Hardwood floor refinishing and repair in Calgary

Yes. We are a hardwood floor refinishing business working in Calgary. We do the sanding, staining and finishing ourselves, from a one day recoat to a full sand-back, plus board repair and water damage work.

No. We come and look at your floors, tell you what they actually need, and give you a written number. There is no charge for the visit and no pressure to book.

It depends on the floor area, the condition of the wood, whether you want a colour change, and whether the job is a recoat or a full sand-back, which are very different pieces of work. We do not publish a per square foot number, because a number that is not yours is worse than no number: it sets an expectation the actual floor may not meet. We price your floors in person and the quote is free.

If the finish is dull and lightly scratched but the wood underneath is sound and even in colour, a recoat is usually enough: we abrade the old finish and roll on fresh coats, normally in a day. If the wood itself is worn through, stained or deeply scratched, you need a full sand-back. Try a drop of water on the worst traffic path. If it beads, a recoat will hold. If it soaks in and darkens the wood, the finish is already gone there.

Refinish, in most Calgary houses, because the floor is solid oak strip with plenty of wood left in it and replacing it costs several times more for a result that is often no better. Replacement makes sense when the wear layer has run out from previous sandings, when the floor is engineered with a veneer too thin to sand, or when a large area is rotted or missing. We check which of those you are in before quoting either.

Probably not, if it is solid strip flooring from the 1960s or 1970s: those floors have room for several full sandings across their life and most have had one at most. The floors that run out are the ones already sanded twice by previous owners, and engineered floors where the real wood layer on top is only a couple of millimetres. We look at a floor vent, a threshold or a stair nosing to see the board profile before we commit you to a sand-back.

Often, yes, if it is caught early. Boards that cupped but dried slowly can usually be sanded flat and refinished with no sign anything happened. Boards that stayed wet long enough to blacken, rot or grow mould get cut out and replaced, then blended into the refinish. The source has to be fixed and the floor has to be back to a normal moisture level first, because sanding a floor that is still drying locks the problem in.

Because the air in a Calgary house gets very dry in winter and wood gives up moisture to it. The boards shrink, gaps open along the seams, and then they close again in spring when the humidity comes back. Seasonal gapping is normal here and is not damage. It is worth a look when the gaps do not close in summer, when they are wide enough to catch a coin, or when boards start to lift or split at the ends, because that is movement rather than seasonal change.

Usually. Carpet protects the wood underneath from sunlight and traffic, so oak that has spent thirty years under broadloom is often in better condition than a floor that stayed exposed. What you will see is tack strip holes around the perimeter, staple marks, and sometimes a dark patch or a stripe where a runner sat. The perimeter hides under the shoe moulding and the rest normally sands out. Send us a photo or ask for a visit before you assume it is a write-off.

A recoat is usually a single day with the room back in use the next. A full sand-back on a main floor is normally a few days including cure time, and stairs add to it because they are hand work and cannot be walked on while the finish sets. Calgary being dry helps: coats flash off faster here than on the coast. We give you the day by day plan and which rooms are off limits before anything is booked.

A solid 3/4 inch strip floor can normally be taken back to bare wood several times across its life before the wear layer above the tongue runs out. Most Calgary floors from the 1960s and 1970s have had one refinish at most, so there is usually room. Engineered floors are the exception: what matters there is the thickness of the real wood layer on top, and some cannot be sanded at all.

It means the sander runs to a strong vacuum that captures most of the dust at the source. It is not literally zero dust and nobody should tell you it is, but it is far cleaner than open sanding. Ask us at the quote and we will walk you through the extraction setup, how we seal off the rooms we are not working in, and what still needs a wipe down afterwards.

Usually. Most Calgary floors are 2 1/4 inch red oak strip and that profile is still made, so sourcing the board is rarely the hard part. Matching the colour is, because decades of light have moved everything around the repair. That is why board repair is almost always done as the first step of a recoat or a refinish: a fresh finish across the whole room is what makes a replaced board disappear.