what is the cost to refinish wood floors

Updated March 1, 2022

Reviewed by Andy Kilborn, Practiced Home Edifice and Remodeling Correspondent. Written by HomeAdvisor.

Cost to Refinish Hardwood Floors

the average cost to refinish wood floors is $3 to $8 per square foot

Refinishing hardwood floors costs $1,782 on average with a typical range betwixt $1,075 and $2,503. You tin wait to pay anywhere from $iii to $8 per square foot. For large and complex jobs, you might spend up to $iv,000. The more area you have, the lower the foursquare pes toll. Adding in closets and other pocket-size, enclosed areas makes it a complex job, which increases the price.

Hardwood floors add warmth and depth to whatever living space, and they're relatively easy to clean and maintain if they receive the attending they need. Before getting bids, though, homeowners should determine whether they demand to refinish or recoat. Recoating simply adds a layer of protection, like varnish, without sanding down any gouges or discolored spots. This protects the floor and gives it an aged look. Refinishing requires sanding, which doubles or triples the price, but gives you lot a floor that looks virtually brand new.

Hardwood Floor Refinishing Cost Reckoner
Hardwood Floor Refinishing Costs
1. Cost to Sand and Refinish
2. Cost to Stain Hardwood Floors
3. Finishing or Coating
Cost Factors
Labor Costs for Refinishing Floors
Cost to Refinish Forest Floors by Blazon
Hardwood Floor Refinishing Costs per Square Pes
Screen or Buffing Hardwood Floors Cost
Hardwood Floor Polishing Cost
Cost to Refinish Hardwood Floors Yourself
FAQs

Hardwood Floor Refinishing Price Figurer

Let's summate cost data for you lot. Where are you located?

Where are you located?

National Average	$1,782
Typical Range	$1,075 - $ii,503
Low End - Loftier End	$600 - $4,100

Toll data is based on actual project costs equally reported by 18,033 HomeAdvisor members.

Hardwood Floor Refinishing Costs

Hardwood floor refinishing costs anywhere from $3 to $8 per square human foot depending on what you lot demand done and the method they utilise. Location, accessibility, and condition touch on the cost more than anything. You can likewise cull betwixt a couple methods, including:

Traditional methods tend to run $3–$vi per square foot, including moving furniture, sanding, recoating, and cleanup.
Dustless methods tend to run $v–$8 per square foot. Pros utilise advanced commercial vacuums to keep all dust from the balance of your habitation.

The common steps in a refinishing project are:

Sanding: A wood flooring contractor uses a power sander to sand downwardly the hardwood flooring, removing blemishes and the surface layer until information technology looks like unfinished wood.
Stain: The floors are stained using forest stain in the coloring of your choice.
Topcoat: Applying two to iii coats of topcoat finish with a roller adds the concluding touch.

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Toll to Sand and Refinish Hardwood Floors

"If you invest in a complete sanding and floor refinishing project, you tin can go with a completely different color stain. It'southward a slap-up opportunity to alter the await of your floors, for example from dark, warm, and traditional to light, blusterous, and contemporary."

Dan DiClerico, Smart Abode Strategist and Abode Proficient.

Sanding costs $0.fifty to $3.00 per square foot to sand hardwood floors. An average 12-by-fourteen-pes room would cost $80 to $500 depending on how many passes it needs and the surface area you live in.

Regardless of status, you'll always desire to start by sanding. While staining and even waxing might be doable DIY steps, don't attempt this function yourself. Inexperience might hateful ruining your flooring and costing you twice as much to install a new ane.

Cost to Stain Hardwood Floors

Subsequently sanding, it'll cost an additional $1 to $3 per square foot to stain your floors. Prices range due to both varying labor rates and the quality of stain you utilize.

If you lot like the color of your floors currently, skip this step. It by and large requires several applications in addition to sanding or using steel wool between coats.

Finishing and Blanket

Recoating costs $i to $2 per square pes, quite a bit less than the $3 to $5 per square foot average refinishing job price. Recoating skips sanding, saving yous hundreds. It's keen for reasonably level floors without too many scratches or gouges in them.

Polyurethane, the about mutual type of coating, resists well-nigh everything and can withstand heavy traffic. They come in ii types:

Oil-based: $20–$40 per gallon. It will plough an amber colour over time. takes around 24 hours to dry out, and it's easy to fix mistakes forth the way with this type of finish.
Water-based: $25–$l per gallon. It will remain clear, keeping the forest the aforementioned colour over fourth dimension. Water-based finish dries faster, which tin can be a bonus if there's a fourth dimension restriction or deadline.

Less commonly, an acrid-cured finish leaves an exceptionally tough blanket through a two-function process. As a bonus, acrid cured finishes dry extremely fast, so it's possible to apply two coats in a single mean solar day. However, most brands produce a volatile odor that forces you out of your house until it's done.

Talk to your local contractor to find out which works best for your expanse and wood type. But start research the different durable hardwood floor finishes before you phone call.

Compare Quotes to Recoat Your Hardwood Floors

Cost Factors

Some of the most common factors that increment the cost of a refinishing project include:

Materials

The materials required for this chore include a paintbrush, stain, sandpaper, paint rollers, roller covers and extension pole, painter's rags, knee pads, trash numberless, plastic sheeting, and coating.

