hardwood floor refinishing and installation FAQ for Rochester homeowners

Depends on the room. Above-grade rooms with plywood subfloors handle solid 3/4" hardwood fine — we install it routinely in Pittsford and Park Ave. Slab-on-grade rooms (most Brighton 1950s ranches), basements, and rooms over crawl spaces should be engineered. Rochester's indoor humidity swings 15–55% RH between summer and winter, which is the upper edge of what solid hardwood tolerates over concrete. Engineered hardwood with a stable plywood core handles the swing.

Every refinish we do uses HEPA-filtered dust-contained sanding — that's the baseline. The premium dustless package (plastic containment between rooms, negative-air HEPA scrubbers, HVAC sealing) adds $1–2 per sq ft over a standard refinish. Worth it for homes with allergies, asthma, infants, or pets that can't be relocated during the job. For most healthy households, standard dust-contained sanding is enough.

Almost always refinish if the floor is structurally sound. Solid 3/4" hardwood can be refinished 4–7 times over its life; most Rochester floors have 2–3 sandings remaining. We measure the wear layer with a depth gauge before quoting — if there's more than 1/16" of wood above the tongue, refinishing wins on cost and on preserving the original character. Replacement only makes sense when the wear layer is gone, the floor has heavy water damage across most boards, or the species is something you actively want to change.

Yes — and they're usually the best floors we work on. 1920s and earlier Rochester homes (Pittsford village, Park Ave, East Avenue, Corn Hill, 19th Ward) typically used 3/4" tongue-and-groove red or white oak with old-growth tight grain. Most of these floors have been refinished once or twice in the past century and still have wood to spare. We check the wear layer first, then sand with a three-grit sequence ending at 80–100 grit, and finish with oil-modified poly or hardwax oil for a period-appropriate look.

Often yes, but timing matters. If the water hit a week ago and the subfloor below has dried out, we can probably section-replace the damaged hardwood and refinish the area to blend. If it's been longer than that and the subfloor is still wet, we dry first (commercial dehumidifiers until subfloor reads below 12% moisture content), then assess. If subfloor sections rotted, we cut to the nearest joist and replace those sections only — never a whole-floor rip unless the damage requires it. We document the work with photos and moisture logs for homeowner insurance claims.

Typical 800–1,200 sq ft refinish: 4–6 days end to end. Day 1 is sanding through all grits, days 2–4 are finish coats (24-hour drying between coats), day 5 is light cure. You can walk in socks after 24 hours from final coat, move furniture back at 72 hours, and put rugs down at 14 days (rugs trap finish off-gas and can imprint). Faster water-based finishes can compress this to 3 days; oil-modified poly is the 4–6 day timeline.

Moisture imbalance between the top and bottom of the boards. Cupping (edges higher than center) happens when the bottom of the wood is wetter than the top — common over wet basements, damp crawl spaces, or after a leak from below. Crowning (center higher than edges) is the reverse — usually after a top-down sanding while the floor was still wet underneath. Both are preventable with subfloor moisture testing before install or refinish, which is why we test every job.

Sometimes — depends on veneer thickness. The top wear layer on engineered hardwood ranges from 0.6mm (cheapest, not refinishable) to 4–6mm (premium, refinishable 1–2 times). We measure veneer thickness on a discreet board edge before quoting a refinish on engineered. If the veneer is under 2mm, a screen-and-recoat (light abrasion + new finish coat, no sanding through to bare wood) is the right call instead.

Look for cupping (board edges raised), gaps that open and close with the seasons in an exaggerated way, dark staining along the ends of boards, or a hollow sound when you tap boards in a specific zone. Common Rochester problem areas: under second-floor windows that have leaked, near ice-dam-prone eaves, around dishwashers and refrigerators with old supply lines, and at the base of toilets. If you suspect damage, we can do a moisture-meter inspection without removing flooring — pin and pinless readings tell us if the subfloor is wet.

Grain direction changes every 6 inches on parquet — the wood fibers in the tile next to yours run perpendicular. Drum sanding straight across (the standard for strip hardwood) tears the grain on half the tiles. We sand parquet at multiple angles, end with a finer grit (100 or 120 vs 80), and re-glue loose tiles before sanding. The extra labor adds about $1–2 per sq ft over straight strip-floor work.

Yes, the work room needs to be empty. We can help with light furniture moving the morning of the job at no charge for small items. For full-house refinishes, plan to have a moving crew or pod handle large pieces 1–2 days before we start. We also recommend taping or covering air-supply registers in adjacent rooms — even with dust containment, fine particulate can drift through HVAC if returns aren't sealed.

Most scratches and surface stains, yes. A standard three-grit sand removes about 1/32" of wood, which clears finish-depth scratches, sun-fade, and most pet-urine stains that haven't penetrated past the finish layer. Deep urine stains that have soaked into the bare wood (black or gray ring around the area) sometimes need a board replacement — we can match species and stain so the patch blends. Gouges deeper than 1/16" usually need board-level repair, not just sanding.