Hardwood Floor Refinishing/Added Value

Fergienewbee

Well-known Member
My dad had all hardwood oak floors throughout his house. He layed carpet over the living room floor. My sister and BIL want to have the carpet ripped up and have all the floors profesionally refinished. The house is an average sized 3-bedroom ranch, conventional plastered walls and ceilings, two working fireplaces, but is 55 years old. What is a ball park price per square foot to refinish and would it upgrade enough to make a difference? The floors are in pretty good shape. Dad refinished them a few years ago.

Thanks.

Larry
 
My daughter had hardwoods under the carpets in a small house she bought. We had them refinished at the rate of $2.20/ft. The guy we used does refinishing for a living and he uses moisture cure polyurethane for the coating.

They came out great and have significantly upgraded the house. These folks patched all nail holes from the tack stips, re-set any "shiners" that they found, and overall did a great job. Took them 3 days to complete the 900 sq. ft job.

I would call a local realtor and ask them what value refinished hardwoods would bring. Folks that see my daughter's house are astounded that the 50+ year old original fllors are still there and look so good.
 
Starting price just for labr, to lay a new wood floor is $2.00 per sq. ft. for a new const. home over subfloor. New oak flooring ranges from $3.00 on up sq. ft. for finished and garanteed flooring, so I would say that is a real good price. New buyers like wood floors...its a (green) thing now a days. J. Everett
 
They are a selling point. Don"t really add any value. Please don"t ask them too then the gubbermit will want there share.
 
Careful - some of the flooring may be damaged, and need replacement. That'll be expensive. Often carpeting used to cover problems.
 
I suggest hardwood floors add value. Go look at some real estate ads. If the home in the listing has hardwood floors they will definately be mantioned in the features.
That tells me they add value.
I have also been in and around a lot of homes that were being rehabbed for resale. The owners almost always spent the dough to refinish the floors.
If your dad refinished them a few years ago you might get by with a buff and re poly.
Rent a floor buffer with a screen type sanding disc and buff them a bit to rough up the old poly. Vacuum well then recoat. Apply the poly with a lamb's wool applicator. It's all pretty easy to do.
I would suggest you use a semi gloss or satin finish as that is what people prefer. Poly is expensive. I just paid $40/gal for floor poly to do my floor. You don't want the cheap stuff though like for woodwork. It does not have the wear properties of the good stuff.
 
I'm building a new house, plan on hardwood through out. The price I was given for unfinished hardwood floor was: $2 sq ft to lay and $2 sq foot to sand and finish. I thought that was a little steep but then what do zi know.

Does it add to the price of a home? probably not BUT if the floors need finishing it will reduce the price.
 
Refinished hardwood floors "add value" to the house but so does new carpet. The problem is, with both you have people that want one and not the other so either way you go you are limiting your market. If you are trying to "add value" so you can sell within the next 6 months or year, your best bang for the buck will be to escrow money for new flooring and let the buyer decide if they want refinished hardwood or carpet. Why limit your market? Let your house appeal to ALL types of buyers.

I put "add value" in quotes for 2 reasons. First, value means nothing unless you are selling and way too many people today dont understand that. Then again, I would choise not to undertand it too if Uncle Sugar was giving me money because I was underwater on my house. Second reason is because house upgrades never give you your money back, the best ones only give you 85 cents back for every dollar you spend. Losing 15% of your money, even in this external_link economy, is a pretty bad investment. If you just want nice floors to walk on, go with whatever you want and forget the "adding value" part because in the end, refinished hardwood or new carpet are pretty close to the same.
 
I agree with UDog---if the floors are in good condition you can do it yourself. Try the buffer as UDog suggested; if necessary rent an orbital sander from Home Depot for $50 a day, plus sandpaper sheets. Apply poly with a thin pad applicator with long handle. It will be really hard to screw it up to the point that it shows. I laid, sanded and varnished 900 square feet of red oak 3/4 T&G in my current home with no previous experience.

I'm going to be doing the same thing in a couple of weeks in a house I just bought for my daughter. It has nine-inch oak blocks in four rooms; no damage, just age (50+ years)and some wear.

Remember, perfect is nice, but it ain't mandatory. A great part of the floor will be covered up by rugs or furniture.
 
I'd say the value it adds really depends on the house itself.

If it's an older home with some character to begin with, hardwoods can add even more.

Difficult to put a dollar value on it - but it can certainly get more people interested in it, and remembering it as they shop around.

I'd say it's worth it if the house looks like a hardwood floor kind of house - if that makes sense.

Just makes sure whoever does it knows what they're doing.

I'm far from a pro, but have done a dozen or so floors myself. It's hard work to do it right.

I've seen pros do some amazing, glass flat sanding jobs, and I've seen others do what I'd personally consider a failure, and try to pass it of as a job well done.

If you can check out somebody's previous work - take a real close look at the edges of the room. That's an easy area to mess up using a handheld sander. Also look at inside corners. if they're dark, they skimped and didn't scrape/sand them out properly.

And as somebody else pointed out - you could be in for a rude awakening when you rip up the carpet and find a bunch of dog/cat pee stains in the wood.

If they had pets, they have stains. Almost a sure thing.

Sometimes they sand out - sometimes not so much.

finally - look closely at your baseboard molding. People do odd things when they put in carpet. You may find you need new molding - or will need shoe molding after the floor refinish - another cost if you don't do it yourself.
 
It will depend on the buyer if you will "gain" anything. I personally hate hardwood floors. They are just cold and slick. This house has them in all the rooms. I have all but two covered with carpet. .
 
Fergienewbie,

I would not do it for resale purposes. For all you know the next owner will slap carpet down as soon as they move in...making all that work and/or expense for naught.

If you are planning to do it yourself, be forewarned that it is a rather nasty job. The big floor sander is really heavy...took my husband and son to carry that beast up the 5 stairs and into our house. And one has to be really careful handling the machine or you will grind big divets into the floor real quickly.

Cannot remember if we had to rent it 2 weekends or 3 weekends. Dusty dirty job.

I applied the floor grade polyurethane finish with a flat, fuzzy pad. Came out nice but was a lot of work.
 
Price can vary allot depending on a few things. Some guys will price strictly on square footage. Others will charge a premium if the rooms are small.
If there are nail holes to be filled it will add to the cost. Adding shoe molding or quarter round will add to the cost. Will the refinish just have poly or will it be stained first? How many coats of poly? A quality job will include 3 coats of poly, and the first and second coat will get a light sanding between coats. 5 coats of poly is not unheard of in high end projects.
You can expect to pay anywhere from $2/sf to upwards of $4/sf depending on the variables I mentioned. How much, if anything it will add to the value of the house is a question better suited for a real estate agent or real estate appraiser.

I disagree with the notion that any home improvement won't return 100% on investment. That is generally true but certainly not always the case.
 
I will just say I will take carpet over wood any day, easier on my feet. Also warmer on cold floors.
 
(quoted from post at 22:10:27 02/05/13)
I disagree with the notion that any home improvement won't return 100% on investment. That is generally true but certainly not always the case.

I agree, Pops. We added a big addition to our first house and got much more than we would have otherwise when we sold. If I remember correctly certain improvements are worth much more than others, I believe kitchens and bathrooms are examples that return a high percentage.
 

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