parquet Hardwood Floors
Parquet flooring consists of wooden blocks arranged in a geometric pattern. Formerly, to install parquet flooring, you had to do it one after the other. But these days, parquet flooring comes in the form of tiles, needing only stapling, nailing, or gluing to install everything.
Like other items in your home, you may need to revamp the look of parquet flooring by contracting hardwood floor refinishing services. It’s way more budget-friendly than installing a new one. The cost to refinish a parquet hardwood floor ranges from $3.50 to $6, slightly higher than most flooring types.
Refinishing parquet flooring by yourself isn’t advisable because it runs in several directions and it breaks easily. Instead, you need to hire a professional to help you avoid damages, which translates to saving costs.
Cost to Refinish Cherry Hardwood Floors
Cherry wood comes from the cherry fruit tree, and it’s also popular among homeowners for its durability. However, cherry flooring is also a softer hardwood, but you can trust it to stay strong.
Cherry wood flooring comes in different rich colours that make it look very attractive. Sadly, the attractiveness of cherry wood flooring may reduce over time due to improper maintenance or heavy traffic. However, instead of replacing it totally, refinishing is a better option, and it costs $3 to $5 per square foot.
The process of refinishing cherry wood floors is similar to oakwood flooring. The contractor simply needs to sand the surface severally before the raw wood becomes smooth. After which, the contractor will clean, stain, and seal the flooring with any finish of your choice.
Cost to Refinish Bamboo Floors
Bamboo is another great flooring option, and it’s becoming more popular due to its eco-friendly properties. Bamboo flooring is more cost-effective than hardwood materials because of how fast it grows. Bamboo flooring isn’t only eco-friendly; it’s also very durable. It’s two times harder than oakwood flooring, making it the best choice for commercial properties or busy areas with heavy movement.
Bamboo flooring is quite strong, but it’s not indestructible, especially when you move heavy objects or furniture on the surface. It can result in dents or scratches that’ll cause you to consider refinishing the bamboo surface after a while.
Depending on the bamboo floor type you have installed, it’ll cost you between $3 and $6 for refinishing. Unlike woven bamboo flooring it’s, easier to refinish horizontal and vertical bamboo floors, and it reflects in their cost. Refinishing woven bamboo floors is costlier than the horizontal and vertical types.
However, the bamboo fibres for woven bamboo flooring are fastened with adhesives, giving it better resistance to dents and scratches. In other words, woven bamboo flooring will need less refinishing in comparison to other floor types.
Cost to Refinish Engineered Hardwood Floor
The cost to refinish engineered hardwood falls between $3 and $5 per square foot. Refinishing engineered hardwood comprises light sanding to take off 2 millimetres or less from the surface. Some engineered hardwood is thicker and comes with higher quality. The thicker ones may need intense sanding to remove damage from them.
Cost to Refinish Pine Floors
Pine is a classic and ageless flooring choice. It’s also one of the most durable flooring materials out there. However, pine flooring is similar to others, and sometimes it needs refinishing to give it a fresher look. Also, improper maintenance can lead to dents, scratches and stains, causing you to refinish the pine flooring.
Refinishing pine floors costs a bit higher than other hardwood floorings, and it ranges from $4 to $7 per square foot. It costs more to refinish pine flooring because the wood is softer, and the contractors need to be very cautious while sanding it.
Also, before refinishing hardwood flooring, you need to make sure it’s thick and stable enough to avoid damaging it further. Hence the need to leave it to a professional.
Cost to Refinish Maple Hardwood Floors
Being one of the strongest and most durable materials in the market, it costs between $5 and $8 per square foot to refinish maple hardwood flooring. Maple flooring is a domestic hardwood that’s popular in Canada. It’s also very sustainable and eco-friendly, which endears it to many homeowners.
Maple flooring is famed for its distinctive look because its colours are creamy-white and sometimes light brown. However, you may need to retouch or refinish the floor in a bid to give your home a better look.
Refinishing maple flooring costs slightly higher than other materials because the contractor will have to use sandpaper with bigger grits to smoothen the hard surface. Then it’ll also take longer to stain maple wood because it’s harder than most flooring types.
Cost to Refinish Mahogany Hardwood Floors
It’ll cost you between $6 and $8 per square foot to refinish mahogany hardwood floors. Refinishing mahogany flooring is costlier than other materials because the process is time-consuming.
Also, the contractor has to be careful and patient while sanding mahogany flooring to avoid damages. Mahogany hardwood floors are more expensive to refinish because of their tenderness and purchase cost. In other words, you need to hire proper hardwood floor refinishing services for the job.
How Much to Refinish Hardwood Floors by Method
There are different methods a contractor can use to refinish your hardwood floors, but they vary in cost. The two methods for refinishing hardwood floors include sand and refinish and dustless refinishing. See more about these methods below.
