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Buff and Recoat
of Hardwood Flooring

You may have heard of the buff and recoat technique that is used by hardwood professionals to breathe new life into somewhat tired-looking hardwood without the lengthy process of refinishing. It can also be referred to as Buffing-Reacoat by many flooring professionals.

When can buff and recoat be used?

Buff and re-coat technique can be used on relatively new hardwood anywhere from 4 to 10 years old; providing no deep damage to the boards exists. That means that if your wood floor boards are still intact, there are no deep scratches, no gauges, or water and pet stains - this option is for you.

During a normal (typical) floor refinishing process, your floor is sanded by a professional, heavy belt sander down to bare wood. All top layers (varnish or other finishes and stain colour) are removed and you can choose a new colour and finish sheen if you want. A new start if you please.

What's involved when buff and recoat technique is used?

Dustless Buffing Recoat

During the process of buff and re-coat only the topmost layer of varnish is buffed off. (usually you may have up to 4 coats of varnish if your wood floor was finished on-site; and several more coats if it was a factory-finished floor).

You may say that the top-most layer of varnish is scuffed up (ruffed up a bit) so the new layer of finish can adhere better. Just like you would ruff-up your old wood kitchen cabinets if you wanted to pain them white.

Here you can see just the top layer of finish being removed with a professional buffer connected to our Bona Dust Containment System.

This still requires ALL furniture to be removed.

Now you probably understand why this type of re-finishing can only be used on a floor without any major marks, gouges, or deep scratches. This is only to refresh the varnish, freshen up the finish, maybe change the sheen level while leaving your existing stain colour unchanged.

How often should this be done?

For On-Site Finished Wood Flooring

If you have an on-site finished wood floor in your home, this process should be started not later than 4 years from the date of last deep refinishing and should be continuously done every 4 years or so. This will add years to the life of your flooring. This process is far less expensive than a refinishing and should be considered part of the regular maintenance - a cosmetic investment so-to-speak.

For Factory Finished Wood Flooring

If you decided to spend the money on an exotic, pre-finished wood flooring in the first place and now are a proud owner of spectacular piece of flooring... your job is to take the best care of it to maintain the finish and protect it for as long as possible (without implementing any type of buffing, scuffing or refinishing).

Here is why:

Factory-finished floors usually has several layers of high quality finishes (often aluminium-oxide finises) that, with proper care (according to the manufacturer's instructions, and if installed according to those instructions) can truly last a lifetime.

There are no on-site finishing products available on the market today that could ever come close to what's already on your floors. We can put up to 4 coats quality of varnish (poly-based or waterborne) when we re-finish your floors.

Your pre-finished wood already has upwards of 7 coats of backed-on factory finish.

So take really good care of it for as long as possible, so we don't have to strip it all down to bare wood and start over; as we will never be able to give you the original durability of a factory finish. By the way, here is why you should never use a steamer on wood floors.

With proper care and maintenance, your pre-finished floor should last about 15 years before you invite us over to re-finish it. When this happens, we will be doing a deep refinishing - giving you a fresh start and an empty canvas.

Just so you know...

Buff and Recoat is the process that we use in our own home to test new finishes coming available on the market today. Our own hardwood is buffed and refinished about once a year - not because that is needed, but because it allows us to use and "see in action" the newest products that we are expected to use in your homes.

Every new varnish is first used here, so we know exactly how it will react to the environment, if it smells during the application (and how long afterword's), how long does it take to dry, what is the true sheen. how long it lasts, will it peel and so on...

Yes, we are quite dedicated to your satisfaction; this truly is important to us.

If you are unsure if your existing flooring qualifies as a candidate for a buff and recoat maintenance, please contact us here for a FREE, written estimate.