How Long Does Refinishing Take?

For a 1,000 square foot floor, sanding usually takes four to five days. Coating takes two days. That puts the on-site portion of a clear-finish job at roughly six to seven working days before cleanup and the final walkthrough.

Day one through four (or five): containment, furniture protection, and the full sanding sequence. Coarse through fine grits with ceramic solid-backed and mesh paper, edges and corners, then planetary refinement.

Day six and seven: sealer and finish coats, with proper cure windows between them.

Stain adds an extra day of sanding, plus half a day to a full day before coating begins. Loba stain dries in about an hour, so the actual dry time is short; the extra day is for the additional sanding step and making sure the color reads right under your light before we lock it in.

Square footage is the obvious one. Extensive board replacement or repairs add one to two days. Stairs are almost always a separate multi-day item because they are hand work. Hardwax oil systems shift the schedule toward longer waits between fewer applications.

Walkable in socks: same day for most waterborne systems, twelve to twenty-four hours for oils.

Light furniture back: twenty-four to forty-eight hours, lifted and placed rather than slid.

Heavy furniture and appliances: three to five days.

Area rugs: one to two weeks. This one gets ignored the most and causes the most damage — a rug traps solvent and leaves a permanent outline in a finish that has not fully cured.

Most clients stay in the home, on an unaffected level. Kitchens and single-level homes are harder; we sequence those in halves where the layout allows it.

We give you the actual dates in writing before we start, including cure milestones, so you can plan around them.