About Staining

Staining is only one part of the Hardwood Floor Refinishing Vancouver process, but it can have the biggest impact on the appearance of your floors. Staining is an excellent way to change the look of hardwood flooring without losing the natural beauty and character of the wood floors. When considering refinishing your floors, you may decide to restore them back to their natural state. In that case no stain would be needed since the sanding and finish coats will make your floors as good as new. In other cases staining is essential in order to drastically change the aesthetic feel in your home.

Custom Stains

Style changes. Fortunately wood flooring is always in style, whether yours are natural or stained a darker tone. Having said that, Interior Design trends will sometimes favour one end of the colour spectrum over another. If change is what your after than nothing adds more class, tradition or originality to your home than a custom stain to your hardwood floors. A custom stain allows you the flexibility of choosing tan, brown or other woodsy colors associated with hardwood or it can branch out to include deep reds or muted grays.

Staining Process

Now that you picked a color that works for you. What’s involved in changing your floor to that color? Unfortunately, unlike painting you cannot simply apply stain over the existing hardwood. Similar to the process of refinishing any hardwood floor, staining first calls for the removal of the existing finish on your floor. All traces of your old hardwood floor finish must be sanded off until you get down to the original wood grain. Following that an extensive and scrupulous sanding procedure must be followed. Once complete, the floors are ready to accept stain and the staining process can begin.

If you think you would be interested in getting a custom stain done on your floors give us a call and we would be more than happy to come by and help you pick out a stain that’s right for you.

Basic Coatings Streetshoe

This Waterborne finish is environmentally safe with low VOC’s, meaning you don’t have to necessarily vacate your home during refinishing. As the finish dries, water evaporates into the air leaving the protective polyurethane coating on the wood. Waterborne finishes are also non-yellowing and will not change colour over time. Available in gloss, semi-gloss, satin and matt.

• Water-Based Pros
• Lower VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds)
• Quick-drying which may shorten the process by up to 1 day
• Long-lasting and more durable than oil-based
• Does not yellow over time
• Less smell
• You may be able to stay in your home during the restoration process

• Water Based Cons
• Not as smooth as oil-based so you can feel more of the wood grain through the finish
• Slightly more expensive than oil-based
• Due to the quick-drying nature of the finish, some floor plans make it challenging to have a flawless finish

Woodline Polyurethane

A premium, oil-modified wood floor finish formulated for interior use on residential and commercial hardwood floors. Slightly amber in colour it enhances the natural tone of wood while providing a tough, protective coat Available in gloss, semi-gloss and satin.

• Oil Based Pros
• Thicker, smoother finish than water-based
• Slightly less expensive than water-based finish
• Ambers overtime for a warmer look
• The longer window for application means the finish will be very smooth every time

• Oil Based Cons
• Higher VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds)
• More smell
• Longer drying time
• Less durable than water based
• You will not be able to stay in your home during the restoration process

Step 1 – Preparation

Preparation is the starting point of every refinishing project for your hardwood floors. Before we get started we make sure that the room is completely empty and that the floors are free of any debris that might interfere with sanding process. The floor is then inspected to ensure that all nails are countersunk and that the floor contains no loose or damaged boards. Any loose or damaged boards will be re-nailed or replaced before sanding begins. The surrounding areas are then sealed off with plastic as an added precaution.

Step 2 – Sanding

Sanding is the next step. We start with the belt sander and edger typically using 36-60 grit sandpaper, depending on the condition of the floor. This will remove the existing finish. We then do a second sanding using 60-80 grit sandpaper. This finer grit sandpaper removes the coarse sanding marks left by the initial belt sanding. The floor is then vacuumed to remove dust that may have collected in nail holes. Once all dust has been removed and any exposed nail heads have been set (in the case of a top nailed floor), the entire floor is trowel filled with high quality commercial grade wood filler. The filler is applied by using a trowel that forces it into the cracks and nail holes and other areas that may be damaged. The floor than undergoes a 3rd and final sanding with belt sander and edger. The 100-120-grit paper takes off a very minimal amount of wood so the longevity of your floor is not really affected. We then bring in the buffer or orbital sander to give the floor a final polish.

Step 3 – Staining

Next, if you have chosen to stain your floor, we will “pop” the grain. This entails wetting the floor with water, which swells or opens the grain. This allows the wood to better absorb the pigment of the stain, adding depth and richness. The stain is generously applied and allowed to soak into the wood grain before the excess is removed. This process is carried out on our hands and knees using rags to apply and remove the stain. Although arduous, we find this method to produce the most consistent results.

Step 4 – Coating

Finally the Urethane finish coats of are applied. This is a 2-3 day process in itself, depending on whether an oil or water based finish is being applied.

Dust check, final inspection. We double-check that all horizontal surfaces within the working area are clean and that all waste has been removed. Our goal is that you won’t even know we were there except for the fact your hardwood floors have been transformed to your specifications and expectations.