I was told not to worry about the thickness of the top layer of the engineered floor that people don't typically sand them, they just refinish them. I thought that sanding was part of it.

If I have an engineered floor that has a 1/16th wear layer, is there anything that can be done to fix defects?

Thanks,
Christine

Risky option buff and coat it. But you have a huge risk of the new finish not adhering to the original finish.

Possibly impossible option remove affected boards and replace.

The majority of what I do is sanding and refinishing, and 1/16th" is just too thin. You can always try, but you will burn through the wear layer and will have a "look".

Best option to avoid this in the future is to install solid site-finished 3/4" wood. Over a slab? Just add 3/8" plywood over it and then nail down your wood. Not on a slab? Just start nailing your wood.

I agree. 1/16" is not enough to sand & refinish. And, a screen & recoat is risky as it's unlikely that the poly will adhere to the prefinished floor.

Also, if your floor is floated, then you can't refinish at all.

Debbie Gartner aka The Flooring Girl
http://TheFlooringGirl.com
Westchester County NY

I'd love to know who told you that! Box store,LL or Build Direct?

Replacing planks is done all the time. Refinish before the original finish wears down to the wood. The Floor Abrader is made for thin engineered and gets in the grooves. Not sure why people dont know this but its been out for years now.

The basic tycote or the bona prep system will allow you to "re-coat" almost any factory finished floor. They are waterbased systems because waterbased finish has a much stronger bonding property when compared to oil. Now as far as refinishing goes 1/16" is about 1.5mm and you dont want to even attempt to sand anything under 2mm and thats got to be a flat floor even with those. If it were me and I was buying a floor with the hopes of refinishing it years down the road id want a floor with a 3 or 4 mm top.