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Question - when you screen a true hardwood floor (oak) - do you (or should you) remove the shoe molding too? Not changing color, not refinishing, just redoing the poly coating as it wears down in general.
Neighbor is going for engineered and we were debating the headaches of prefinished engineered to pure solid wood / sand in place for the install. My position was the sand in place is a pain at first to install versus the click together engineered, but that hassle will pay off in a few years when it comes time for a refresh after active family life with pets have done their thing via a screening of the oak for a new layer of poly. Again, assuming no changing of color, just the poly. Then we got into the shoe molding part. I said no you don’t have to pull the shoe molding for a screen, he said yes. So, just curious what you all think too?
In my opinion true hardwood floor is much better than prefinished engineered in every way including looks. I would keep it for certain.
We have never screened a floor, but we have sanded and refinished which definitely meant taking off the quarter round (or shoe molding whichever is installed). Although time consuming to take off the molding, carefully so as not to damage the baseboard, and mark it for purposes of replacing afterward, I do feel you should. Otherwise you will see a line of old poly and new poly along the molding which will be unsightly.
It's really no different from preparing walls to be painted. Sometimes the prep work of removing switchplates and outlet covers and maybe taping off areas takes longer than the project itself, but in the end well worth the time to do it right and be satisfied with results.
It would be just as if my floor finishers were coming to do the final coat.
Shoe mold went down after the first coat. Screening is like a light sanding to give "tooth" to the first coat. Removing shoe mold would most likely just create more problems/damage when re-installing!
I think if the finish being used is the same that was used, it probably doesn’t make sense to pull the shoe molding. But to Mawipafl’s point, I think if the finish is slightly different (different sheen or different composition like oil versus water based), then probably best to pull it. For me, I damn sure hope Bona never goes out of business… ours (Extra Matte Traffic HD) is holding up quite well after 3 years and a 110lb lab plus two active kids, but nothing is perfect. I can tell I’ll need a screen probably in another couple of years to reapply a fresh couple of layers. The high traffic area that gets pounded on probably 100 times a day and the main drag strip though the house. Glad I won’t have to wrestle with all of that damn shoe molding!
Did my own screening on an old 1920s home. Used a buffer machine with a steel wool like pad then slightly roughed up the corners by hand. The shoe molding being on a different angle was ignored yet the final result was just fine after cleanup and a poly coat.
I had someone else screen the floor in one bedroom in my 1927 bungalow. They didn't remove the shoe molding. I followed it up by re-staining the floor and applying a coat of Restorz-it as a final finish instead of poly. It worked beautifully.
I had someone else screen the floor in one bedroom in my 1927 bungalow. They didn't remove the shoe molding. I followed it up by re-staining the floor and applying a coat of Restorz-it as a final finish instead of poly. It worked beautifully.
This makes absolutely no sense at all!
If the flooring had a poly finish on it to begin with, and it was screened- meaning you gave "tooth" to the finish- it was not removed. You can't "restain" over poly. And Restorz is nothing more than a "rejuvenater"- the ethylene glycol and alcohols in the formula do nothing more than "melt" the existing finish(es) (usually lacquer- probably wouldn't even touch poly), that bring back some luster with buffing.
When we had our floors screened, the quarter round molding was removed to ensure that the full floor was screened. Quarter round is cheap, so replacing any pieces that break during removal, or have been dinged by the vacuum cleaner is not going to set you back much.
I have prefinished engineered and solid wood floors. Both glued down to concrete and clicked together.
If you get a good engineered floor with a thick enough wear layer, you should be able to refinish it more than once. And who refinishes a floor willy nilly anyway? That's something I plan to do when we sell, so it doesn't matter to me if it can be refinished six times vs. 2-3. Both floors scratch too thanks to our dog. Having a wood floor means embracing the scratches.
But I've never had a floor screened. I'd probably have the mouldings taken off because they aren't the same wood as the floor.
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