Huh? Yea I can see you guys asking "what's this subject about?"

Trying to do some updates on the site. There should be a slew of them, but it's only me and I sure don't know everything. Subject is what can someone expect out of refinishing an engineered floor? Anotherwords, what's the minimum thickness with a flat subfloor? Any takers?

I suppose it also depends on what type of equipment is used and naturally the experience of the person doing the work. What's that 3 head thingy called opposed to a dum sander?

Trio?

Super Bee?

Screen and recoat for prefinished. The prefinished is seldom flat enough to sand it without going through the veneer.

No contrare', bon ami. I've refinished loads of veneered floors. Lots of Bruce with 1/16" veneer. Just hafta know what your doing. I always recommend a pro and even some pros blow through the top layer. So, experience plays the main factor. I've refinished 1/16" veneers using my Hummel and 100 grit only. Piece o' cake. The novices could use the Super Bee or Trio, 3DS or orbital plate sanders but it'll be SLOW. Also, now that most have gone to alum. oxide, that plays a MAJOR factor in refinishing engineered. Gotta use heavy grit to sand off the minerals but then you could go through the veneer. Tough call. I just bid on a beveled edged maple veneer. Complete sand and finish. One coat of Bona DriFast Natural and three coats of Traffic. It's a kitchen, nook and family room. About 500 sq.ft. Plastic off cabs and doorways, move out refer and reinstall later, pull baseshoe and reinstall. My estimate was $2,650.00. The cheap *** homeowners thought it was too high. Probably hired some unlicensed illegal. Hell, the finish and sandpaper alone will be almost $500.00. They really just wanted a recoat but their floors were black in areas and all scratched to s**t. No recoat would have worked for them. But what do I know, I'm just a master craftsmen level licensed NWFA member with 25 yrs. experience!

That's interesting. Considering there are many al. oxide types out there today I keep forgetting about the screen and recoat. Seems like nearly all have some kind of "anti-scratch" on the upper layers with the al. oxide under it therefore allowing it more possibilities unless there are deep scratches and dings. Eh?

Ken, come on man. In one years time, a floor is going to have some dents, gouges, and deep scratches. They usually do by the time the owner finishes moving the furniture back in. The only time I've seen floors not banged up is with a couple of retired folks with no kids or pets or people whoe's custom it is to remove their shoes before coming into the house. No recoat is going to fix those issues and when I do recoats, I go over that with the folks that it is primarily cosmetic and doesn't make the floor harder or better than it was when new. It does remove small scratches and provides a uniforn sheen to the floor where high traffic areas may have been dulled down. Also, none of the floor finishes are as tough as those ceramic prefinished floors. You know, WearMax by Award. That is an awesome finish, wear wise.

That's what I said..between the lines.