Labor

Labor is a crucial factor when calculating the toll to refinish hardwood floors as a pro will take to perform whatsoever necessary repairs to the flooring and sand, stain, and apply the topcoat. The cost of labor for this projection varies widely depending on the region in which you live. Get multiple quotes to go an idea of how much it will cost.

Size of Room

The more square feet included in a project, the more information technology volition cost for materials and labor. The cost of refinishing an average fifteen-by-fifteen-foot (225 foursquare feet) room is $675 to $one,125, or anywhere from $iii to $5 per foursquare foot. Refinishing stairs costs extra, at about $25 to $45 per step.

Supply Concatenation

The COVID-xix pandemic hugely impacted the availability of lumber, and the price rose dramatically in 2020. Thus, yous may notice an increase in the price of home improvement projects—like replacing flooring (depending on the type of wood)—that require lumber. Refinishing your hardwood flooring is less costly than replacing information technology, and yous'll get to enjoy the look of freshly stained wood.

Labor Costs for Refinishing Floors

The cost of labor for refinishing hardwood floors will depend on the region in which yous live. First, a woods flooring contractor must prepare the floor for refinishing, including performing repairs. Replacing woods boards, cleaning, and dealing with water harm may be necessary, depending on the condition of the floor.

The quality of the previous finish and existing gouges and scratches also affect the price of labor. If the finish isn't skilful, information technology volition be completely removed, sanded, and redone. Some exotic woods will have extreme reactions when their wet levels change, while others can burnish during sanding considering of their hardness.

Other factors that bear on the cost of labor include the size of the room (larger square footage will be more expensive), the complexity of the project (if the flooring is hard to access), and additional work to motion furniture that's in the way.

Cost to Refinish Wood Floors by Type

Yous'll pay somewhere betwixt $1,000 to $4,000 for most hardwood refinishing. The type of hardwood you have doesn't affect the price to refinish them. The processes, tools, chemicals, and time remain abiding across all types of hardwood.

Oak and Other Hardwood Floors

The cost to refinish oak floors doesn't differ from any other type of hardwood. Oak, crimson, and other types of common hardwood floors all cost $three to $5 per square foot on average to refinish.

Engineered Hardwood Floors

Refinishing engineered hardwood costs exactly the same as whatever other woods floor. All the same, you can usually just do a light sanding to most with a wear layer of two millimeters or less. Higher quality engineered floors with thick wear layers can get a deep sanding to remove gouges.

Do not try this DIY. It'southward easy to ruin an all-natural hardwood floor. It's fifty-fifty easier to ruin an engineered hardwood floor with a sander.

Parquet Floors

Refinishing parquet floors costs the aforementioned as any other type of hardwood floor, or somewhere around $three to $5 per foursquare pes. You'll need to apply a professional since the grains run in different directions, it's a little easier to ruin your parquet floors than a traditional design.

Why Refinish Instead of Replace?

When you lot look at all the scratches and marks to repair in your hardwood floor, yous might recall information technology's easier to supervene upon them rather than taking the time to refinish them. However, there are a lot of benefits to refinishing. These include:

Cost: Information technology costs 2–iii times more to replace than to refinish. The cost to install a woods flooring is about $two,500–$6,800 more than refinishing.

Repairing hardwood floors costs $450–$1,450. Refinishing tin can often stave off the need for repairs, saving even more. Even if you must fix information technology, information technology's ofttimes notwithstanding cheaper to gear up and refinish than replace.

Quality: If it'due south a high-end, natural wood, then you should make it last if yous can.

Some situations you'll need to replace rather than refinish:

Water impairment and structural integrity: Extreme water damage and subflooring issues crave repair and replacement.
Environmentally responsible upgrades: If you lot're looking to switch to a renewable forest, if the existing floors are fix for replacement. Otherwise, it's more sustainable to preserve existing materials.
Worn-down floorboards: At a certain thickness, it's impossible to refinish again and you'll demand to supersede.

Observe Local Hardwood Refinishing Pros

Room Size	Square Feet	Average Cost
4x10	40	$200 – $350*
10x10	100	$300 – $500
12x12	144	$450 – $750
16x16	256	$800 – $1,300
20x20	400	$one,200 – $2,000
24x24	576	$i,750 – $ii,900

*Toll ranges for small spaces tend to run high to embrace pros overhead, like fuel and insurance, which stay the same regardless of the project size.

Screen or Buffing Hardwood Floors Cost

Buffing, also called screening, tends to cost around $ane to $2.50 per square pes, totaling $200 to $250 to complete a slightly worn room measuring xv-feet-by-xv-feet, or 225 foursquare feet.

Screens are clog-resistant sanding disks, and the process of screening removes the floor finish without cutting into the wood itself. This step should but exist done on a flooring with a non-waxed polyurethane stop floor. Screening tin can merely occur when the flooring's finish is worn, scratched, or dull, but the forest beneath has not been damaged or stained.

