Hardwood Floor Restoration | Refinishing | Sanding
Rediscover your hardwood’s beauty. At National Floors, our C‑15 licensed craftsmen are Bay Area specialists in hardwood floor refinishing, resurfacing & restoration. With over 100 projects completed annually, we bring worn-out wood back to life.
Why Choose Refinishing Over Replacement?
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Cost-effective transformation – Refinish existing hardwood to look new for far less than replacement.
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Increase home value – Rich hardwood floors elevate curb appeal and resale potential.
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Eco-friendly durability – Our low-VOC products and eco-conscious finishes deliver beautiful, sustainable results with fast turnaround and minimal disruption.
Our Proven 3‑Step Process:
- Expert assessment – We evaluate wear, water damage, and finish integrity.
- Pro-level sanding – Dust-controlled sanding removes old finish and levels every surface.
- Stain + seal – Customize color, then seal with eco-friendly polyurethane for lasting protection.
Walk on the floor in 24 hrs. Furniture replacement in 48 hours (lift and place-never drag your furniture)
DIY vs. Professional Refinishing
Yes, homeowners can try DIY—but professional-grade equipment, skill, and quality products ensure flawless, long-lasting results. Skip the hassle and potential mistakes—trust our licensed team.
Types of Floors We Refinish:
Solid & engineered hardwood floors—including bamboo, red oak, white oak, cherry, walnut, mahogany, parquet, and even thick-layer engineered wood when feasible.
Ready for a Stunning Floor Makeover?
Call (408) 309‑1880 or request a free in‑home estimate today. Enjoy 15% off your refinishing project—expert service, faster turnaround, remarkable results.
Hardwood floor Contractor | Sander | Finisher
Sand and finishing hardwood floors takes a tremendous amount of skill, patience and know how to continuously turn out high quality work. On average, our wood floor contractors will refinish over 130 floors per year. It doesn't matter if your hardwood floors are red oak, white oak, maple, Santos mahogany or Brazilian cherry. National Floors has sanded them all. Leave it to us to restore your hardwood.
How to determine if you can Refinish Hardwood floors
Before the work can begin, we need to find out what type of floor you have. By determining the type of hardwood floors you have, you as a homeowner, can make the best decision as how to move forward with your flooring project. The easiest way to detect the type of hardwood floor in your home is to access teh heater vent or register in your floor. If you have a vent in your floor, then you have a wooden subfloor. You can then look at the profile of the floor to which type you have. Typically, we can break your hardwood floors down into 2 categories.
Sanding Solid Hardwood Floors
Sanding "Solid Hardwood" floors is easy. The hard part may be identifying how thick your solid hardwood floors are. The pic on the right, CLICK image to enlarge, demonstrates how you can easily tell if your hardwood floors are solid. This example would be a premium hardwood floor that is usually installed over a wooden sub-floor. These solid hardwood floors can be sanded many times due to their thickness. What does that mean to you? It basically means the floors can be restored to a "Like New" state many times. Some solid hardwood floors are of course thick than others, but even the thinnest of the solid hardwood floor will have a very long life.
Sanding Engineered Hardwood 
The second type of hardwood floor is "Engineered hardwood" floor. This type of floor is NOT a solid hardwood floor. An engineered hardwood floor is designed to be installed over a concrete slab. This type of hardwood floor usually has 3-5 base layers intended to keep the top layer or Wear Layer protected from the moisture present in all concrete slabs. There are a few ways of determining whether or not your engineered hardwood floors are a candidate for a sand and finish project. The easiest way is to posses a loose or extra board from the installation. At that point, you can put a nickel on top and take a picture of the "Profile" or side view. You can then text it to us so we can see if the wear layer is thick enough to sand. Many times over the years, we have had homeowners tell us that the person who sold them the engineered hardwood floors said that the floors can be automatically be sanded up to 3 times. This is a sales pitch from a person who has NEVER performed the work. Sand and finishing engineered hardwood floors is always done with caution. Only a solid floor can be sanded aggressively without the risk of burning through the wear layer. The picture on the right depicts the proper way to photograph the nickel on top of the engineered hardwood floor to determine the wear layer.
Sanding Hardwood Stairs
Yes, we can sand, stain and coat your hardwood stairs. We'll make them look new again!
