Sean was searching for someone who could take a look at his dark maple flooring and see if it was possible to sand the finish and create a newer, lighter color to brighten up this home in 4s Ranch.
I will usually meet up with clients to determine a few things:
First, of course, we want to see how thick the actual wood layer is, and in this case the maple veneer on top was a hefty 4 mm thick.
Second, we check the side bevels to see how far down they reach into that actual wood layer. In this case, we found them to be minimal enough to take a full sanding.
Third, we try to determine what the actual finish is that was used to seal the flooring. In some cases, like our recent posts, we found them to be oil finishes. In this home it was finished with a urethane mixed with aluminum oxide which is extremely durable but also requires a lot of passes with the sander and a ton of sandpaper.
Fourth, we discuss the options for a new stain color or in many cases we simply restore the natural color of the wood. In this case, the maple in its natural color with 3 coats of new urethane achieved their goal of lightening up the entire downstairs and protecting it for many years.
One thing to note is that an on-site urethane finish will not usually be as tough as a factory applied mixer with aluminum oxide, but will prolong the life of the floor, usually for at least 10 years.
Sean was a pretty capable guy and once we agreed on the proposal to take care of the finishing work he decided that they would be able to store all the furniture in the garage which helped out the process because once we start coating we try to coat the entire home in one pass.
