Do not refinish a dirty floor! Refinishing your hardwood flooring is the best method to maintaining their natural beauty and elegant look; remember your flooring sets the design tone for all your home’s rooms.  And whenever you refinish any of your wood floors, you have to do this task properly in order to achieve the optimum end results.

If you plan on finishing a floor without properly prepping then cleaning it, the finish may not adhere itself evenly — you flooring could end looking horrible. It’s imperative before finishing your hardwood floors  that you clean them thoroughly to prevent pet hair, dust, dirt and debris from getting stuck in the finish. It’s also important to make sure you make use of the correct finish for your wood floors.

If the materials you use are not 100 percent well suited, the finish can peel and crack, destroying that gorgeous appearance you want your floors to obtain.

The best method in refinishing your flooring is to not do it yourself. This it not like cutting you grass or painting a room. Call Elegant Floors of Sunnyvale, owner-operated hardwood flooring company that has been taking care of the flooring needs of South Bay residents for 25 years.

Call: (408) 773-8624 | https://elegant-floors.com/

What a difference, eh?  A before & after living room’s hardwood flooring in Los Altos.

Keep in mind there are more than five important questions you should ask your hardwood flooring contractor.  But the following five questions are the most important in our estimation.

1) Does The Contractor Have A Proper Business Liability Policy In Place?

A legitimate wood flooring contractor will have a liability policy in place.  Elegant Floors carries a general liability policy. This policy is also available upon request.

2) Is the contractor a member of the NWFA (national wood flooring association)?

Elegant Floors holds is certified with the NWFA for installation, sanding and finishing, sales advising, environmental awareness, and craftsman degrees.

3)  Will The Contractor Provide A Legitimate Contract For Both You And He To Sign? And will the payments be spread out based upon performance?

You need to get this writing. And unless there’s an Act of God, the contractor should try everything in how power to complete your  job on the promised date.

4) It There A Specified Completion Date For Your Job In The Contract? 

You need to get this writing. And unless there’s an Act of God, the contractor should try everything in how power to complete your  job on the promised date.

5) What Kind Of Warranty Does The Contractor Offer?

Hardwood flooring is a big investment, so make sure you choose a contractor who’s got your back. We offer a warranty for the period of one year for the materials and workmanship we supply.

For Further Questions And Free Estimates Call Elegant Floors:  (408) 773-8624 https://elegant-floors.com/

“Before”: Replacing women carpeting in cafe of private fitness club in Palo Alto.

“After”: The worn carpeting has been replaced by LVT  flooring in cafe of private fitness club in Palo Alto. Looks great and easy to maintain, and business is good again!

Worn old carpeting is never a  good look for a business, especially a café.

And especially if the café’s located in a private athletic club. Club members would be feeling good about themselves after a swim or weight-training or a vigorous game of tennis thanks to their endorphins.  Our bodies endorphin chemicals are produced naturally by the nervous system to cope with pain or stress which our bodies’ tend  to release after exercise.

They are often called “feel-good” chemicals and when produced by exercise, our body’s may feel a strong need to replenish our body with food  and hydration. Hence the importance of this particular sports club’s café — a natural money-maker as well as welcomed benefit to club members.

As this particular Palo Alto club’s café carpeting began to age because of wear, little by little club members started becoming turned off by the café’s drab appearance.  Truth be told, when the carpeting was rather new, about 6 years ago, the café had much more of a welcoming environment.

But by placing carpeting in high-traffic area where you know there are going to be beverages spilled and gooey food and sauces dropped and then ground in —  usually by mistake — by people accidentally stepping on meses, this carpeting was destined for the dumpster. And sooner the  better.

After club members mentioned to the staff that they enjoyed the food and beverages from the café but not the horrid carpeting, it finally hit home to as to why the café’s sales went from solid and turning a monthly profit to a monthly liability with food spoilage. This worn carpeting issue is not uncommon —  in the home or business —  as we all used to things being out of place or aging, without realizing things need sprucing up as new carpeting or even flooring as a replacement.

