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Professional hardwood floor refinishing in Austin.

Floor Refinishing vs. Restoration


Professional Hardwood Floor Refinishing in Austin

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So you know your floors need help—but how do you know if they need to be restored or just refinished? There are several factors to keep in mind when making this decision and finding professional hardwood floor refinishing in Austin. Understanding the needs of your hardwood floors can save you thousands of dollars and a good deal of stress.

Determine What Your Floors Need

There are three main factors to consider when determining if you need floor refinishing or restoration: the condition of your floors, the age of your floors, and the type of hardwood.

Hardwood floors in homes built after the 1940s with light scuffs or scratches, some wear from foot traffic and have lost a bit of shine probably just need to be refinished. Floors installed before the 1940s with more significant signs of damage (deeper scratches from furniture, or floorboards that are warped or cracked, for instance) will likely need to be restored instead.

If you’re not sure what your floors need, consult with a professional hardwood floor refinishing company like Footprints Floors. We’ll be able to advise you on whether your floors need to be restored or just refinished and provide you with a free estimate for the work.

Footprints Floors providing beautiful, professional hardwood floor refinishing in Austin.

The Refinishing Process


Broken down, the steps to refinish a hardwood floor are very simple.

  • 1. Strip the floor of its current finishing.
  • 2. Sand or “screen” the floor to remove scratches or other signs of wear and tear from the surface.
  • 3. Give the floor a brand–new finish!

Refinishing a floor is not just a weekend project. Weather, the type of wood and the size of the floors you need refinished are all factors that play into how long a refinishing project takes. Also, despite the simplicity of the steps, a lot can go wrong. Uneven sanding or incorrect application of a finish can make your floors look worse than before.

As a professional hardwood floor refinishing company, the licensed contractors of Footprints Floors can get the job done quickly and correctly, so you aren’t inconvenienced in your home for long. And you can feel confident about the work done, so you don’t have to refinish your floors again for a long time.

The Restoration Process


Restoration of a hardwood floor is more labor intensive than refinishing. Hiring a company that understands different types of wood and how different kinds of damage will impact the restoration process is essential.

Some restoration steps are similar to refinishing—both require stripping away a current finish, sanding and applying a new finish. However, floor restoration involves more significant repairs and may even need patches of complete replacement. Depending on the depth of restoration required, these projects can take more than a week to complete.

Both refinishing and restoring floors are time–intensive, labor–intensive processes involving heavy, dangerous equipment. It is generally much more cost–effective and time–efficient to hire an outside contractor rather than attempt to do the job yourself.

The Best for Your Floor—and Your Budget Professional Hardwood Floor Refinishing in Austin

Professional flooring refinishing near you in Austin - Footprints Floors.

There are many things that homeowners can do to care for the hardwood floors in their homes. For instance, regular cleaning of your floors can help keep them looking nice and prevent long–term damage. Sweeping with soft–bristled brooms, regular vacuuming to remove dirt, and mopping with specialty hardwood floor cleaning solutions can all work wonders on your floors.

Of course, even with care, hardwood floors are not impervious to damage. Your pets might scratch the surface. Water damage might cause a section of the floor to warp or have a loose board that wobbles. You might notice gaps appearing between planks over time and as the weather changes, causing the wood to expand or contract, or you might have dents in the wood from high foot traffic areas. Perhaps your floors just don't look as shiny and new as you'd like. When your own cleaning and maintenance doesn't go as far as they used to, it's time to refinish or even restore.

While it is possible to DIY hardwood refinishing and even restoration, someone without experience can easily damage a hardwood floor. Instead of paying for a costly repair, get it right the first time by calling a professional hardwood floor refinishing company. They'll get the job done right the first time.

Footprints Floors has years of experience working on all kinds of flooring in all types of conditions. From beautiful, rare mahogany floors in Victorian homes to the stunning red oak floors of a mid–century modern suburb house and everything in between, Footprints Floors can do the job right.

We're committed to providing high–quality finishes at the lowest possible rate in a reasonable amount of time. We work to save our clients stress (and money!) as we work to give them floors that look brand new! We won't offer you services you don't need and are confident you will be satisfied with the finished project. Contact us today for a free estimate on your hardwood floor refinishing or restoration project.

This beautiful spiral staircase was refinished by Footprints Floors.

Great Floors & Great Impressions Are What We Are All About!

