Sanding & Refinishing
Hardwood Floor Refinishing in Mayfair, Philadelphia
Sand the old finish off, repair what needs repairing, and put a new finish down. The floor you already own, made new. In Mayfair, Philadelphia the median home dates to 1953 and 13.3% of the housing predates 1940, which changes what Deco Hardwood Floor expects to find before the work starts.
Refinishing the postwar oak floor
Most wood floors in Mayfair are the kind that refinishes best: solid red oak over a wood subfloor, usually with most of its thickness still there.
A large share of these floors spent decades under carpet, which protected the wood and left its own marks: a row of tack strip holes around every room, staples from the pad, and the occasional dark stain that nobody knew about until the carpet came up. The holes fill. The stains are a separate decision, taken board by board.
What we check before sanding is movement. A board that shifts underfoot gets fastened first, because a sander rides over a moving board unevenly and the finish then cracks along the same seam within a season.
Before you get a quote
Dark pet or plant stains usually run deeper than sanding reaches. Those boards get replaced and blended in, which is a better result than sanding one area thin trying to chase the color out.
How the housing in Mayfair compares
Of the 13,730 housing units in Mayfair, roughly 1,800 were built before 1940 and approximately 12,600 before 1978.
That makes the housing here older than the 132 Philadelphia neighborhoods in our data taken together, where approximately 82.8% of 733,961 units predate 1978, and above the 60.5% figure for our whole service area. By the share built before 1940, Mayfair ranks 105th of those 132. The full table is published as open housing data.
Within Philadelphia, the oldest housing in our data is in Cedar Park, with a median year of 1925, and the newest is in Kensington, Old, at 1997.
| Place | Median year built | Built before 1940 |
|---|---|---|
| Mayfair | 1953 | 13.3% |
| Tacony | 1951 | 33.7% |
| Wissinoming | 1952 | 25.6% |
| Oxford Circle | 1954 | 10.9% |
| Lexington Park | 1961 | 0.8% |
| Rhawnhurst | 1959 | 6.7% |
| Holmesburg | 1954 | 12.8% |
For refinishing, the pre-1940 share is the figure to watch. Those are the floors most likely to have been sanded before, and the ones we measure most carefully before quoting.
What is usually under the floor here
Two and a quarter inch red oak nailed over a wood subfloor, which is the case that refinishes best.
Postwar housing in this region was built with a plywood or board subfloor and solid red oak strip on top, most commonly two and a quarter inches wide. It is the standard floor of the American postwar house and it is the easiest thing we work on: predictable thickness, predictable fastening, predictable result.
The question in this stock is more often the subfloor than the wood on top of it. Squeaks, deflection and movement come from below, and sanding a floor that moves gives you a smooth floor that still moves.
Worth knowing here
Red oak has a pink undertone that shows through most stain colors. If you are aiming for the cooler tones that are fashionable now, that gets tested on a sample board before anything is committed.
The federal lead rule applies to most of the housing here
Approximately 92.1% of the homes here were built before 1978, which is the line the EPA rule draws.
Paid work that disturbs painted surfaces in pre-1978 housing falls under 40 CFR Part 745, and floor sanding reaches painted surfaces more often than people expect: the edger runs to the baseboard, the shoe molding and the door casing, and in older housing those carry many layers.
The part that matters for the equipment is 745.85(a)(3), which prohibits high speed machines that strip a coating on painted surfaces unless they carry containment and a HEPA vacuum collecting dust at the point of generation. That is a description of how the sander has to be assembled, not a suggestion about tidiness.
How hardwood floor refinishing runs
We look at the floor
We measure remaining thickness, check for movement, and find what is under any covering before quoting anything.You get one number
Labor and any material in a single figure, with the finish specified by name.The room comes out
Furniture and coverings out, work area sealed, vents covered.Sanding in passes
Coarse to fine, then edger and hand work at the perimeter.Finish goes down
Coats applied on the cure schedule, not on ours.We walk it with you
In raking light, before anything goes back in the room.
What is included in hardwood floor refinishing
The job covers the inspection, the sanding in passes, the finish in coats and a walk through at the end. Color changes, board repair and moisture problems are separate work, and we say so before the quote rather than after.
Included
- A visit from the owner to look at the floor and measure the wood left above the tongue.
- One figure for labor and material, with the finish specified by name.
- Sealing the work area and covering the vents before the machines start.
- Three sanding passes from coarse to fine, with vacuum extraction at the machine.
- Edger work at the perimeter and hand work in corners, around radiators and under the toe kick.
- Finish applied in coats on the cure schedule, then a walk through with you in raking light.
Not included, or quoted separately
- Stain or a color change. That is its own step, decided on samples, and it adds to the job.
- Replacing rotted, split or missing boards. Board repair is scoped once we see what the floor needs.
- Fixing a moisture problem. Gaps that never close and cupping get diagnosed before anyone sands.
- A sanding job that leaves nothing to clean. Extraction catches most of the dust, not all of it.
