The major advantage of hardwood flooring is it can be refinished. Whether you’re renovating or your hardwood floor has seen better days, refinishing brings the floor back to life.
Refinishing hardwood flooring usually involves sanding, sealing, staining, and applying a new protective covering. It is tedious work, and depending on the damage, you will need a professional to work on it.
Now, sandless refinishing is something completely different. It has its advantages and disadvantages. If you’re looking into sandless floor refinishing, you’re at the right place.
What is Sandless Floor Refinishing?
In sandless floor refinishing, the floors are not sanded down, so you don’t have to worry about sanding dust. Instead, the floors are scrubbed or buffed using an abrasive disk over the surface. The process is called wet burnishing, and it leaves your floors with a water-based or wet-shine look.
To remove wax and other residual build-ups, sometimes mineral spirits are used in sandless floor refinishing. Once the surface is prepared, the floor can be refinished again with a protective layer of your choice.
Before and after sandless floor refinishing
Does it Work?
Good for Minor Wear
Sandless floor refinishing is great for rejuvenating floors with minor wear. It is also good for removing dull floor wax or polish, paint splatters, and some types of stains. If all you need is to buff your floors, sandless refinishing is a good way to go.
However, sandless refinishing does not remove scratches on your floors, dents, stains in the wood itself, and oxidation caused by area rugs, carpets, and pet stains.
Does Not Allow Change of Floor Color
Another disadvantage of sandless refinishing is that you cannot change your floor’s color. The process of sandless refinishing does not remove polyurethane and thus cannot restain or refinish with a different color. To change the color of your hardwood floors, you must sand so that the stain can penetrate the wood fibers.
Good for Thin Hardwood Floors
The hardwood strips on top are very thin for some types of flooring, like engineered hardwood. This limits the number of sanding that can be done in their lifetime. Sandless refinishing is a great option in this case because it does not remove wood from the floor.
If your hardwood floor is in pretty bad shape, sandless refinishing will not do. In this case, it is better to go for dustless refinishing.
Dustless Sanding Refinishing
Dustless floor refinishing uses an electric sander that has a vacuum suction. As the sander works on the wood floor, suction from the vacuum sucks in the dust. This eliminates most of the dust produced when sanding your wood floors.
Dustless Sanding of a Maple Wooden Floor
Dustless refinishing eliminate the tedious work and dangers associated with sanding wood. You can use it safely without worrying about inhaling the dust or dust falling on your furniture or spreading in your home.
If you want to revamp the look of your floor, dustless refinishing is a better alternative to sandless refinishing. It can remove flaws on your hardwood flooring and allow you to stain the floor a different color.
