Refinishing Instructions

Note: These recommendations are offered only as general guidelines. Always consult and engage the services of a flooring professional in order to recoat and repair damaged floors

Guidelines for Refinishing & Repairing Damaged Floors:
In order to properly repair, refinish or replace damaged or worn flooring, one must first assess the degree of damage. There are two levels of wear/damage. They are:

  • Finish Wear is finish which may be scratched or dulled in areas, but has not worn through to the wood below it. In these cases, the floor may be repaired by recoating the floor, with the method to use determined by the type of factory finish applied to your flooring. See below.
  • Deep damage is where the finish is cut through to bare wood and the underlying wood itself is worn or gouged. In this case, depending on the depth of the damage, as well as how thick the wear layer is, you have but two choices of repair. Either sand the finish off the floor and then sand down the wood below the finish to take out the worn area or gouges, or replace the individual damaged boards which are damaged.

Below, we define the two types of factory applied finishes which Cool Flooring offers:

  • Types of Factory Applied Finishes & Recommended Repair Methods:
    • Anti-Scratch, High Wear Urethane - which incorporates the latest finish technology of anti-scratch topcoats over high wear, base coats with aluminum oxide particles. This style of finish incorporates exceedingly hard, scratch resistant, resins in the top coats, which still allows re-screening, and contains anti-abrasion particles in the base coats to inhibit finish wear through. To recoat Finish Wear, use the Physical Screen & Recoat Method. For Deep Damage, you must replace the damaged pieces or resand and refinish the floor.
    • Ceramic, High Wear Urethane - this style of finish has aluminum oxide particles throughout the coats including the top coats which also incorporate the high wear ceramic particle technology. This finish offers maximum wear resistance but cannot be re-screened. To recoat Finish Wear, use the Chemical Abrade & Recoat Method. For Deep Damage, you must replace the damaged pieces or resand and refinish the floor, which will be difficult and require large quantities of sandpaper and labor to cut through the finish.

Recommended Repair Methods for Site Finished Floors:

Whether the floor was finished in the field with oil based or water based finishes, Finish Wear may be repaired by recoating, utilizing the Physical Screen & Recoat Method. For Deep Damage, you must replace the damaged pieces or resand and refinish the floor. Always follow the recoat recommendations of the finish manufacturer of the type of finish used when originally site finishing the floor.

Definitions of Repair Methods

  • Replacing - is defined as cutting out/removing the damaged pieces/sections and installing new pieces in their place. This method is necessary only when the pieces are deeply gouged/worn.
  • Sanding and Refinishing - is defined as sanding the existing finish completely off the installed floor down to the bare wood and then re-coating the floor in the field with multiple coats of sealer and topcoats. Note: Sanding and refinishing the entire floor is only necessary in cases of severe damage such as deep gouges/scratches or excessive wear down to bare wood over large areas. It is also necessary if the floor has ever been waxed or oiled. In the case of severe damage to just a few boards, these pieces can usually be repaired by replacing
    them. This avoids having to sand and refinish the entire floor.
  • Physical Screen and Recoat - is defined as lightly abrading the top surface of the factory applied finish by screening and then applying another topcoat or two in the field to the existion abraded finish.
  • Chemical Screen and Recoat - is defined as recoating a finished floor utilizing a system whereby the floor is first chemically abraded using a special chemical sealer and is then top coated with additional coats of finish. No sanding or screening is performed. Two companies offer products to do this. Please follow the instructions of the two companies that offer these products:

Follow Maintenance Recommendations:

Provided you have followed Value Wood Flooring’s Maintenance Instructions and not allowed severe damage or excessive wear to occur over extensive areas, you should never need to Sand and Refinish your floor, unless of course you wish to change the color of your floor, using tints/stain colors to do so.

Recoating, however, is recommended to restore the look of the urethane finish whenever it shows either excessive wear, dulling or sheen change, but well before the finish is worn through to the bare wood. Recoating provides a durable and long-lasting refurbished urethane finish, without the mess and inconvenience of sanding to the bare wood. Any repairs or refinishing of your floor must be performed by a Flooring Professional specializing in refinishing wood floors. Consult your local Yellow Pages to find a suitable professional.

Always have your Flooring Professional perform tests on sample pieces, or a small test area, for adequate adhesion and your approval of the look and sheen before proceeding to recoat the
entire floor.

 
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