Refinishing Top Nail White Oak Floor in El Sobrante Richmond, CA Area

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Even though I’ve been sanding and installing wood floors for a living for more than 23 years, I am still surprised at the look on people’s faces when I tell them we can save their floor and make it look like new again. The beauty of hardwood floors is that they are serviceable. They can be sanded over and over again and as we all see in the Bay Area, lots of them last more than a hundred years. 

This time our client wanted to know if their oak floors can be saved. After a quick site visit I assured here that with proper sanding, and some repairs we could bring that floor back to life. After we finished the project she actually told me she expected me to say she had to replace the entire floor. That’s what she had heard from others. 

Surely enough, after discussing price and schedule we started the work. Within a week we completed the sanding and some repairs. The client was out of town and I made sure to text her progress pictures and/or any questions I had. She knew exactly what we were doing every day and what the floor looked like at every stage. 

At first we stripped the finish off the floor to expose the wood itself. Walking around the home I took pictures of the dark stained areas that didn’t come out in the sanding. I sent the pics with cost for each area of repair. Upon approval we started replacing the white oak floor boards that were damaged. A lot of contractors make the mistake of putting in red oak in white oak floors, but not here. Everything is done properly and according to our industry guidelines of the National Wood Flooring Association.

The next step was to apply wood filler to all the nail holes and gaps. A few more passes with our dustless sanders and the floor was just about ready for the finish coats.

We use Bona HD Traffic for most of our floor sanding. It is durable and has a fast curing time. I do recommend that if you have small children and/or dogs to apply an extra coat. 

I did that in my home and it is a great investment. 

After completion of the sanding and finishing of three coats, we allowed the floor to cure for several days before our client could move back in. She later called us to do more work for her, and she couldn’t be happier.

Red Oak Floor Project – San Pablo CA

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Our job was to add Red Oak floors in the dining living areas. The owner moved a wall to open up the main floor, and so we laced new floor boards into the existing. That is instead of going the easy way and butting it against the old floor. We started out by preparing the sub floor. That meant fixing any squeaks, repairing soft areas and sanding down the high spots. Afte that we vacuumed and put in a vapor retarder to slow down the moisture coming from the crawl space.

Matching the existing floor lines we then added floor row after row. Some had to be cut to fit into some areas, but most of the boards just slid into place with no problem. After nailing the entire floor we then let it acclimate in place, which means letting the floor reach its’ optimal moisture content for that area. While waiting for that to happen we then started refinishing the rest of the floors in the home. Using dust containment systems we virtually have no dust in the home while we are sanding. This leads to a clean job site, which then leads to a better sanded wood floor and a cleaner finish coat. After about a week of the new wood floor acclimating we then proceeded to finish the sanding on the new areas as well. We spend time setting any nail heads that were exposed and filling the floor with wood filler. The filler is applied as a continuous coat throughout the floor. We then sand it off until we are happy with the surface condition.

At the very end we use our hand scrapers and clean up corners and areas hard to reach. A thorough vacuum and mop and the floor was ready for the finish. This floor was coated with three coats of water base satin urethane by Bona. As you can see and to the delight of the home owner, the new floors blended in beautifully into the old.

Every floor is different and so every job is different. With most phases of the sanding process being the same, each floor dictates what we do or don’t do to make it look better. Even thought we’ve been in business since 2002 we never get bored with making floor look so pretty, especially when seeing the smiles on people’s faces.

Germs and Cleanliness of Floor Covering; a Confession of a Hardwood Floor Contractor

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Carpet vs. Hardwood Floors

It’s always the same debate. Should I install a new carpet or wood floors? Which one is better or cheaper? Which one will hold for a long time? Which one is better for the health of my family? Which is better for the environment?

We had been replacing carpets with new hardwood floors in the bay area for two decades. Yes, it is pretty obvious that an old and dirty carpet should be replaced. But what about newer carpets? The answer is they are all the same. We removed brand new carpets from multi million dollar homes to only find dirt and dust under them.

