Solid and engineered plank laid by hand, and worn floors sanded back instead of torn out. The owner who installs it runs every hardwood job for I Do Floors & Co, out of Austin and across Central Texas, from San Antonio to New Braunfels.
A hardwood floor that looks used is not the same as a hardwood floor that is finished. Solid boards carry enough wood above the tongue to be sanded back more than once, so the grey lane worn down the hallway and the scratches by the back door usually come off with the top layer rather than going into a dumpster. Refinishing keeps the wood that is already in your house.
One owner runs the hardwood side of I Do Floors & Co. The person who measures your rooms and prices the job is the man running the sander, so the prep is honest and the finish reads the same in every room.
The full reset on a floor you already own. The old finish and the top layer of wood come off with the sander, damage gets repaired, color goes on, and fresh coats seal it. Traffic lanes, pet scratches and tired orange varnish all come off the same way.
Solid or engineered plank laid over a wood subfloor or a slab. The subfloor gets checked flat and dry before a single board is opened, because a floor that fails almost always fails at what is underneath it rather than at the wood.
Cut out the boards that are gone and weave new ones in, rather than pull up a whole floor over a wet patch under the dishwasher. The repair reads newer until the floor is sanded as one surface, which is why repair and refinishing usually run together.
Rooms, hallways, landings and the stairs that connect them, done as one job so color and sheen match everywhere. Stairs are slower than open floor because every tread and riser is worked by hand, and they are usually what a room by room quote leaves out.
Hardwood, tile and vinyl are one owner’s side of the business. If the garage wants coating on the same visit that is epoxy, and the other owner handles it. One call, one walkthrough, one quote covering every floor in the house.
Both are real wood on the surface. The difference is what sits underneath, and what that leaves you for the next twenty years. It is worth settling before anything is ordered, because it is not a decision you revisit without pulling the floor back up.
What gets read first is the subfloor, the moisture, the height of the finished floor against your doors and thresholds, and how hard the room actually gets used. The wood is chosen from that, not from a showroom sample.
One species all the way through, so it can be sanded and refinished many times. It wants a wood subfloor and a stable indoor climate, and it suits a floor you plan to keep and reset rather than replace.
A real wood wear layer over a stable core, so it copes with moisture and slab-on-grade rooms that solid should not be laid on. The wear layer is the catch, because a thin one limits how many times it can be sanded later.
Refinishing is a sequence, and the order matters more than the speed. Each stage has to be finished before the next one starts, and the coats dry on their own schedule rather than on ours.
Board thickness, cupping, water damage and how much wood is left above the tongue. Refinish or replace gets decided here, not later.
Furniture out, doorways and cabinets sealed with plastic, return air vents covered so sanding dust does not travel through the HVAC.
Coarse through fine with the drum, then the edger into the corners and along the baseboards. Every pass has to take out the scratch the last one left.
Damaged boards cut out and woven in, gaps filled, loose boards fastened back down, then sanded flat with the rest of the floor.
Color goes on your own boards rather than a showroom sample, because the same stain reads differently on oak than it does on pine. Sample patches first, then the floor.
Finish coats go on and are then left alone to cure. The floor is walkable before it is furniture ready, and the difference is worth waiting out.
Timelines come from the square footage, the number of coats and how much board repair the floor needs, so you get a real schedule at the estimate instead of a guess now. Call (210) 201-3112 and the owner will come and look at the floor.
We work out of San Antonio and Austin and cover the Central Texas stretch between them. If your address is in either city or the towns between them, the answer is most likely yes. Call and we will confirm it and book your free estimate.
One of our two home bases. San Antonio hardwood installs and refinishing, room by room or the whole house.
Most solid hardwood can be sanded back more than once over its life, so a floor that looks finished is usually not finished. What decides it is how much wood is left above the tongue, whether the boards are cupped or crowned from water, and whether the surface is only worn through in the traffic lanes or actually damaged underneath. Engineered plank carries a thin wear layer, so it takes fewer passes and sometimes none at all. The owner checks board thickness and the subfloor at the estimate and tells you straight which one your floor needs.
It depends on the square footage, how many finish coats the floor gets, and how much board repair has to happen first. The job runs in stages, sanding, repair, stain and then the finish coats, and every coat has to dry before the next one goes on, so the room is out of use for longer than the sanding alone takes. You get the real schedule for your square footage at the estimate, before anything is started.
Sanding hardwood makes dust, and anyone who tells you otherwise has not done it. What keeps it under control is a sander running on vacuum extraction, doorways and cabinets sealed off with plastic, and return air vents covered so the dust does not travel through the HVAC into the rest of the house. Expect a fine film in the work area to wipe down afterwards, not a house full of it.
Often yes, if the work is in one area and you can stay out of it. What you cannot do is walk on a floor that has been sanded and is waiting for finish, or on finish that is still curing, so plan on that room or run of rooms being closed off for the whole job. Whole house refinishing is different, because there is no route through the house that stays open. Say what your living situation is at the estimate and the staging gets built around it.
Square footage first, then the condition of what is already down. Water damage, cupped boards, pet stains or old adhesive all mean repair work before a sander touches the floor. Stairs, thresholds and tight rooms are slower than open runs. Wood species, plank width, stain color and the number of finish coats move the number too. Every quote comes from a free in-person estimate, because a floor cannot be priced from a photo. Call (210) 201-3112 to book one.
Solid hardwood is one piece of wood all the way through, so it can be sanded and refinished many times, which makes it the long game for a floor you intend to keep. Engineered plank is a real wood wear layer over a stable core, so it handles moisture and slab-on-grade rooms that solid should not be laid on. The wear layer is the trade off, because a thin one limits how many times the floor can be sanded later. The owner reads the subfloor, the moisture and the room before recommending one.
Any wood floor marks, and a dog with untrimmed nails finds the softest boards first. Two things help. A harder species dents less than a soft one, and a matte or satin finish hides fine scratches that high gloss would show off. The advantage real hardwood has over most alternatives is that the scratches live in the finish rather than in a printed layer, so the floor can be screened and recoated, or fully sanded back, instead of replaced.
Yes. Individual boards get cut out and new ones woven in, which is the usual fix for water damage under a dishwasher, a burst supply line, or a section chewed up getting at something underneath. The patch reads newer than the rest until the floor is sanded as one surface, which is why board repair and refinishing normally run on the same visit. If you only want the repair, that is fine too, just expect the new wood to look new.
Tell us the rooms, the shape the boards are in, and whether you are refinishing or starting over. Someone answers, books the walkthrough, and the owner prices it standing on your floor. A floor cannot be priced from a photo.
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Tell us the room and we will get you a written estimate. Takes about a minute.
