If there is one thing we’ve discovered by buying and selling many homes, it’s that refinishing hardwood floors creates a warm, classy environment that most people really enjoy. We have an excellent crew that refinishes wood floors in homes we purchase and remodel, and that has been a key to our success in selling remodeled homes.

The most important thing to realize about refinishing any wood floor is that the process generates a lot of dust. During the sanding process, the fine dust particles can cover the walls and countertops and even get into cabinets. It’s a very messy process, so enclosing each room with heavy plastic curtains while the sanding work is accomplished is one way to contain the dust.

Prior to repainting walls in rooms where wood floors have been sanded and refinished its best to wash down the walls with a tri-sodium phosphate product, and to take precautions while washing, just as you do while sanding. A disposable dust mask is a very inexpensive and practical way to protect yourself when refinishing wood floors and repainting walls where the floors have been sanded.

Selecting a color of wood stain is a matter of personal preference of course, but we’ve found that darker wood stain can be used if there is discoloration that needs to be covered. Sometimes there is water damage in older homes that may have been carpeted at one time, and then when old carpeting is removed the water damage is revealed. Some of the water damage goes deep into the wood and the discoloration won’t come out when the floor is sanded, so that’s when a dark wood stain comes in handy.

But lighter stains are the most popular, so we stick with light oak and maple wood stain colors that keep a room lighter rather than darker in appearance, colors that blend well with the neutral wall paint we normally use. I always think about the floor and the walls like a blank canvas that the new homeowners can paint to their own liking. Lighter wood stain and neutral, off-white walls are a good way to achieve this basic environment for people to enhance as they select their own favorite colors for decorating.

Sealing the refinished wood floor is another matter of personal preference, but since I often make that decision before trying to sell a home, I generally select a satin wood finish, one that is not too glossy and yet has a nice, soft feel. It’s surprising how much difference the wood finish makes in the way a home feels to a prospective home buyer, so we make sure that our refinished hardwood floors are the best they can be to enhance the quality of the home and the neighborhood.

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