Screen and Recoat in Murfreesboro, TN
When your hardwood looks tired but the finish has not worn through, we buff it and add a new clear coat instead of sanding the boards.
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If the shine has gone from your hardwood but the boards underneath are still sound, we can often fix it with a screen and recoat. Murfreesboro Hardwood Flooring buffs off the dull top layer of finish and puts a new clear coat down, and the wood and its color stay just as they are.
Is your floor a recoat floor?
We start every job by looking at where the wear is. We count a floor as a good fit when it only looks flat in the hallway, by the back door or in front of the couch, or when its fine marks from shoes and dog nails stay in the finish.
Then we drip a little water on the most worn spot. If the drops bead up, we know the finish still seals the wood and we can recoat it. If the water soaks in and the board goes darker, we will point you to hardwood floor refinishing instead.
We also pass on a recoat when we find deep gouges, dark water stains or bare wood showing through, since our new clear coat would only seal those flaws in.
How the work goes, start to finish
The "screen" we use is a thin sanding disc made of open mesh, a bit like a window screen with grit on it. We put it under a slow, round buffing machine and work it across every board so the old finish turns dull and slightly rough, which gives the new coat something to hold on to.
After that we vacuum and wipe the floor with a tack cloth to lift the last of the fine powder. Then we roll on a fresh, even coat of clear finish, working out of the room toward the door so nobody has to step on it.
The stain lives under the finish, so we never get near it, and your floor comes out the same color with a fresh layer of protection on top.
Why we recoat before the wood shows
The U.S. Forest Service's Forest Products Laboratory says wood finishes, such as paint, varnish and stain, give a desired look, protect wood surfaces and give you a surface you can clean. For wood inside the house, it says the look and a surface you can clean usually matter most.
That is why we like to catch a floor while the old coat is thin but whole, because once foot traffic wears through to the wood, we can no longer fix it with a buff and a coat.
Older homes and historic streets
We recoat hardwood in older houses near the downtown Square and in newer builds all over town. The City of Murfreesboro says normal maintenance repairs to an existing building can be done without a permit, as long as they don't break the code, and it names floor finishing as one of those repairs.
If your house sits inside the city's Historic Zoning District, the city's historic zoning FAQ lists interior changes of any kind among the jobs that don't need a Certificate of Appropriateness, the approval the city uses for changes in that district. Our recoat work happens fully indoors, so we stay on that side of the line.
Keeping the dust and smell down
OSHA, the federal workplace safety agency, says wood dust becomes a possible health problem once sanding and cutting send wood particles into the air. Our screen only touches the finish, but we still run our buffer with a vacuum hooked up and tape over the air vents in each room before we start.
The EPA says paints, varnishes and wax all contain organic solvents, and that these products can give off chemicals into the air while you use them. It advises plenty of fresh air while they are in use and keeping them where children and pets can't reach. Before the coat goes on, we name the finish we plan to use and help you pick where kids and pets will spend that time.
Where the rags and leftover finish go
The City of Cleveland Heights in Ohio says the most common fires that start on their own come from oil and stain soaked rags and brushes that are thrown out the wrong way, and it puts varnishes and polyurethane on its list of those products. It says these rags make their own heat as they dry, and once they are balled up or tossed in a garbage bin they can get hot enough to burn without any spark.
We don't put our used rags in your trash or leave them in your garage, and we take them with us at the end of every workday.
If you have old cans of oil-based finish of your own, Rutherford County says discarded oil-based paints are accepted for proper disposal at the Leanna Convenience Center, 4303 Sulphur Springs Road, Murfreesboro, TN 37129.
How we build your quote
We don't quote a recoat over the phone. We come and look at the floor, run the water test, and then send you a written price.
What moves that price is how many square feet we cover, how much furniture has to come out of the rooms, and how many stairs, closets and tight edges we have to buff by hand. We also add in any small finish touch-ups needed before the new coat.
Your written quote should spell out:
- The rooms included, room by room.
- The brand and type of finish, and the sheen, from flat to glossy.
- The test spot, and what happens if the coat won't bond.
- Who moves the furniture, both out and back.
- When you can walk on the floor in socks and when the furniture can go back.
Questions about screen and recoat in Murfreesboro
Will a recoat make the floor look new?
We can bring back an even sheen and hide the fine marks that sit in the finish. We can't lift dents out of the wood or change its color with a recoat, so deep wear will still show under the new coat.
Can you recoat just one room?
We can do a single room, such as a kitchen or entry that gets the most traffic. We buff and coat up to a doorway or a natural break so the edge between old and new finish is hard to spot.
Can a screen and recoat give my floor a new color?
No, we can't, since we never sand deep enough to reach the stain. A color change means taking the boards to bare wood, which is part of our hardwood floor staining work.
My floor was cleaned with a polish or wax. Can it still be recoated?
We sometimes can, but those products can stop a new coat from bonding, so we try the buff and coat on a small spot inside a closet first, and only quote the whole floor once that spot holds.
Do you recoat engineered floors or ones finished at the factory?
We recoat many of them, but some factory finishes are hard for a new coat to grip, so we check the top layer on your engineered hardwood flooring and test it before we give a price.
What do I do with old furniture I want gone before you start?
The City of Murfreesboro's trash crews only empty what is inside your garbage container and won't pick up things left by the curb. For furniture, the city says you can call 615-893-3681 to set up a pickup.
Can you recoat my stairs to match?
We can buff and coat the treads on your hardwood stairs in the same finish, so the steps match the floors at the top and bottom.
Do you work outside Murfreesboro?
We take recoat jobs across Murfreesboro and in nearby towns such as Smyrna, La Vergne and Christiana.
Book a floor check
Call us or fill in the quote form with your ZIP code and the rooms you have in mind. We will look at the floor, test a spot, talk through the finish choices and send you a written quote. You can see the rest of our work on the Murfreesboro Hardwood Flooring home page.
Ready to talk about your hardwood flooring job?
Call us or send the quote form with your ZIP code and what you need. We will get back to you with a written quote.