No. Sanding hardwood floors used to be a dust nightmare. Not anymore. We keep things clean with modern, high-efficiency dust systems. Our dust containment system is manufactured by Pulse-Bac. This system allows us to sand floors with minimal airborne dust.

The length of your project depends on the scope of work. Timelines vary depending on what type of floor you are installing (prefinished or new unfinished hardwood for a site-finished project). If you’re just refinishing your existing hardwood, typically the process takes about a week depending on the square footage of your floors. These questions will be addressed clearly as we work with you to plan and schedule your project.

Our philosophy is “quality over quantity.” We typically only have 1–2 projects in process on any given week. This allows us to focus on your home. We’re on site daily, control dust and manage your jobsite. We communicate with you throughout your project.

It depends on the project. Most customers arrange to stay elsewhere while we work.

While you can be in the home during the installation, it is very noisy and most people find it disruptive to their daily routine. During a sanding & finishing project, you will need to be out of the finishing areas once we begin coating your floors. We need to maintain a controlled environment as much as possible to limit dust particles from settling in the wet finish. Every time a door opens, it creates some level of dust or air movement that can stir up existing, normal household dust.

We recommend waiting a minimum 72 hours after the final coat of finish is applied to replace furniture. For prefinished flooring, furniture and rugs can be placed immediately.

Always "lift and place" furniture. DO NOT roll or slide anything on your floor (site-finished OR prefinished), especially refrigerators and pianos. Heavy, wheeled items will dent hardwood flooring of any type.

You'll also want to make sure you have good felt pads on the bottoms of all chairs, tables, couches, etc. (basically anything that could slide around).

You’ll want to wait for about two (2) weeks before placing any large area rugs on newly refinished floors as the finish continues to cure. You will want to make sure to have a felt pad underlayment under most rugs, especially if they have a rubber backing. Do not use the synthetic waffle weave non-slip pads. These often damage or stain the floor finish over time.

90% of the time we work in Santa Cruz County, California. Occasionally we travel to the Bay Area or Monterey area depending on the project. Typically, we hold to an 800-1000 square foot minimum when working outside of Santa Cruz County.

For oil based polyurethane finishes, do not clean the floors with any cleaner for about four (4) weeks. The finish will continue to cure during this time. For water base finishes you’ll need to wait two (2) weeks before cleaning the floor with a cleaner. You can use a dry dust mop to pick up dust bunnies, etc. After that time, we recommend using only Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner. You can pick it up at most grocery and hardware stores.

For prefinished flooring, we recommend referring to the hardwood manufacturer for all cleaning and care instructions for your chosen material.

There are mixed opinions when it comes to vacuuming hardwood flooring. We do NOT recommend vacuuming, especially if your vacuum has a hard surface attachment, hard wheels or “beater bar.” These often drag small rocks, sand, and other debris across the floor. It may not occur to you until you look back and see the scratches left behind. We also do NOT recommend using a steam vacuum (even if it indicates it is to be used on hardwood floors). The steam can damage the floor finish.