Cost of Sanding and Refinishing Hardwood Floors
Depending on the intensity of sanding the floor may require, hardwood refinishing costs between $6 to $8 per square foot. Sanding and refinishing is the most common method among contractors. It involves taking off the upper layer of the present finish for the new layer to the surface.
But if the damages on the hardwood floor aren’t heavy, you may not need to sand it. Be sure to consult with your contractor to help you decide on what’s best to do.
Cost of Dustless Refinishing for Hardwood Floors
As the name implies, dustless hardwood refinishing comprises attaching a vacuum to collect the dust without messing up the area. Its refinishing costs range from $6 to $8 per square foot.
This refinishing method is safer and healthier for everyone, especially the workers. Dustless refinishing is also a safer option for people with breathing difficulties and allergies. Although the vacuum may not get rid of the dust totally, it’ll significantly reduce the particles flying around.
How Much to Refinish Hardwood Floors According to Finish Type
There are different types of wood finishes, and they come in various forms like matte, glossy, satin or any other shade. The finish type you choose determines the final look of your hardwood floor.
It costs from $20 to $550 per gallon for most finish types. Any finish you purchase can cover several surface sizes, meaning that you can use it more times before the need to buy another one will arise. Learn more on the types of finishes below.
Oil-based Polyurethane
To refinish hardwood floors with oil-based polyurethane, it’ll cost about $20 to $50 per gallon. However, it’s quite durable, and it gives hardwood floors a traditional look, making it the most common type of finish. Oil-based polyurethane can withstand heavy traffic, and it’s easy to use, as you can fix any mistake instantly. It dries under 24 hours and turns to an amber colour after a while.
Water-Based Polyurethane
Purchasing a gallon of water-based polyurethane ranges from $30 to $55. Its affordable and easy-to-apply features make it the second most sought after finish type. In addition, water-based polyurethane makes the floor look glossy, and it takes about four days to dry.
Applying water-based polyurethane isn’t time-consuming like other types of finishes. It endears it more to people. Having a higher cost than oil-based polyurethane shows that the finish type you use affects the final price to refinish hardwood floors.
Hardwood Floors Waxing Cost
Getting a liquid or paste wax costs from $35 to $55 per gallon. Applying the liquid wax consists of buffing it into the wooden flooring material and spreading it all over the floor. After it hardens, the professional will have to buff it once more.
Many people love using wax finishes because of the natural look and feel it gives to the floor. However, one major benefit of using wax finish is applying it to areas with high traffic for maintenance.
Swedish Hardwood Floor Finish
Buying a Swedish hardwood floor finish costs within $50 to $80 per gallon. This finish type usually comes with an alcohol solvent and acid catalyst. It also dries in less than four hours, giving room for the next application in a day or two.
Swedish finishes can stand the test of time but are highly flammable due to the alcohol. At the start, it has a very strong smell that dissipates over time.
Penetrating Oil Finish for Wood
As the name suggests, penetrating oil finish finds its way into the wood, then oxidizes and hardens it from the inside, and it costs $40 to $100 for a gallon. In addition, it protects the flooring from within instead of forming a layer on the surface like other types of finish.
Penetrating oil reinforces the wood and increases its sturdiness and durability. In addition, it doesn’t have any unfriendly components that can harm people’s health or the flooring, making them costlier than other finishes.
Hard Wax Oil for Hardwood Floors
Contractors mostly use it for exotic floors. Hardwax oil costs from $70 to $550 per gallon, making it one of the costliest among other finishes.
It lasts longer than other less expensive finishes as a quarter of its gallon can cover an 800 square foot flooring.
Once you apply the hard wax oil, it goes into the wooden flooring and hardens it from inside. Hard wax oil also leaves wax on the surface and makes the floor glossy. It also comes in different forms, giving homeowners the chance to select a tone that suits their taste. However, using hard wax oil increases the cost to refinish hardwood floors, and it’s best done by professional hardwood floor refinishing services.
Is it Cheaper to Refinish Or Replace Hardwood Floors?
Hardwood floors are durable but may experience damages like dents and scratches, increasing the need to replace or refinish the flooring. For cost-effectiveness, it’s mostly better to refinish your hardwood floor.
Replacing the hardwood floor is an entire project that can be very stressful. To avoid such stress, refinishing the hardwood floor is the best option. The process of refinishing isn’t half as stressful as replacing the entire flooring.
However, if you give the floor a good look and feel it needs a change, you can do so. But judging from the angle of cost, time, materials, and the work it involves, refinishing your hardwood floor is always a better option.
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Final Thoughts
Refinishing is one of the significant benefits of installing a hardwood floor because of its cost-effectiveness. It’s like having the chance to get brand new flooring for a lower price as it has that same effect. But when hiring contractors to do the refinishing, you need to hire experienced professionals to avoid expensive damage to your flooring.
Here at LV Flooring, we offer first-class hardwood refinishing services at affordable prices. We’ll bring your hardwood flooring back to life without breaking the bank. Get in touch with us today!
