We have 3 rooms in our house that have hardwood - old with no real finish (or worn off), scratched, but generally in good shape - no major staining or gouging.

It's a little less than 600 square feet total. We considered doing the sanding and polying ourselves but are now considering getting it done professionally. I plan to make some calls tomorrow, but does anyone have a clue what kind of cost we might be talking here (estimated)?

I don't want to lie awake half the night thinking about it, which is my unfortunate tendency when something is on my mind.

Thanks!!

I can't find my paperwork now, but I had hardwood floors refinished in my bedroom, hall, living and dining rooms. It was actually less expensive than carpet, believe it or not. That includes several places where patching was needed; in the past, someone had cut big square holes to put some kind of vent in and then patched it with plywood when the carpet was laid. It seems like the hardwood place charged by the square foot and the guy had to make a couple of trips (2 or three days in a row). I had a "swedish" finish, but they did all the sanding and stuff too. I also thought about doing it myself but honestly, I don't think that I could have done the job that this place did. The floors were absolutely beautiful.

I think you'll be pleasantly suprised when you call tomorrow, especially if you compare it to the cost of carpet. I was. Good luck! Mine turned out really nice and I don't regret it one bit.

I googled .... How much should it cost to refinish hardwood floors? ... and came up with $3-$5 per square foot.

We did it years ago (rented a sander) but I don't recall how much it costed. If the floor does not need repair, it's not hard to do.

Windchime - less than carpet sounds good to me. Susan - we were all set to redo them ourselves and talked to a couple we know who just did. We both teach and are getting ready to go back to work and have left many loose ends to finish before school starts. That got us thinking about going with a professional - also knowing that they would do it right and do it quicker. so we're going to check. I'll let you all know what we find out and decide.

Ain't house renovations fun???

Having done it myself once, I recommend hiring it out. It's not hard to do, but with all the saw dust and crap, I wouldn't do it again. The cost/benefit analysis leads me to giving it to the pros. I also don't do electrical or plumbing. If I could get electrocuted or poo on me, I ainna gonna doo it!

Good Morning! Just saw this post...we own a hardwood floor company. I don't know how different it would be in your area, but to just put on a finish would be around $1-2 s/f. To sand and completely refinish would be around $3-4 s/f. Good luck! ~Jenny

Thank you to all! Well my husband has set it up, and we got a great deal - my husband taught the owner's daughter last year, and I believe that helped.

They are sanding and finishing - it will all take place next week. I must admit, I am very relieved we aren't doing it because I know it would be labor intensive, messy, and time consuming. I'm so excited now to get them done.

Thanks to each of your for your responses, advice, and sharing of experiences.

That's great! My rooms were covered in teal carpet that the previous owners' little dogs had piddled all over. Pulling up that nasty carpet and exposing the beautiful, original (thankfully unstained by pet urine) floors completely changed the character of the house. Believe it or not, someone had actually GLUED indoor/outdoor carpet to the hallway at one time; you could actually see the trowel marks and the chunks of foam still glued to the floor. All that stuff, along with the old stain and varnish, came off when the floor people sanded it. I felt so lucky to have wood floors once it was done! I hope you love yours!

Why do people do that?? Glued down carpet? It's nutty, isn't it?

I'm so excited, and I have a feeling it's going to change the character of this house too -big time. I'm not looking forward to having furniture from 1/3 of our house in the rest of the house, but I know it will be well worth the sacrifice.

i got mine redone for very cheap too, as someone said already, much less than carpet.


the hallway needs redone already. i'd like to bring him in to do about a 10 foot area. i might check into it later this year.


So glad you got the floors done.