The best way to keep your floors looking pristine is to prevent them from getting damaged in the first place. Simple fixes like adding felt pads to the bottom of furniture or placing runner rugs in high traffic areas can help protect your floors from superficial damage. Regularly cleaning up messes as soon as they happen can also keep moisture from sitting on the floor and staining it.
While these are great ways to help prevent damage, it’s not always possible to keep your floors from becoming cracked, chipped, or worn over time. If your floors are starting to look worse for wear, it may be time for a refinish or restoration service.
Refinishing is the process of stripping your floors and applying a fresh coat of stain to restore the sheen and color that’s been lost over time due to normal wear and tear. Refinishing is the cheapest option when it comes to fixing your floors, but it’s still a fairly involved process that takes a few days to a week to complete.
The reason it takes a little longer is because your floors need to dry thoroughly before you can walk on them again. Humid days can prolong this time, and your choice of finishing product (either oil or water-based) could also have an impact on drying times.
Unlike refinishing, restoration goes beyond the basics to fix more severe damage on your floors. Floor restorations are a more complex process that typically take closer to two weeks to perform properly. This is because restorations include aspects of refinishing, along with repairs, replacements, and other tasks that are needed to bring your floor back up to its original condition.
If your floors are showing signs of damage, you’ll need to find a solution quickly to prevent the problem from worsening. For minor cracks and chips, you can fill them in with a wood putty or epoxy repair kit. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for application, and let the material dry completely before walking on it.
Larger cracks and gouges require more extreme measures. These might involve cutting a new piece of floorboard from an out-of-sight area, such as an attic, crawl space, or closet. You’ll need to choose a patch of wood that matches the flooring both in species and grain pattern. Tom demonstrates how to make this repair by making a Dutchman using a spare floorboard from the flooring itself.
Once your floor is restored, it’s important to keep up with a routine maintenance plan that includes buffing and re-staining or re-oiling your floors. Doing this regularly will keep your floors looking good and will delay the need for a full refinish in the future. To avoid costly errors, the best handyman in Memphis recommends thoroughly reading and following all instructions to ensure the best results.