What changes the cost of hardwood floor refinishing
We set the price after seeing the floor, not before. What moves it most is the area and how it is divided into rooms, the condition of the wood under the old finish, and which finish goes down.
| What changes it | How it moves the price | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Floor area and layout | More floor is more sanding and more finish. Small rooms, closets and hallways add edger and hand work that one open room does not. | One open living room goes faster per square foot than the same area split across three bedrooms and a hall. |
| Condition of the wood | Cupping, deep stains and boards that need replacing add sanding and repair work before any finish can go down. | A floor found under old carpet often has tack strip holes and staples to deal with before the first pass. |
| Finish type | Oil-modified polyurethane costs less than a waterborne finish. The product is named in the quote so you can compare like with like. | A rental turnover with a hard deadline and a family home with a dog can point to different products. |
| Stain or natural | A color change adds the sample step, the stain itself and its drying time before the first coat of finish. | Keeping red oak natural is a shorter job than taking the same floor to a dark brown. |
| Age of the house | In a house built before 1978 the federal lead rule can govern how the sander is set up, and that setup takes time. | A 1920s row home with painted baseboards gets a different setup than a 1990s house with the same floor. |
The full method, the equipment and what we will and will not promise are on the service page: Hardwood Floor Refinishing.
Also in Mayfair
Dustless Floor Sanding
Vacuum-extraction sanding
Solid Hardwood Floor Installation
Solid wood, nailed down over a wood subfloor
Engineered Hardwood Installation
Real wood over a stable core
Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) Installation
Waterproof, quiet, and it does not care about a wet basement
Custom Stair Installation
Treads, risers, stringers and skirt board, built to a drawing instead of a catalog page
Stair Refinishing
Stairs take more wear per square foot than any floor in the house, and they are sanded almost entirely by hand
Hardwood Floor Repair
Board replacement, weaving in new wood, squeaks, gaps and cupping
Why homeowners hire Deco Hardwood Floor
Deco Hardwood Floor is owner operated: the person who quotes hardwood floor refinishing in Mayfair is the person responsible for it, and the material comes with the labor in one number.
Material and labor in one number
We buy the flooring direct from the distributor and pass the store price through, so you are not sourcing wood on your own between quotes.
Samples come to your house
Samples and larger offcuts come to you, so the color gets chosen in your own light instead of under a showroom lamp.
Stairs and railings built in house
Treads, risers, handrails and newel posts are drawn and built by our own crew. Most flooring crews subcontract stair work or decline it.
The owner quotes the job
The person who measures your floor is the person responsible for the work. There is no salesperson in between.
Measured before it is promised
Remaining thickness is measured at the edge of a board before we say a floor can be sanded, and no price is firm before we have seen the room.
Told straight, including the limits
Vacuum extraction catches most of the sanding dust and not all of it. We tell you that before the job instead of after.
More about who we are and what we will not claim on the About Deco Hardwood Floor page.
Questions about hardwood refinishing in Mayfair
Can you match a new section to my existing floor?
Often, with sample boards made from your actual wood before anything is committed. Species, age and prior finish all affect it. Matching is a promise we make after testing, not before.
Do I have to leave the house?
Usually not, though you cannot use the rooms being worked on. Odor is a real factor with oil-modified finishes and much less so with waterborne, which is one reason the finish choice is part of the conversation.
Should I refinish my hardwood floor or replace it?
Refinish it if the boards are sound and there is still wood above the tongue. Hardwood floor refinishing removes a worn finish, scratches and most surface staining, and the wood is already yours, so the job is labor and finish only. Replacement is the answer when the wear layer is spent, when boards are rotted, or when the damage is structural. Deco Hardwood Floor measures the edge of a board before recommending either.
Full refinishing or a screen and recoat: which does my floor need?
A screen and recoat is enough when the finish is dull or lightly scratched but still continuous. Hardwood floor refinishing is needed once wear has reached bare wood anywhere, when there are pet stains, or when you want a different color. Look at the traffic lanes in raking light. Gray or darkened wood means the coating is gone there, and a new coat over it would seal the damage in.
Can you tell me what my floor needs over the phone?
We can tell you what is likely, and this page is most of that answer. What we cannot do is quote a floor we have not seen, because remaining thickness and what is under the covering both decide the job and neither is visible in a description.
Do you bring the material?
Yes. We buy direct from the distributor and the material lands in the same number as the labor. Samples and larger offcuts come to the house so you choose in your own light.
My floor squeaks. Will refinishing fix it?
No. Squeaks come from movement between the floor and the subfloor, and sanding the surface does not change what is happening underneath. Those get addressed before the floor is finished, not after.
Hardwood Refinishing near Mayfair
Send a photo and we will tell you what you are looking at
Hardwood Floor Refinishing in Mayfair starts with someone reading the house. We quote every job ourselves, with no salesperson in between, and a photo of the floor gets you a straight answer faster than a form does.
