Flooring Installation
Hardwood Floor Refinishing in Calgary
A hardwood floor can only be sanded down so many times. The first thing worth knowing is how many times you have left.
We visit your home, then you get a written price and a start date.
McAra Design + Build gives you a fixed price in writing before any work begins. Sanding and finishing a main floor with three coats is the baseline; removing carpet and staples, repairing boards, changing the stain colour, or patching in a spot where a wall was removed all add to it.
Replacing the same floor with new hardwood costs a lot more than refinishing it. Where there's enough wood left on top, refinishing is the cheaper option by a wide margin, and we'll tell you when that's the case.
What's involved
Sand, repair, finish, and stay off it.
- 01Carpet, underlay and staple removal
- 02Checking how much wood is left on top
- 03Board repair and patching
- 04Fixing squeaks and loose boards
- 05Rough, then medium, then fine sanding
- 06Sanding edges and corners by hand
- 07Dust control and pulling air out of the house
- 08Applying stain, if you choose one
- 09Three coats of finish
- 10Waiting for the finish to fully harden before furniture returns
What we check that others don't
What we check that others don't.
- §1
How much wood is left on top, measured rather than guessed. We lift a floor vent cover or pull up a threshold and look at the board from the side — the distance from the top surface down to the tongue (the ridge that locks one board into the next) tells you what you have left to work with. Once that's down to about three millimetres, the next full sanding is the last one that floor can take, and you should know that before spending the money.
- §2
What's actually under the carpet in a 1950s Calgary bungalow. Usually narrow-strip oak in better shape than anyone expects, because the carpet protected it. Sometimes it's fir, which sands beautifully but dents easily. Once in a while it's just a plywood subfloor and a rumour of hardwood. We lift a corner in a closet before you commit to any plan.
- §3
Whether refinishing beats replacing in your case. Refinishing wins when there's wood left on top and the boards are solid, even with dark stains and pet damage — sanding removes far more than people expect. Replacing wins when the floor has already been sanded down too far, has water-damaged boards over a large area, or you want wider boards. We give you the honest answer either way.
- §4
Dust control, done properly rather than just claimed. Sanding a floor makes fine dust that finds its way into every room. We seal off openings, pull air out to the outside, and use sanding equipment built to capture dust as it works. It won't make the job dust-free, and anyone who tells you it will hasn't sanded a Calgary bungalow.
- §5
Drying and hardening time, and what you can do when. The finish is safe to walk on long before it's fully hardened. Socks are fine after a day, furniture after several days, and area rugs need to wait much longer than that — putting a rug down before the finish has hardened leaves a mark you can't remove without sanding the whole floor again.
How long it takes
Four to seven days, plus drying time.
Removing carpet, doing repairs and sanding takes two to three days. Coats of finish go on over the following two to three days, with drying time in between and nobody walking on the floor during that time.
Most people leave the house during the finishing days and can walk on the floor in socks the day after the last coat. Full hardening takes longer, and we give you exact dates for furniture and for rugs.
We put it in writing.
- A fixed price
- agreed before we start, and it doesn't move unless you change the scope.
- A completion date
- in the contract, not a range, not a best guess.
- A workmanship warranty
- if it fails because of how we installed it, we fix it. No argument, no invoice.
Most renovation guarantees are a paragraph of conditions. Ours is three commitments you can hold us to.
Questions people ask before they book.
- McAra Design + Build measures the wood left on top at a heat vent or door threshold, checking the distance from the surface down to the tongue (the ridge that locks the boards together). Once that's under about three millimetres, the next full sanding is the last one that floor can take. You get that measurement and an honest count of sandings left before deciding.
- In a 1950s or 1960s Calgary bungalow, often yes, and usually in better shape than expected because the carpet protected the finish from sun and foot traffic. McAra Design + Build lifts a corner in a closet or under a floor register and checks the actual condition of the wood before planning a refinish or a replacement around it.
- Socks and bare feet the day after the final coat, furniture after several days once the finish has hardened enough to resist dents. Area rugs need to wait even longer — McAra Design + Build has seen a rug laid on finish that hadn't hardened leave a permanent mark that only another full sanding removes, so we give you exact dates in writing.
Where this sits
This work is part of Flooring Installation.
People looking at this page usually look at Vinyl Plank Flooring and Interior Painting in the same conversation.
Get a free in-home quote.
We visit your home, then you get a written price and a start date.
What are you planning?
Or call Chris directly: +1 (587) 837-3113