Lucky for management that one club member had mentioned Elegant Floors, a local a wood flooring contactor. They had made use of their services and was amazingly happy with the hardwood flooring installed throughout their house which replaced their worn boring carpeting.

To cut to the chase Elegant Floors visited the club and suggested LVT, Luxury Vinyl Tile  as replacement for the carpeting. They explained that LVT is much more practical floor application  for a café. As it not only looks like wood and is easily to clean but it will greatly enhance the aesthetics.

Elegant Floors removed the old carpeting and replaced it with LVT flooring.

It only took them three days from start to finish.  Day four brought club members back to the café with smiles, compliments plus their appetites. From then on, the sports club’s café became bustling space, morning, noon and night thanks to Elegant Floors.

             For Free Estimates — Home Or Business Call Elegant Floors:                                                (408) 773-8642   | https://elegant-floors.com/                                   #Hardwood #flooringcontractor      

“After” photo  shows off a comfortable environment in this Palo Alto athletic club’s cafe,                                         thanks to new LVT, luxury vinyl tile flooring

Elegant Floors crew hard at work before LVT was fully installed.

In order to properly maintain your hardwood kitchen floors it’s imperative keep constant lookout, so If anything spills, it can be wiped up ASAP.  And, you’ll never want to allow water to sit on the surface. Never!  It’s a great idea to schedule a day weekly to sweep or vacuum the floors regularly so as to eliminate them dirt and grit build-ups that can scratch the wood and wear away the finish.

Generally, it’s best to mop hardwood floors only occasionally and to do so with a lightly dampened mop or towel.

When hardwood flooring begins to become damaged and worn looking, you have the option of refinishing it. The process involves sanding the surface down beyond the wood’s finish and any other visual defects; you would then then applying stain (if you like) and a protective finish, the same as with any initial on-site finishing hardwood flooring job. Using the industry standard 3/4-inch-thick hardwood planks usually can  handle refinishing around 8-10 times over the lifespan of wood flooring.

If one maintains a floor with regular care and does not apply wax or oil that can prevent a bond with a new finish, you also have the option of recoating the floor’s finish every few years without having to re-sand the old finish

Be Cautious About Using  Prefinished Flooring In The Kitchen:

The drawback to this is that the planks that are prefinished are generally sold with rounded, beveled edges. That means that when they are installed, there are minute gaps that appear between the various pieces. This can allow water and other staining agents in a kitchen to slip down between the floorboards and start causing damage.

Consult local flooring dealer installer/refinisher Elegant Floors of Sunnyvale, for all your hardwood flooring needs.

Call: (408) 773- 8624 | https://elegant-floors.com

Make Sure You Can Accurately Compare Estimates

All flooring contractors you’re considering for either installing or repairing hardwood floors need to provide you with written estimates in costs, steps involved and materials.

Do not consider verbal estimates or agreements. Never!  

With the estimates in hand,  you can now compare each contractors price, the steps they will take to perform and complete the job plus their allotted timeline.

Get Everything In writing

After you decide which contractor you feel most comfortable hiring, you’ll want to draw up a contract. Verify that the contract lists the specific products the contractor intends to use as well as the specific installation methods.

Do not be shy about adding a penalty clause to the contract if the job is not completed to the agreed time frame.

Split Your Payments

Paying a contractor the full amount upfront could is rarely done. It’s common to give an initial 30% deposit and another 30% when all the materials arrive at your location. With the job’s completion you should pay the final amount due, the 40% balance.

Check The Contractor’s References

Any flooring contractor worth their salt will have happy customers. Ask to speak to at least three former customers. These customers should be a mix of recent and older customers. This will give you a better overview of the contractor’s quality of work. If at all possible, ask the former customers to send photographs of their hardwood floors.

