Refinishing and installing new hardwood floors is a task that requires the use of materials that are inherently dangerous when not used with proper precautions. We do our best to inform our customers of all the hazards that a hardwood flooring project can entail so that we don’t run into any unfortunate consequences down the road. Read on to see how you can prepare your home, and the people living in it, for your next hardwood flooring job.

When we begin a project with a customer, we present a contract with a few disclaimers marked in bold because we find these to be incredibly important things every customer should know about. We’d like to go into some detail with some of these in the hopes of answering any questions you might have. 

- Dust

Whenever anyone works with wood, they need to be mindful of any dust that can get in the air when sanding a floor. Too much dust can leave very visible residue all over your  home, but it can also be harmful to your body. These tiny particles can wreak havoc on your lungs. Make sure your hardwood flooring specialist uses “dustless” systems that we talked about a few weeks ago. If you’re sanding the floors yourself, a dust mask is        always a nice precaution to take.

- Stain Splash

Laying down stain has the unfortunate side effect of lightly splashing near walls sometimes. We try to be delicate and use a fine brush to make sure we don’t knick any baseboards, stain gets everywhere. Taping the baseboards is usually a given, but even that can’t prevent some splashing from occurring and leaving a mark above the taped section.

 - Finish Fumes

Finishing a floor requires the use of chemicals and oils that can have incredibly strong smells. The process of finishing a floor requires lots of ventilation. For this reason, we ask our customers to not be present in the home while we are applying finish. While some people think they can tolerate the fumes, pets and children cannot. It’s imperative to not have pets or children in a home while hardwood floor finish is airing out.

"While some people think they can tolerate the fumes, pets and children cannot."

While finish fumes tend to dissipate fairly quickly, we’ve experienced a few instances in which it took longer than expected to properly ventilate the home after the finish was applied. In these situations, we ask that our customers act responsibly and take the extra time to avoid populating the house with individuals or animals that might fight the fumes too strong.