Hardwood Floor Refinishing & Sanding in Roswell, GA

Opening a kitchen to the living room, closing in a porch or removing a hall closet usually leaves a gap in the floor: a strip of bare subfloor where a wall stood, or a new room with no hardwood at all. Hardwood floor refinishing in Roswell is often the step that turns old and new wood into one continuous floor. The tie-in has to be right before sanding begins, because refinishing can even out color but cannot hide a crooked seam.

What a wall removal leaves behind

When a wall comes out, the hardwood on each side normally stops where the wall’s bottom plate sat, leaving an open strip roughly as wide as the wall was thick. The boards may run the same direction on both sides, or the rooms may have been laid at different times with different widths or even a different species. Board ends along the strip are often cut in a straight line, and filling that gap with one long piece leaves a seam that shows across the whole room.

Lacing in instead of patching

The cleaner method is lacing, sometimes called weaving. Boards are removed at staggered lengths on both sides of the gap, and new boards are fitted so their end joints are spread out like the rest of the floor. Done well, there is no straight line to find. It depends on matching species, width and thickness, and it helps to know whether the existing floor is red oak or white oak, because they take stain differently. Boards salvaged from a closet can supply aged wood for the most visible spots.

Where the two floors run in different directions, a single header board laid along the old wall line can turn the change into a deliberate detail. For the carpentry side of lacing and new floor sections, see hardwood floor installation in Roswell.

When an addition or enclosed porch gets new boards

For a new room, the new boards should match the existing species and width and continue in the same direction where the rooms connect. Unfinished boards are the usual choice, because they can be sanded, stained and coated in the same passes as the old floor. Laying them, including acclimation and building up the subfloor, is installation work; for the refinish, what counts is that the new floor sits flush with the old one at the opening and is fully fastened before sanding starts.

Checking the existing floor before the tie-in

The old floor sets the limits. If its finish is worn through in traffic paths, the plan should include sanding all of it, not just the new section. If it has been sanded several times, its boards may be slightly thinner than new stock above the tongue, and the new boards are sanded down to meet them at the seam. Look closely along the old wall line for nail holes, cut tongues or stains from plumbing that ran inside the wall; those boards are often replaced as part of the lace-in.

Why the connected floor is sanded and finished together

Aged wood and new wood differ in color. Oak darkens and ambers with years of light and air, while new boards start out pale. Sanding removes the surface of the old floor and narrows the gap, and a stain evens it out further. Under a clear natural finish, new boards may read lighter at first and gradually move closer to the old ones as they are exposed to light. Ask for stain samples on both old and new boards before choosing.

Use one finish product and one sheen over the entire connected area. A satin sheen across both sections helps them read as a single floor, while switching sheens at the old wall line would draw the eye straight to it.

Cure time within the remodel schedule

Floor finishing belongs near the end of the remodel, after framing, drywall and most painting, so the new coats are not under ladders and drop cloths. The finish manufacturer’s instructions then decide when the rooms can be walked on and when furniture and rugs come back. If other trades still have small tasks, they wait until the floor can take traffic or work on protected paths.

Roswell permit guidance and the written quote

Roswell is a Fulton County city. Taking out a wall or building an addition can involve structural work, and the City of Roswell Building Division guidance on when a permit is needed is the place to start for that side of the project. The floor refinishing itself is cosmetic.

A written quote for a tie-in should show the lace-in area, how and where matching boards are sourced, subfloor preparation and the full area to be sanded, followed by color, coating, sheen, coats, containment and cleanup. For the rest of the project, our remodeling services in Roswell page describes the other work we handle.

Frequently asked questions about joining old and new floors

Will new boards match my old floor after refinishing?

They can come very close when the species, width and thickness match and the whole connected area is sanded and finished together. New wood starts paler than aged wood, so a stain usually blends the two more completely than a clear finish. Under a natural finish, the new boards tend to darken toward the old ones over time as they are exposed to light.

What happens to the floor where a wall is removed in a Roswell home?

A strip of subfloor is left where the wall stood. Rather than filling it with one long board, the installer removes boards at staggered lengths on each side and weaves new ones in, so the end joints spread out like the rest of the floor. After that, the entire connected area is sanded and finished together.

Should new hardwood be prefinished or sanded on site to match an existing floor?

Unfinished boards sanded on site are generally the better fit for a tie-in. They can be sanded flush with the old floor and stained and coated with the same products, so color and sheen match across the seam. Prefinished boards have factory edges and a factory coating that will not match an older site-finished floor.

Plan the tie-in before the wall comes out

The time to think about the floor is before demolition. Contact us at 404-409-4448 to describe the wall or addition you have in mind; after seeing the existing floor, we can outline the tie-in and refinishing in a written proposal.