Wood Flooring - Pre-finished Versus Unfinished

Up until recently, the majority of wood flooring sales were unfinished. But now, more pre-finished is sold. This is partly due to the fact that pre-finished is cheaper because it does not require as much labor during installation. Also, the pre-finished has a more durable finish than the unfinished, so it is better for high traffic areas.

Pre-finished flooring has several coats of a protective surface finish, which is applied at the factory. Because you do not have to sand and finish the flooring once it goes down, you do not have the dust, noise or fumes.

Unfinished flooring is put down and finished on site. You do have the advantages of choosing a larger range of colors, stains and finishes. Also, unfinished is available in more widths and wood types and it can be matched very easily to existing wood floors. You will, however, have dust from the sanding, fumes of the staining and a big mess.

Personally, when we put hardwood floors in our home, we opted for the pre-finished. We already had wood in the foyer and the diningroom. The picture below was taken while the pre-finished wood was being installed.

The wood that is horizontal at the top of the picture was already in the house. It was unfinished when it was installed and finished at the site. I think even though we put down pre-finished, they match up well.

To Home Flooring

To Home Page