Hardwood Flooring Polishing Cost

The boilerplate price of polishing hardwood floors is $100 to $300 and makes a corking DIY project. Polishing uses a polish product specially designed for hardwood floors. It'south put on manually with a mop. You can exercise it yourself for $50 to $100. The product alone runs $20 to $fifty for a gallon. You lot'll also need a mop, broom, and preferably a microfiber flathead grit mop.

If you lot don't want to take on the task yourself, observe a local flooring pro to polish your floors.

Go Quotes for Your Hardwood Refinishing Project

Toll to Refinish Hardwood Floors Yourself

If you go the DIY route, you might but pay $500 to $1,000 to refinish the floors. Merely it's not a bully DIY job. Inexperience with a sander or finishing materials can easily and quickly ruin a hardwood floor. You'll pay two to 3 times as much to replace your floors as you lot would take to hire a professional in the get-go identify.

Information technology comes with many risks and potential hidden costs. For example, sanding a floor multiple times causes it to somewhen get too thin for some other refinishing. At that point, supplant it. You should proceed these hazards in listen before you embark on a DIY refinishing.

"Refinishing hardwood floors is a adept DIY if you accept experience and the tools, but it's best left to professionals due to the gamble of damaging your floors as well as the dust associated with a rental sander," says Andy Kilborn, Expert Home Building and Remodeling Contributor.

Cost to Rent a Floor Sander

Floor sander prices vary a flake from place to place, only you lot can expect to pay effectually $lx per day. You can also look for a multi-head orbital flooring sander, which has less risk of marking the floor than a pulsate sander. However, it'southward easy to ruin a floor without the right experience or training. If you lot must DIY, consider hiring out for this step.

Commercial drum floor sanders cost $50–$lxxx per twenty-four hour period.
Expect a full weekend rental for $100–$200.

Other DIY Costs

Likewise the obvious sander, you'll need quite a few other things, listed in the table beneath.

Tool or Material	Cost
Edger	$37 per day rental
Belt sander for hard to accomplish spots	$60 – $100
Sandpaper for both sanders	$60
Hand scraper	$35
Nail ready	$10
Varnish awarding materials: pigment roller, roller covers and extension pole	$fifty
Articulate varnish	$165 – $360
Painter's rags	$13 for v pounds
Safety goggles	$8
Respirator	$xxx
Claw hammer	$25
Mop	$12
Store vacuum	$70 – $170
Stain	$27 – $40 per gallon
Knee joint pads	$10 per pair
Paintbrush	$1 – $5 each
Trash bags	$25

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DIY Risks

All DIY home comeback projects come with risks, and refinishing woods floors is no exception. If washed incorrectly, homeowners could stop up gouging their floors, resulting in paying 2 to 3 times what a pro would have charged. Some other risks include:

Leaving an inconsistent scratch pattern with the belt sander.
Non getting annihilation out of the flooring due to age.
Failing to take off the terminate plenty before starting to sand.
Not filling in the cracks between the hardwood.
Spending more money than expected on additional repairs or refinishing.

Because of the fragile nature of wood floors and the need to do the project correct without making mistakes or causing damage, refinishing hardwood floors is a job that's usually best left to the professionals. Rent a hardwood floor refinisher virtually you today to become the task done right the first time.

Questions to Ask a Forest Flooring Contractor

Brand sure to ask your contractor a few things before hiring them. Brand sure to enquire:

What's your feel refinishing floors?
Practice you take references?
How many workers will it take to get the job washed?
Who will be doing the work?
How long will the job take?
Is moving furniture included or does the homeowner demand to do that beforehand?
What is the procedure for cleanup of grit and droppings?
What are the payment conditions?

FAQs

Is it cheaper to refinish or supercede hardwood floors?

It'll cost you an average of half the price to refinish a flooring equally it would to completely supervene upon them.

What are the signs I need to refinish my hardwood floors?

If you're noticing a lot of scratches, discoloration, and fading in your hardwood flooring, and then it may exist time to go information technology refinished. Scratches and gouges from daily wear and tear and moving furniture add upwards over the years. Sunlight streaming through the windows and h2o from cleaning can outset to accept their price on the color of the flooring besides.

Freshening up your hardwood floors will restore the wood to its natural beauty. Plus, yous can choose a unlike stain for a new colour and wait.

How long does it accept to sand and refinish a hardwood floor?

It'll take almost five hours per 100 square feet of floor to refinish it. It also depends on how complex a layout you have and the electric current condition.

Can I refinish a flooring without sanding?

You cannot refinish a floor correctly without sanding. To practise information technology right, you lot need to remove all layers of the erstwhile end and polish out the surface in grooming for a new end. You tin, however, recoat a floor that'south in good shape to add together a layer of protection to information technology without sanding first.

How much does it price to refinish i,000 square anxiety of hardwood flooring?

At an average price of $three to $8 per square foot, it costs between $3,000 and $8,000 to refinish 1,000 foursquare feet of hardwood floor. That'due south an average cost of $v,500.

Room Size (by square feet)	Cost
1,000	$5,500
1,200	$half dozen,600
1,500	$8,250

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Source: https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/flooring/refinish-wood-flooring/