Replacing A Wood Floor

Replacing A Wood Floor

If you live somewhere with wood floors for long enough, sooner or later it comes time to do something about the ground you walk on. If it’s that one nail creeping out or the extra wear on that section there, it may just need to be refinished. As they say, most wood floors can be refinished at least 5 times and can often go 15 or 20 years in between.

But if it’s time to replace rather than refinish, maybe you put it off longer than you should because it seems like such a project and who’s got the time? Brick Underground offers a great step-by-step guide about what to consider and where to start.

Here are some highlights to think about:

1. Prefinished vs. unfinished:

They recommend choosing unfinished to avoid the glossy factory finish. But if you do choose to go with pre-finished, as the materials and installation can be less expensive, they point you toward getting solid wood as floors with just a wood veneer on top can’t be sanded so you’ll have to buy a new wood floor much sooner.

2. Cost:

Replacing an unfinished wood will cost anywhere from $12 to $30 per square foot, depending on the type of wood, grade (quarter sawn or plain sawn), length and width, and any other special design elements. Prefinished solid woods start at a lower price point.

3. Timing:

Whenever you choose to do the replacement, you will have to move out all of your furniture and essentially move out. The entire process will take 10 days to 3 weeks. If replacing your floor is part of a larger renovation, it will typically happen before new baseboard installation but after new walls are up.

4. Type of wood:

Penny Fallmann May, the author and an architect, recommends quarter-sawn oak, quarter-sawn maple, or Brazilian cherry. No matter your choice, she emphasizes that the wood should be hard. One of the key issues in selecting wood flooring is that the wood be hard.

5. Board size:

They recommend wider boards for a more elegant look, but to keep it under 3 1/2” to avoid the ends of the boards curving up. For length, choose something over 3’ – otherwise you end up with a floor that looks like leftover wood.

6. Special touches:

Patterns or special borders are a great option to make the change noticeable and unique.

7. Soundproofing:

Replacing a wood floor offers the ideal time to install sound-proofing as well. They recommend a rubber-like material similar to felt, but talk to your contractor about the options.

8. Finishes, stains, contractors and clean-up:

For a detailed idea of what you should look for in the finishing process, read Penny’s article from earlier this month.

Photo Credit: Jeff Trojan

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