Frequently Asked Questions
- How do I schedule the refinishing work?
Work may be scheduled immediately upon your request and payment of the scheduling deposit.
- Acting as your own general contractor?
Helpful hints? when homeowners hire us as part of an overall remodelling project, they're often serving as their own general contractor. At times, however, the scheduling is too tight. It is better to add 10 or 20 percent to every time estimate in your project. Then surprises will not rush the project.
- When can I move back in?
The morning after the final coat as a rule. Proceed cautiously at first. It is more a question of how you move in than rather than when. Our aluminum oxide urethane hardens fully over 10 days. See the Care and Maintenance instructions.
- When can I walk on the floor?
During the sanding process you can walk on the floor anytime, except as we are doing final prep and cleanup prior to application. During the staining and finishing process there will be times each day when you can walk on the floors between the coats with care (socks only, no shoes) and most always in the evening. Please ask us for timing details for your project.
Too much traffic in and out of the refinish areas usually knocks the plastic sheeting down (which helps confine dust). This allows contaminants to get in which can damage the finish.
- Are the fumes hazardous?
The answer is yes and no.
Our aluminum oxide urethane is almost totally innocuous. Expecting mothers and infants or highly sensitive people should not be exposed to our clear Danish Oil or colouring stains.
- Does the trim have to come off?
The refinishing process may scuff trim which then may require some touch up. However, if trim is removed it usually gets broken and damaged worse than if it had been left in place. Of course, if the trim is going to be replaced with new trim, then the old trim is best removed prior to refinishing.
- How can we facilitate the process?
Help out?
- remove all furnishings and other possessions from the area to be refinished;
- remove all old flooring and fasteners from the wood floor;
- help finishes dry properly by heating your home to 72 degrees F. around the clock during the cooler months.
If your furnace is programmed to cycle down at night, bypass that programming during the finishing process.
This applies only during the finishing process and staining.
The furnace need not be adjusted during the sanding process; in the warmer weather when it is hot and humid, run your air conditioning around the clock to lower the humidity and help the drying process of the finish.
- When should I paint?
Painting after refinishing allows for better colour choices as you can get your colours to click with the wood surface. Painting after refinishing means no dust on newly painted surfaces and no scuffs from the refinishing process to touch up.
- Is there any dust?
Yes, although more than 99 percent of dust goes in the dust bag of the sanding machine, some does not. Some of this gets in the air and the work space is not air tight. Although we put up plastic, closed doors are the best way to confine dust within the refinish area.
- Can other work be done during the refinishing?
Certainly outside of the refinishing areas, other renovations may be done while refinishing is underway. However, within the refinish areas, little other work can be done during the refinishing process. Generally we process the entire surface as a single unit, step by step. Stopping to move an extension chord, pick up a screwdriver or screw or nail left behind or to clean up a little plaster grit or what have you, knocks the process off stride. This puts pressure on the process that can affect the quality or lead to accidents. The refinishing craftsman needs to watch what he's doing and he can't do that while working around other workers and their tools, materials and work debris.
- How long will the refinishing take?
This varies from job to job but is noted on your quotation near the bottom.
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Serving: Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville, Dundas, Ancaster, Stoney Creek, Grimsby, Caledonia, Greater Toronto Region
with Quality Wooden Floor and Stair Refinishing since 1987.
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