Here is my list of reasons why hardwood floors are a better choice for everyone Read more

Refinish and repair old oak floors or replace with new?

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Save your money and restore your old hardwood floors

The question always arises: should I reuse what I have or buy a new floor? Right? New is exciting and fun because we get to shop around, make choices and get something that is – well; new! The thought of this is much more exciting than looking at what we have had for years, thinking how to make it better and more interesting. Hardwood floors are an asset and as such, should be looked at as a long term investment and not a temporary floor covering. These floors had been in service for more than a 100 years in a lot of homes.

Unfortunately, the craft of working with wood floors is slowly disappearing. The number of floor contractors who can tackle a really good sanding job is going down every year. If you have an old wood floor that has some blemishes, or even some boards are buckling – this floor can be sanded, repaired and finished to last you years to come. Then, you could use the money your saved on other things.

Let’s take this floor for example, an old top nail white oak floor. This floor was covered with different carpets over the years, had been urinated on by dogs, had carpet shampoo flood some areas and that’s just some of it. Well, most contractors that came to quote on that floor suggested a new floor instead of repairing and sanding the old. That is because they were not qualified to do such work.

We came in, repaired the floor where needed, added some new at the entry way and did our usual stain and finish to the highest standards.

The home owner was thrilled with the outcome, and was even happier to be able to spend his money on new furniture, instead of a new floor.

We mainly work in our immediate area which includes the 80 corridor from Oakland to Pinole, with more areas served like Lamorinda and walnut creek. We had spent the last 20 years restoring old floor, and installing new hardwood floors. Be certain that we will recommend the best option for you, not to our pocket.

Before Refinish White Oak San Pablo
Before Refinish White Oak San Pablo

Before Refinish White Oak San Pablo

After Refinish White Oak San Pablo
After Refinish White Oak San Pablo

After Refinish White Oak San Pablo

Coronavirus: How Avi’s Hardwood Floors Makes Your Life Safer

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Top Three Reasons for Hiring Us Post COVID 19 Outbreak

At Avi’s Hardwood Floors we take your health and ours very seriously. While over the years we invested in top of the line machinery to keep your house free from dust, now we take extreme measure to leave your house as sanitized as possible. Read more

Repairing, Sanding and Finishing a 100 Year Old Floor

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Repairing, sanding and finishing a 100 year old floor can be challenging to most, sometimes even to the best of contractors. The unknowns of things like wood species, install technique and finish types can add up pretty quickly into a big challenge to match.

In this blog I will walk you through a job we just completed in Piedmont, California. The floor was a solid parquet with stain and original finish on it. We had to sand, stain, repair and finish it with our modern tools and finishes. Read more

No Dust Wood Floor Refinishing

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White Oak Refinish El Cerrito Dark Oak OilYou want to refinish your wood floors, but without the dust and the dangerous fumes. Most hardwood floor contractors don’t have the equipment and experience to achieve the floor of your needs. Over the years we managed to perfect the art of sanding, while keeping dust and debris to an absolute minimum.

Our hardwood floor sanding equipment is top notch with dust collection in mind. While achieving a flat floor, the machines contain all the dust within a closed bag, or immediately send it into a HEPA filtered vacuums. That way, all the dust stays in the machines and doesn’t go air borne.

If you or your loved ones have allergies, asthma or respiratory concerns – our company is the way to go when refinishing your floors. We’ve had clients with severe conditions who hired us to sand their floors, and they were absolutely happy with the results. Nobody wants wood dust to end up in every part of their home. Read more

A Floor Replacement Done Right

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Our clients trust us to recommend the best solution for their floor issues. In this case, the home owner called us for advice on how to fix his squeaky floor. He already spent endless hours under the house, using squeak repair kits from the box store. Days in and out, the squeaks kept coming back and he didn’t know what to do. The hardwood floors were 5/16” x 2” red oak floors – a common top nail floor in the Bay Area. I don’t know how many other contractors he had met with before I walked through his front door, but they were many. We discussed the floor issues in length. I suggested a complete replacement, including proper sub floor fix and a full glue and nail of the new floor.