Check Insurance Policies And  Business Licenses

You want to make sure the contractor is on the level. Ask to see their business license and declaration (“dec”) page from their insurance policy.Also inquire as to whether the contractor’s workers are employees or sub-contractors.

 Avoid The Big Box Stores

While the Big Box stores will typically be the cheapest option in your area, you have to remember the old adage “you get what you pay for. The salesperson, for all you know, may have little to no experience with hardwood floors.

Professional hardwood floor contractors and installers — especially ones certified by NWFA — are far more knowledgeable and experienced. The NWFA is dedicated to training and educating wood floor professionals. A professional and experienced hardwood floor installer should be able to give you professional results and offer advice in case any questions arise after installation.

The old adage, “There’s no substitute for experience,” has never been more applicable than for those companies who are involved in the construction improvement industry.

As a hardwood flooring contractor/company for both residential and commercial segments,  Elegant Floors has always prided itself in getting jobs done correctly, i.e., performing the workmanship to spec, and when possible provide beyond-expectations workmanship.      

The pros at Elegant Floors learned early on that even the seemingly smallest mistake — wood floor sanding, staining, refinishing and installation   — can result in major problems. And any “major problem” in this industry almost always translates to expense overages, in time and materials.     

Within the wood flooring industry, there’s always been a continuous learning curve both in product and application. So if one were to a choose fairly new flooring company over Elegant Floors, there’s  really no comparing the two companies’ abilities.

With 25 years of hands-on experience, Elegant Floors is better able to offer options and choices so they can meet the expecting results  that the client has in mind, than new-ish flooring company. And, in fact, exceeding expectations is really the company’s number 1 goal.

The industry is constantly changing, like most other industries, and selections, applications, prices and affordability change. For instance the trends have gone from unfinished floors to refinished floors; from laminate floors  to luxury vinyl floors. So with experience gained over time, Elegant Floors can consider all the factors  that will produce the best results toward the homeowner’s or commercial customer’s expectation.

Comparing EF to a Newer Floor Company

Simply put the more time you spend doing something and the more situations you encounter, the better advice you’re are able to share with the client; you’re able to guide them with what they’re looking for in making the optimum material choice in product while staying within their budget.

Please Contact Us With Questions or If You’d Like a Free Estimate: (408) 773- 8624                                                   https://elegant-floors.com/      |    teri@elegant-floors.com

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Well this depends on a number of factors including the condition/age of your hardwood, how much  you like your current hardwood and what your budget looks like.

Generally, it should almost always cost less to refinish your hardwood floors than replace them.  Aside, from the new-wood expense If you replace them, you’ll also be paying for the labor involved in pulling up and hauling away your existing wood flooring.

If you plan on refinishing the floors but sections of your hardwood are damaged (pet stains or minor water stains), these boards can be replaced when your floor is refinished.  Even if you replace some portions and refinish the vast majority of your wood floors, it will still be less costly then replacing the entire wood flooring

So, even though is less expensive the refinish than replace your hardwood flooring, there are times when it makes good  sense to go with new hardwood flooring.

1. If your floors are extremely old — 100 years — and worn, and have been refinished many times, it may be time for a new floor. 

2)  If you can see the “tongue” where the boards fit together, it’s probably time for a new floor.

3)  If your floors are rather bouncy and/or don’t seem very sturdy, it’s time for a new floor.

4) Holiday Gatherings: It you’ve suddenly decided to plan on hosting holiday parties and your wood floors are a “mess,” replacing the floors will usually take less time than refinishing them.

Refinishing can be  time consuming,  especially  if you’re home is fully furnished, and have furniture everywhere.

When it comes to deciding refinish or replace your hardwood floors, you want to consult with an expert wood flooring contractor, like Scott from Elegant Floors. Give him a call and he’ll be happy to come out to your home for a free consultation . Scotts will also provide you with free estimates for refinishing or the sales and installation of new wood floors:

Tel: (408) 773- 8624  | https://elegant-floors.com/