From basic to luxury homes, hardwood makes one of the most logical and attractive flooring types. Hardwood flooring rarely has to be replaced. Usually, apparent problems can be practically erased with hardwood refinishing. How do you know when to replace or refinish your hardwood flooring? Here is a closer look at a few common wood flooring ailments and whether to replace or refinish.
Problem: The flooring is riddled with surface scars.
Refinish or Replace? Refinish
From furniture scuffs to scratches from foot traffic, a hardwood floor's surface can start to show signs of wear over the years. While these finish problems can make it look like your hardwood needs to be replaced, surface-level problems almost always call for hardwood refinishing only.
Problem: The flooring has sustained water damage.
Refinish or Replace? Depends
Water can be a hardwood floor's biggest threat. If the floor has sustained water damage and has dark spots, the flooring may have to be replaced. However, if the water damage only goes through the upper layer rather than all the way through the wood, you may be able to get by with hardwood refinishing.
Problem: The flooring has split planks.
Refinish or Replace? Replace
As wood ages, the normally tightly woven fibers can weaken and start to separate or splinter apart. When you spot this kind of issue in multiple points of the flooring system, it can be a good sign that the floor needs to be replaced. If you are lucky, you may run into a situation in which only a few planks have split. In this case, you can simply have those planks replaced and then do a complete hardwood refinishing to make sure the new boards blend in with the old ones.
Problem: The flooring is not a desirable color.
Refinish or Replace? Refinish
Just as interior paint hue trends can wax and wane, so can the colors of your wood flooring. For example, for a lot of years, the rich golden wood flooring was quite popular as it was complementary to the styles of that era. On the contrary, modern homeowners tend to prefer more toned-down wood hues, such as ashen greys like aged hickory or deep browns for a mahogany look. If you have wood flooring that is simply the wrong color hue, you can typically work with a hardwood floor refinishing contractor to shave away the colors of the upper layers of wood and use a new stain color for refinishing.
