DIY Hardwood floor…finished or unfinished?
I have an older log home which originally had wide pine flooring. When I moved in 25 yrs ago, I tore up the living room floor and replaced it with Bruce unfinished red oak (2.25″ x 3/4″). When we finished off the upstairs, I used the same flooring, so I’m pretty familiar with the sand-and-poly routine that comes with unfinished flooring. Currently, I’m renovating a downstairs bedroom and have removed the worn pine flooring with the intention of laying more red oak. I thought going with prefinished flooring was a no-brainer until I started shopping for it.
The thing that bothers me with prefinished flooring is the “micro-bevel” edges. I understand that they serve two purposes: to hide any uneven fit (that sanding would have evened out), and to prevent the finish from chipping on the edges. Makes sense, but to my eye, they’re unsightly. Every joint stands out, and of course, a 2.25″ floor has twice as many as many joints as wider boards. OTOH, they say that the finish is much more durable than the poly I’d apply at home, and of course it’s a lot less work.
My question is this: Am I just old fashioned in this view? Does anybody still place a premium on a well laid floor with tight joints and no grooves? Jeezum, the unfinished stuff is even getting hard to find. when I did the floors originally, I just went to the local lumber yard and they had tons of it in stock….you had to order the finished stuff. Now it’s the other way around. The room I’m doing doesn’t connect to any other rooms with wood floors, so it’s not *critical* that it match the rest of the house. So please convince me to go one way or the other…..
Replies
Hi there, I agree with you about the appearance of the prefinished flooring. My suggestion would be to get a quote from a good flooring contractor or 2. Most have dustless sanding equipment. You've already removed the old material and the oak you want is about the cheapest stuff you can buy. I use the figure of 11 dollars a square foot supplied, installed and finished when I estimate. For an averave bedroom (225 square feet) you'd be looking at $2475.00. That's for a premium job around the Boston area. The Bruce material is about $2.50-$3.00 at the big boxes. So figure $1000.00 or so for you to buy the material, finish, sandpaper, and rent the machines etc. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Prefinished vs Site Finished
I didn't like the grooves in pre-finished flooring but didn't want the mess of site finishing. I found Muskoka prefinished flooring which advertises as having the smallest micron bevel in the industry. When abutting boards have a good grain match the joint is almost as indistinguishable as the joint on edge joined boards. Muskoka is Canadian made and the milling and finish are top notch. I did my entire house with 2 1/2" X 3/4" Select and Better Red Oak. Current on-line price is around $5.50 sq ft.
bear an open mind...
When calculating the cost difference between finished and unfinished don't forget to add in the cost of the varnish to the unfinished cost.
In my opinion it is difficult to do a jobsite finish that will rival the factory supplied version for durability.
The appearance of the teeny v-grooves doesn't bother me but tastes differ.