Can I Refinish Engineered Hardwood Floors to Restore Their Beauty?
Refinish for a fresh look
You can refinish engineered hardwood floors, but consider the thickness of the wear layer before you start.
Engineered hardwood floors can last more than 25 years with proper care and maintenance.
If your engineered hardwood floors have been refinished a few times, it may be time to consider replacing them instead.
Engineered hardwood floors offer the beauty of hardwood at a lower price, but what happens when they’ve seen better days? It’s possible to refinish hardwood floors, but there are a few factors to consider before grabbing the sandpaper. We’ll help you figure out if you should refinish your engineered hardwood floors or if it’s time for something new.
What Is Engineered Hardwood Flooring?
An engineered hardwood floor looks like a solid hardwood floor, but it’s made of a few layers of wood or plywood glued together in a perpendicular pattern. These layers are topped with the wear layer—a final layer of real wood that creates the appearance of a hardwood floor.
Can I Refinish Engineered Hardwood Floors?
The good news is that you can refinish engineered hardwood floors. Because the wear layer is made of real wood veneer, you’re able to sand it to remove the finish. Then you can refinish it with the stain and sealant of your choice.
However, you can only refinish engineered wood floors two or three times before the wear layer becomes too thin. Keep this in mind when considering the cost of engineered hardwood flooring installation because refinishing can help you avoid a replacement if your floor looks a little worse for wear.
How Often Can I Refinish My Engineered Hardwood Floors?
Now that we’ve examined the good news, it’s time for a little bad news. Each time you sand the engineered hardwood in preparation for refinishing it, you remove some of the wear layer. After a few refinishes, the wear layer will become too thin, and sanding it will expose the plywood substrate underneath.
Depending on the thickness of the wear layer, you can plan on refinishing hardwood floors two or three times.
Should I Refinish or Replace My Hardwood Floor?
You can decide whether to refinish or replace your hardwood floor based on a few factors:
How old is it? Engineered hardwood floors last between 25 and 30 years, so if your floor is nearing the end of its lifespan and looks like it’s seen better days, it might be time to replace it.
How many times has it been refinished? If you’ve already refinished your engineered wood floor two to three times, then you can no longer refinish it. At this point, you may want to consider replacing it.
How thick is the wear layer? Wear layers can be as thin as 2 millimeters and as thick as 5 millimeters (¼ inch) or more. If the wear layer is 2 millimeters or less, refinishing isn’t an option. If the wear layer is 3 millimeters or thicker, then you can plan on refinishing it a few times.
If you decide to refinish your floors, you can contact a wood floor refinisher near you to get a quote and discuss your finishing options.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you want to refinish engineered hardwood floors, you need a wear layer of 3 millimeters. This will give you enough material to sand down and refinish a few times before the wear layer gets too thin. Proper maintenance for engineered hardwood flooring will reduce the number of times you need to refinish it.
If you sand off the current finish on your engineered hardwood floors, you’ll be able to change the finish to meet your design goals. In some cases, you might want to install unfinished engineered hardwood floors and then apply a custom finish. If the wear layer is thick enough, you can change the finish two or three times over the life of the floors.
At first, it seems like solid hardwood floors are the better choice if you plan on refinishing your floors over the years. While you can refinish hardwood floors, you can only refinish them so many times before you get down to the tongue of the plank and create issues. Engineered hardwood with a thicker wear layer can also be refinished multiple times. If being able to change the look of your floors is a priority, then hardwood floors can be a better option because you can change the stain color and mix up your interiors.
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