The floors in our homes see a lot of life, from spills and dropped items to pet paws and first steps. You may look at what was once a gorgeous solid wood floor and realise that it is lacking some of its original shine and aesthetic.
Before you set out to replace your flooring, however, consider giving it an upgrade. With a little bit of work and TLC, you can make your floors look as good as new. We’ve written an article outlying five of the top reasons to refinish your floors rather than replace them.
Cost
The cost is likely the first and foremost reason people like to make repairs to their houses rather than replace things. The economic climate of the 2020s has been unpredictable and with inflation and interest rates causing havoc on our budgets, any area where we can save a few pennies is ideal.
The good news is that you will save a whole heap of cash if you opt to update your floors rather than purchase new ones. The cost of new solid wood flooring can be steep and the results that you can get from sanding and refinishing your floors will offer you the same feeling of a glorious new floor.
Make do and mend was the mentality that saw populations survive rationing and lack of resources during times of strife in our past and one that many think we should adopt today.
Sustainability
We live in a world where our usage has caused major problems like climate change. One of the best things we can do to do our bit for a better world is to reduce our consumption.
Wood flooring is a more sustainable choice if you’re looking to update your flooring since it is made from a resource that can be regrown. However, it is always best to try to use what we have until it has fully served its purpose and can no longer be used.
By refinishing your floors yourself you can prevent the usage of new material, which inevitably comes with a price tag for the environment.
Aesthetic
When you select your solid wood flooring, you may not have chosen something that blended seamlessly with the overall design you decided to implement. Or, perhaps you moved into the house with the flooring already installed and that is the reason you’re looking to update it.
When sanding down your floors and refinishing them, you can find many shades of lacquer to create a tone of wood that looks perfect inside your home. You will find that you can make a dramatic change to the appearance of your floors when you update them.
On the other hand, if you’re not looking to change the style too much you can refinish the floors to look how they did when they were first installed.
Ease
People may be cautious of renting a sander and getting their hands dirty with a bit of DIY. Sanding flooring, however, is a much easier way to update it compared to taking up all your flooring and laying it again.
Whether you decide to hire a professional to sand and refinish your floors, or you take on the task yourself – it is a much smaller job than a full refurb. It may take around 3 days to finish your floors, whereas to replace them you can expect to spend 7-10 days.
That time saved can be spent on other tasks in the home, which you will have more budget allocated for if you save the money from purchasing a new floor.
Connection to Your Home
When you make updates to your home, particularly if you do them yourself, you gain a greater appreciation for your living space. When we take care and renovate what we have rather than throwing away and replacing things, we find a new sense of pride and respect for our items.
Our floor may seem like something that we don’t need to pay attention to, but it is such a huge feature of our homes. Taking the time to maintain what we have will help us feel more gratitude for what we have and feel overall more happy.
To Conclude
When it comes to home updates, you will always find that things come with different options. You may decide that you do not want to refinish your floors and instead would prefer to spring for completely new flooring. Or, you may decide to upgrade the flooring that you have. Hopefully this list will help you to make the best decision for yourself.