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What Our Customers Say

Kris has been great to work with. He is responsive, very reasonably priced and knows the market and products well. We received a quote initially, but decided to go with someone else for more of a one stop shop (Kris does not sell the flooring, but has referrals). In all honesty, we wish we had gone with Footprints and had him quote some repairs on items the other contractor got wrong.
Daniel Maine 01/8/24 — google
Kris is awesome! Highly recommend! Amazing attitude, energy, care, attention and honesty!
Mahesh Bahuleyan 12/7/23 — google
Kris was great to work with and extremely helpful in explaining everything that was going to be done. Sean did a fantastic job with the installation, was on time, and very friendly. Thanks for making the process so easy!
Katherine Care 08/20/23 — google
I had been living with some worn-down carpeting on my entry stairs for years and finally decided to replace it with wood-look vinyl flooring to prepare my home for sale. Kris came out quickly to give me a quote and let me know how much to order from a supplier—the total materials and installation cost ended up being significantly more affordable than a quote I got from another company! Once the materials came in, it was quick to get on the schedule for installation, and the workers were prompt and quick to get it done. There was a small hiccup with not ordering quite enough material because of the weird shape of the landing stairs at the top, but we were able to order more and schedule guys to come back to finish that within a week. The stairs look and feel great with LVP! Don’t hesitate to reach out to Footprints Floors for your next project.
E K 08/18/23 — google
Kris and Shawn were both amazing throughout the process of redoing our shower floors to a stone pebble tile finish, and a new kitchen backsplash. Incredible attention to detail, care around other finishes, and general kindness when working through the job. 10/10 would recommend.
Ben Serbiak 08/10/23 — google
Can't say enough about how good our experience was. Chris was professional and responsive. Intaller Sean has mastered his profession. I'm particular and his work is top notch. We ran out of tile and he came back to install the last four pieces. I will never lay tile myself again.
Tim Evans 07/4/23 — google
Installed new tile on pool fountain. It was a pleasure dealing with Kris, knowledgeable & highly professional. Sean did a fantastic job on the tile. He had several suggestions that improved the project. Sean even came back on Saturday morning to finish the work, after having to stop early on Friday afternoon due to a thunder & rain storm. I plan to use Footprints Flooring on a second project in the near future.
Eric Wilson 06/14/23 — google
Kris was very knowledgeable and helpful when coming out to give us our estimate. His team lead by Oscar was amazing great communicators, professional, polite, and did great work. I recommend Footprints.
csaum 06/6/23 — google
Great Job! Hired them to install laminate floors in one bedroom and it is seemless. Looks as if the original home builder had done it themselves. Great management and employees!
William Anderson 06/5/23 — google
I had Kris and his crew install some floating flooring while I was preparing my home for sale. They showed up on time and worked efficiently to get the job completed. My one dig would be that they chose to glue down the transition trim rather than use the tracks that come with it. I don't have a problem with the gluing down, but they were kinda' sloppy about it. I spent some very precious time cleaning up the excess glue, when I spoke with Kris he was very receptive to the feedback and said he would address the issue with his crew. A few days later a springy spot appeared, and another a few days after that. Kris was very consistent in taking my calls, listening to my complaints, and taking steps to correct them. Ultimately, Kris took very good care of me and saw the job through the difficulties to a very satisfactory conclusion. I would definitely hire them again in the future.
Steven Holloway 05/22/23 — google
Professional, cooperative, responsive & great attitude
Fr. Benjamin Abouelkheir 04/18/23 — google
Effortless to give these guys 5 stars. Communication was top notch, as was the details in the corners. No brainer to use these guys again. Recommending them to everyone I know.
D. S. 04/3/23 — google
Footprints removed my carpets and installed my vinyl floor seamlessly aligning it with existing vinyl flooring in the attached kitchen area. Thanks for a great installation job!
Charlene Baskerville 03/24/23 — google
We used Footprints Floors to replace some sections of tile that were hollow and cracked after a bad installation (original install not done by Footprints). They were thorough, professional, and responsive, and the finished product is perfect. Highly recommend.
Tanya Streit 03/13/23 — google
Kris and his team were great to work with. The communication was top notch and the craftsmanship was excellent. The install crew was very respectful to my home. And I feel like the cost was very reasonable for what we got. They installed my LVP and baseboards. I would easily call them back for other work and recommend to others.
Dan 03/12/23 — google
The did an amazing job!! Ordered wood and they managed to complete the job really quick at a very affordable price. Shopped around for 2 months before deciding and super happy I chose them
Deivit Salazar 03/3/23 — google
We hired Footprint Floors to replace our engineered wood floors with composite. Our previous floor was installed only 4 years ago by previous owner, but the quality of the installation was so poor the flooring had multiple issues. Khris, the owner was extremely responsive from the first moment until the the project was finished. He explained the whole process, answered our questions and promptly provided us a quote. Previous companies I tried to get a quote from didn’t even show up. Footprint Floors are not the cheapest but the quality of their work and their trustworthiness is definitely worth the money. They started the job when they promised and fixed all the issues that were discovered (uneven subfloor). Mario our floor guy was very polite and always made sure to ask our opinion about any small detail or decision and explain issues he found. I would highly recommend working with them. We are already planning to bring them back for another small project we have.
Tímea Fekete-Zán 03/2/23 — google
Customer service and workmanship are unmatched, comparing to any large project I have done in the past. We had a BIG job. Our wood floor buckled throughout 2 weeks after we thought a leak was resolved. The surprise was that the prior owner of the house did not like their original wood floor so they laid another on top of it creating double demo work. We decided to move forward with wood inspired tile. The outcome is gorgeous. Every piece was laid perfectly. Communication and responsiveness were quick and professional . I highly recommend Kris and Foot prints Flooring team for any floor installation.
P. Galbraith 02/14/23 — google
Hi, I had 8 Travertine tiles replaced in my kitchen. I had original tiles for replacement. I did some grout prep work. The tiles were removed and replaced in 4 hours. I'm very satisfied. Thanks!
Joseph Aaron 02/14/23 — google
Kris and his crew did a great job repairing our floors. Would definitely use them again!
jill bradshaw 02/14/23 — google

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