Evidently I was the first and only hardwood contractor to recommend this option. He hired us to do the work. Sure enough, as we started pulling the floor boards up we realized how thin the floor was. In some areas the wood floors was so thin, you could bend it for wood lamination. The hardwood floor in most areas were 1/8” thick which is absolutely outrageous for a top nail oak floor. Read more

Oak Refinish in Richmond, CA

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Many homes in Richmond, CA have hardwood floors that were covered with carpets, laminate floor or painted over. As the Bay Area gets more crowded and the demand for land rises, home owners now shop for properties in areas less desirable in the past; areas like Oakland and Richmond. Many homes were neglected over the years and aside large expenses to remodel or add to their home, consumers understand the value in restoring their wood floors. The impact of refinishing your wood floors is immediate, beautiful and not as expensive as other remodel costs. Refinishing your wood floors should be done before you move into your new home.

At Avi’s Hardwood Floors we use our experience, education and the latest technology in dust contained floor sanders to assure a job well done. In this featured project we were called to refinish an odd floor. The floor was sanded before but had obvious sanding marks and gauges in it. It also had several dark stains from water damage and pets urine.

We collected woods from different sources to match the existing for repairs, sanded the floor flat and applied three coats of commercial water base urethane.

The home owner was very happy with the price, the quality and the time it took us to complete the work.

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Step 1 - Oak Refinish Richmond Before

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Step 2 - Oak Refinish Richmond Before

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Step 3 - Oak Refinish Richmond Before

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Step 4 - Oak Refinish Richmond After

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Step 5 - Oak Refinish Richmond After

How We Contain Wood Dust

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Hardwood-Floor-Kitchen-White-CabinetsAt Avi’s Hardwood Floors we use several ways to control the cleanliness of your home while we sand and finish your wood floors.

We start with a clean site. Normally we would vacuum the floors and spend time taping off areas of the home where we don’t work. If we work in kitchen area we tape off all cabinets and if you have a big tv and wall mount speakers we will tape them off as well.

We use state of the art sanding machines – these machines are expensive industrial type sanders that are specifically designed for wood sanding. These sanders are the only ones in the world tested for wood dust emissions and are the most efficient in dust containment. Sounds like magic, right? Not really. We have seen other contractors claim to be dust free when in fact all they have is an old sander with a cheap utility vacuum attached to it. A vacuum sucks in the air and blows out air. If the vacuum is not designed to capture and contain the fine particles of dust then that dust will end up back in the air.

Some of our sanders have built in dust containment systems. All we have to do is empty the bags outside when they are full. Some of our other sanders are part of a dust free sanding system so all the vacuums are interchangeable and all the filters are HEPA filters. HEPA is the most efficient filter (and most expensive) in collecting fine dust.

Of course, there is always a few dust particles that get away and end up on the baseboards or in the corners. The last step of refinishing your floors is vacuuming every inch of the floors, window cells and other areas. We thoroughly check the site for any dust and wipe off any surfaces like counter tops.

The results yield a clean home with a newly refinished floor and a clean top coat of finish with no debris or dust stuck in it. At Avi’s Hardwood Floors we have done hundreds of jobs for families that had members of the family with allergies or other health conditions. We even did a few jobs for some with severe dust allergies. Those home owners had such strong reactions to dust they had specialty air cleaning systems installed in their home. Hiring us was the sure thing to do and we never disappointed anyone with our promise for a clean sanding job.

One client insisted we taped off their entire living room before we started work. We did. He came to check up on us a few hours into the refinishing process and said: “wow, there really isn’t any dust!” we just smiled and kept on sanding.

Trust us in doing a great job while keeping your home clean. This is not one of those empty marketing promises, it is the truth.