You’ve got oak floors that look tired, and somebody told you vinyl plank over the top is the quick fix. It’s a fair thing to ask about. My answer, most of the time, is don’t. If the oak is solid and there’s still wood left to sand, refinishing costs less, lasts decades longer, and gives … Refinish Your Old Oak or Cover It With LVP? Why We Usually Talk People Out of Covering Hardwood
Yes, in most houses. If the floor is solid hardwood with enough wood left above the tongue, a full sand down to fresh wood takes the dark stain off, and the floor can be finished natural or in a light stain. How close you get to natural depends on the species, how deep the old … Espresso to Natural: Can Dark-Stained Floors Be Sanded Back to a Light Color?
Matte hides the most wear, satin sits in the middle, and semi-gloss looks great for about a week before every footprint starts to show. That’s the short version of what we see on refinished floors around Durham. The longer version comes down to light, and mostly to the light coming through your windows in the … Matte, Satin or Semi-Gloss: How Each Sheen Looks on a Refinished Floor in Real Daylight
By Mario Vilchis, owner, Vilchis Hardwood Floors. Working in Durham since 2009. Every month we get calls from people whose hardwood looks tired, hazy, or gray in the walkways after only a few years, and most of them assume they need a refinish. Some do. A lot of them need hardwood deep cleaning first, because … Professional Hardwood Deep Cleaning vs. Mopping: What a Machine Clean Removes
By Mario Vilchis, owner, Vilchis Hardwood Floors. Working in Durham since 2009. If somebody in your house has asthma, every flooring decision comes with a second question attached: is this going to make it worse? I get asked about low-VOC flooring on estimates all the time, along with whether the carpet has to go and … Low-VOC and Allergy-Friendly Flooring: What to Choose if Someone at Home Has Asthma
By Mario Vilchis, owner, Vilchis Hardwood Floors. Working in Durham since 2009. When people get to the point of picking a wood for their floors, the conversation usually starts with white oak vs red oak, and then someone asks whether hickory or maple would hold up better. All four are domestic hardwoods we install in … White Oak vs. Red Oak vs. Hickory vs. Maple: Choosing a Hardwood Species for a Triangle Home
By Mario Vilchis, owner, Vilchis Hardwood Floors. Working in Durham since 2009. Pet urine stains are one of the most common things we find when carpet comes up in a Durham house, and one of the most common reasons people call us about a floor they already live on. They show up as dark gray … Pet Urine Stains in Hardwood: When Sanding Works and When Boards Must Be Replaced
By Mario Vilchis, owner, Vilchis Hardwood Floors. Working in Durham since 2009. One of the questions we get most on estimates is whether you need a permit to replace floors in Durham. For the floor itself, usually not. Pulling up carpet and putting down hardwood, swapping old vinyl for luxury vinyl plank, or sanding and … Do You Need a Permit to Replace Floors in Durham? What City-County Inspections Requires
By Mario Vilchis, owner, Vilchis Hardwood Floors. Working in Durham since 2009. A lot of our calls from south Durham come from people in houses that are only a few years old. They bought in one of the newer subdivisions off Fayetteville Road, around Southpoint, or out along NC 55 toward RTP. Nothing is wrong … Upgrading Builder-Grade Floors in South Durham New Construction: What to Replace First
By Mario Vilchis, owner, Vilchis Hardwood Floors. Working in Durham since 2009. If you own a mill house in East Durham, Edgemont, or Old West Durham, your floors probably aren’t level. Most people who call us about it already know that. They’ve watched a toy car roll to one side of the kitchen, or they’ve … Leveling Sloped Floors in Old Durham Mill Houses: How We Fix Them in East Durham, Edgemont and Old West Durham
