Screen and Recoat in Edmonton
If your floors look dull and lightly scratched but the wood underneath is still sound, a recoat is all you need. It is the cheapest way to make a floor look after itself again, and it spends none of your wood.
What a recoat actually is
A screen and recoat is a light job. We abrade the existing finish just enough that a new coat will grip it, clean the floor properly, and roll on one or two fresh coats. The wood is never taken back to bare timber. That is why it is faster, cheaper, and far less dusty than a full refinish, and why it is often done in a single day.
The catch is that a recoat only renews what is on top. If the wear has gone through the old finish and into the wood, or there are dark stains and gouges in the timber itself, a new coat seals those in and makes them permanent. At that point you are into a full sand whether you like it or not.
The water test you can do yourself
Put a drop of water on the worst-looking traffic path and watch it for a minute. If it sits there and beads, the finish is still doing its job and a recoat will take. If it soaks in and darkens the wood, the finish in that spot is gone and the wood is unprotected, which means a recoat will not save it.
The other thing to look for is colour. Fine surface scratches and a lost sheen are a recoat. Bare pale patches where the amber has been walked off, or grey and black around a radiator or a doorway, are not. If your floor is somewhere in between, that is normal, and it is exactly the call we are there to make.
Why we push this option
Every full sand spends wood you cannot put back. A floor that has been recoated four times still has all its thickness. A floor that has been sanded four times may be finished. On the 1960s and 1970s oak that fills most of Edmonton, keeping that wear layer is what keeps the floor alive for the next owner, so the honest recommendation is usually the cheaper one.
It is also the recommendation that makes us less money on the day, which is worth saying out loud. If we come and look at your floors and tell you a recoat will do it, that is not a soft sell for something bigger later. It is the job.
Other work we cover
Want a number before you talk to anyone? Read what hardwood floor refinishing costs in Edmonton.
Have us look at your floors in person.