Question: The flooring salesman keeps pushing "pre-finished flooring." Do I want this?
Pre-finished flooring has become quite a big deal in the last decade or so, and now (as your question implies) it is difficult even to find anyone willing to sell you unfinished flooring.
Answer: Pre-finished flooring is solid hardwood flooring that comes already sanded, sealed, and ready to nail into place. After the flooring installers have completed their job, literally the only thing you need to do is sweep up, and you're ready to go.
Unfinished and pre-finished flooring is installed the same way, give or take a few minor differences. With pre-finished flooring, the installers should take more care because any scratches and dents are virtually non-repairable. That is why you will see installers flatten out the flooring cartons and use them as pad to place their tools.
Pre-Finished Means Urethane
The chief feature of pre-finished flooring is its thick, multiple layers (over 5) of urethane coating. When you sand and seal your own flooring, you do so by hand, and the coatings are not as uniform. But the pre-finished is quite something else.If you are unfortunate enough to have a chipped or broken pre-finished board in your carton, you can quite clearly see the plastic-like layer coming off of the board. It is almost like onion skin (but a tough onion skin!). This type of solid aluminum oxide-impregnated urethane finish is something that only a dedicated factory can apply.
Pre-Finished or Unfinished: Your Choice
You would think that pre-finished is naturally the way to go. But not all advances are for the better. Take a look at some of the pros and cons of pre-finished flooring:
Advantages of Pre-Finished Flooring
- No Smell. No mess and stink associated with finishing the floor within your living environment.
- Better Coating. A thicker, more uniform coating than can be done manually.
- Turnaround Time. Quicker turnaround time. In fact, there is no turnaround time. Sweep and you're ready to go.
- Zero Sanding. No sanding needed. Floor sanding is far dustier than you might ever imagine, with dust invading nearly every part of your house.
- Ease of Purchase. We must add this because pre-finished flooring is fast becoming ubiquitous, and it is easier to find pre-finished than unfinished floor.
Disadvantages of Pre-Finished Flooring
You don't say! Disadvantages? The flooring industry really doesn't want you to think too much about prefinished flooring's disadvantages, but we give them to you:- Practically Unrepairable. If pre-finished flooring gets scratched or dented during installation, you have no option but to replace the entire floorboard. Forget the notion of trying to fill, sand, and re-seal with your own coating. It cannot be done; there is no way you can ever manually duplicate the factory coating.
- Floor Installation a Delicate Process. The previous disadvantage entails that the flooring installers be extra-careful when installing your floor. Due to the heavy materials and tools involved, this is practically impossible. Result: damaged floors, to one degree or another.
- Seams. Seams between pre-finished floorboards are not sealed over, as they would be when you seal your flooring on site.
- Difficult to Refinish. Pray that the pre-finished flooring never needs a deep, drum sanding. The reason: you will have to rip off an awful lot of wood to remove those 5+ layers of factory baked-on urethane finish just to reach any kind of bare wood. Believe us, you need to get all of that urethane off so that the wood will accept the new sealant.