In general, there are a few things to consider before we can quote you a price:
- We need to know which species of hardwood you have.
- We need a stair/step and landing count.
- We need to know if you want Option "A" or "B" (Look to the right)
- We also need to know what "Stain Color" you desire.
Just to clarify, there are a few different parts to a stair. There part of the step that you actually walk on is called the "Tread". The vertical piece is called the "Riser". You will have the choice to limit the sanding to the tread only. We call this option "A". It's pretty typical to have the riser painted, usually white for contrast if you choose this option. You can also have both the "Tread & Riser" sand and finished and refer to this as option "B". Ultimately, both options are beautiful. As with the hardwood floors, you will also have a color choice available. Option 1 is Natural and Option 2 is staining the stairs to a desired custom color.
The Process of Sanding Hardwood floors
The first thing we do when sand and finishing your hardwood floors is to remove the old finish and "Flatten" your wood floors. Worn out wooden floors tend to change shape in time and thus looses its flatness. If you get down on your hands and knees and rub your hand across your floor, you will feel the unevenness and micro-bevels first hand. We would then add "Wood filler" to fill in the hairline cracks for a better appearance. After sanding the floor, 4-5 times, you will be left with a "New" surface. Those old floors will look amazing, but they are actually very fragile and need protecting.
The next step would be to add the color of choice. If you want a "Natural" look, we would then add 3 coats of commercial grade finish. This finish or polyurethane cannot be purchased over the counter. You need a contractors license to purchase. This is the same high quality finish that is used in businesses and malls. If you have oak floors, like in the picture to the right, the "Natural" look will result in a golden tone. If you prefer any other color, then you will need to have your hardwood floors stained. With oak hardwood, you can go in any direction. There are literally dozens of colors to choose from.
You should know, not all hardwoods can be stained, but most can. Don't worry about the technical aspect, we got this. We will take your old hardwood floors in Alameda County and make them look like "New" again. What can you expect after the work is done? Floors that are flat, color that is even and a sheen of your choice.
Refinishing hardwood floor cost
It's a common question to know what refinishing hardwood floors cost. It's typically based on square footage, STAIN COLOR and the type of polyurethane finish you want to use. With that being said, the more square footage you have, the better the price. Even the smallest job will require a 2-3 day service. There are many variables for us to consider before we can give you an accurate cost for refinishing hardwood floors. This is why it is best to have an estimator come to your home and give you a quote. It's free, without obligation and takes about 10-15 minutes of your time. Just so you know, the typical cost for refinishing hardwood floors is much cheaper than installing new carpet. Please feel free to call us and perhaps we can give you a rough quote over the phone.
Sandless refinishing vs. Sand and finish hardwood floors
There are companies out there that are selling a "Sandless" refinishing process. What is a hardwood "Sandless" refinishing process? It's basically a shortcut process that most consider a Sham! It's merely a maintenance program or technically the very last step in a full sand and finish process. Without getting into too much detail, you can NEVER restore a hardwood floor with a sandless hardwood refinishing system. This service, in essence, is masquerading the sale of one service for another. Sandless hardwood refinishing is typically performed by a person who does NOT possess a C15 (Hardwood floor specialist) contractors license. More on that later. This sand-less refinishing maintenance program, which we refer to as "Re-Coating", will not correct hardwood floor issues like deep scratches or gouges. If you have other issues with your hardwood floor like sun fading or discoloration, this sand-less option will not correct the problem. Why not? Because you will just be top coating the existing floor. Another way to look at it is, if you want to paint a car with a minor dent and some dings and decide to pass on the body work, you will be left with a shiny car that has a minor dent and dings. Those mechanical imperfections cannot be corrected with a re-coat.
The "Only" way to erase deep scratches, gouges and discoloration in hardwood floors would be to mechanically correct them with a sanding and finish process. When you sand the floor, you are creating a new canvas. When you have a fresh new starting point, the floors will look like new again, every time. You can't get the same results with a re-coat. If you have seen a re-coated floor next to a sand and finished floor, there is absolutely no comparison. The sanded floors are without doubt superior in appearance and durability. When the floors are sanded, they are top coated 3 times with commercial grade materials that can only be purchased by licensed contractors.
