Refinishing

Solid hardwood floors are specifically designed to be refinished multiple times. The process of refinishing an old floor involves aggressively sanding the floor down to bare wood before being polished smooth and having natural or stain coat added. Once finished, a properly maintained hardwood floor should last a lifetime.

At Bull Tough flooring we believe in being straightforward and honest. We will not spend time trying to oversell you services you don’t need, and likewise we do not spend time going in circles with clients who are not serious about their hardwood floor refinishing.

The Process

Once you have contacted our team you will receive a phone call to discuss the details of your request. At the end of that call you can expect to have an outline for:

1. The scope of work required for refinishing your hardwood floor
2. An informal quote for the cost of refinishing your floor
3. Potential dates available for refinishing

Following the initial call, you can send the Bull Tough team photos and additional details regarding the refinishing project that will inform a final quote. If both parties agree to move forward Bull Tough will confirm a date for an in-person visit and send a confirmation email, at which time a 5% deposit will be required.

Once this is process is complete, we can begin to refinish your hardwood floors!

What is refinishing?

Refinishing hardwood floors includes both restoring old floors or finishing new floors. We do this by sanding down and removing the top layer of old stain and damaged wood. This is an exceptionally fine sanding process and is different for every floor depending on the state of the wood underneath.

If there are gaps in the wood, we often will not fill them because the floor will expand and contract, but if the gaps are noticeably large, we will do spot fills or trowel fills to eliminate these gaps.

Sanding Process

The goal when we sand the floor is to take as little wood off the floor as possible. The sanding process includes:

1. Rough sanding – using sanding machines we take the top layer of coating and wood off the floor. We will do the edges and corners by hand.
2. Fine sanding – We use a buffer and orbital to smooth out the wood and prepare it to be stained.

What stain should I use?

The easiest way to begin this process is for you to send us a picture of the look or feel of the flooring you would like. Once we understand this we will work to get as close as possible to that look. We will put stain samples on the floor after it is sanded so that you have the opportunity to react and choose your stain.

We specialize in and love doing custom stain mixes. Bull Tough guarantees that you will get a colour you love. 

Once the stain is selected, we will begin the staining process. Each coat typically takes a few hours, depending on the space. This process includes:

1. First coat – moving from one entry of the room to another so that it can dry as we go with the support of fans.
2. Second coat – this is a sealing coat, using fans to dry.
3. A final buff and review with client.
4. Touch ups – there are typically a few touch ups required.
5. Clean up – your floor should be as close to perfect as it gets! We will leave your house clean!

Enjoy your refinished hardwood floor!

What products will you use?

In Calgary there are only a few professional grade products available for hardwood flooring.

For staining we use Bonan Quick Dry, this is a great product. They have a good selection of base stain colours which can easily be custom mixed to your preference.

For our finish coat use a variety of products from the German manufacturer Loba. They have a range of products suitable for all situations. These are quick drying finishes and have excellent durability. The most popular finish we use is ultra low shine.