Every refinishing project generates the same dozen questions, so here they are, answered straight. The headlines: you can completely change your floor's color during a refinish ($6.50/sq ft with stain), baseboards stay on the wall, satin sheen makes the most people happy, and pets wait a few days longer than humans. The twelve full answers below each link to a deeper guide where we have one.
After a thousand-plus floors around King and Snohomish County, we can predict the questions at an estimate before the coffee's poured — and we mean that affectionately, because they're good questions. Rather than the usual listicle padding, this post is structured the way you'd actually use it: three fact cards, a quick-reference table, and then every question answered properly in the FAQ below, with links to our deep-dive guides when a two-paragraph answer isn't enough.
Three Anchors Before the Questions
roughly when Versailles began swapping its water-damaged marble floors for wood parquet — maintained for centuries afterward by hand-scraping and re-waxing. Renewing wood floors is a craft older than electricity.
the area a gallon of floor finish covers per coat. The finisher carrying two pails up your steps is carrying your floor's entire next decade of protection in both hands.
dust, smell, and time — nearly every refinishing question traces back to one of them. All three have shrunk dramatically in twenty years thanks to vacuum-attached sanding and fast-curing waterborne finishes.
The Quick-Reference Card
| You're wondering... | Short answer | Longer answer |
|---|---|---|
| Can the color change? | Yes — any shade, $6.50/sq ft | Stain color guide |
| Full refinish or just a recoat? | Water-drop test decides | Decision guide |
| How long? How much? | 3–5 days · $1.99–$6.50/sq ft | 2026 cost guide · timeline |
| Squeaks, stairs, sheen, pets? | All answered below | Scroll on ↓ |
How to Read the Answers
Two things to keep in mind as you go. First, floors differ: species, age, previous sandings, and finish history bend almost every answer, which is why the free in-home estimate exists — it converts “usually” into “your floor, specifically.” Second, where a question deserves a whole article, we've written one; the answers below give you the honest short version and point you to the long one. The full map of the subject lives in our complete refinishing guide.
The Questions Nobody Asks — But Should
“How much wood does my floor have left?” Every full sanding spends a slice of the finite wood above the tongue-and-groove joint. If your floor has been refinished before — especially by an unknown previous owner's contractor — the remaining thickness is the single most important fact about it, and a good estimator checks it at a vent or threshold before quoting. It changes how aggressively the floor can be sanded and whether a dark stain (which demands a deeper, cleaner cut) is wise.
“What have you been cleaning this floor with?” We ask it; homeowners rarely volunteer it. Years of grocery-store polish or oil soap can leave residues that affect how stain takes and how finish bonds. Telling your refinisher the floor's product history isn't a confession — it's how surprises get engineered out of the project before machines arrive.
“What exactly is excluded from this quote?” Our pricing is flat and public, but across the industry, the gap between a low bid and a fair one usually hides in exclusions: stairs, repairs, appliance handling, containment, extra prep for painted or waxed floors. Ask every bidder for the not-included list in writing. The bid that names its exclusions is nearly always the one you can trust.
And one question to ask yourself rather than a contractor: what do I want this floor to look like in fifteen years? A refinish is a rare reset point — the moment to fix the color you've tolerated, the sheen that shows every footprint, the squeak by the kitchen door. Homeowners who treat it as pure maintenance get their floor back; the ones who spend an extra evening on the decisions get a better house. Now — the twelve questions.
The Twelve Questions, Answered Properly
Can I change my floor's color when it gets refinished?
Does refinishing fix squeaky floors?
Will my refinished floors be slippery?
Do baseboards have to come off for refinishing?
Can stairs be refinished to match the new floors?
Which sheen should I choose: matte, satin, or semi-gloss?
How soon can pets walk on the new finish?
Do refinished floors smell like chemicals afterward?
Do refinished floors need special cleaners?
Will sanding remove the wear grooves in front of the sink?
Will my floor look brand new, or keep some character marks?
How far ahead should I schedule a refinishing project?
Have a Question We Didn't Answer? Ask a Refinisher, Free
Bring us the question your floor is asking — we'll answer it in your living room, with a written quote if you want one. Free in-home estimates across King & Snohomish County since 2013.
Related reading: Hardwood refinishing: the complete guide · 2026 cost guide · The day-by-day timeline · Floor refinishing service
