At N-Hance®, we’re known for our one-of-a-kind floor refinishing process. One of the things that makes this process so unique is its impact on indoor air quality.
With a traditional floor refinishing service, you need to worry about things like wood dust and VOCs. Both can trigger short-term respiratory illness, and both have been linked to serious long-term disease. If left to linger in your home, these pollutants can severely impact your family’s health.
Thanks to our unique process, N-Hance floor refinishing comes with none of these concerns. This makes us an ideal choice in homes with young children, elderly family members, or anyone coping with a chronic respiratory condition. It also makes us a great choice for anyone who’s simply worried about healthy indoor air quality.
Floor Refinishing & Air Quality Concerns
Traditional floor refinishing methods can reduce indoor air quality in two ways. The first is wood dust from sanding. The second, chemical fumes from the new finish layer.
Here’s a quick look at why both can be cause for concern.
Wood Dust
To refinish hardwood floors, you first need to remove the original layer of finish. At the same time, you need to prep the underlying wood, so that the new finish will adhere to it properly. Traditionally, this is accomplished by sanding floors ahead of refinishing.
Given the surface area involved, floor sanding requires the use of a heavy-duty drum sander. As these machines sand your floors, they generate heavy volumes of wood dust. Due to its fine size, wood dust particles can lead to serious short-term respiratory problems. Wood dust is also linked to serious long-term health issues, like chronic bronchitis and lung cancer.
Worse yet, much of this dust isn’t actually wood. Instead, it’s made up of chemicals from previous finish layers and wood treatment products. These chemicals make the health risks of wood dust even higher.
When working indoors, refinishers will typically work to contain as much wood dust as possible. But wood dust is notoriously hard to contain. And it can linger in your home for weeks or months after refinishing.
The good news? It’s getting easier to find floor refinishing services that don’t require sanding.
Chemical Fumes
For a long time, the best floor refinishing products were all oil-based finishes. Oil-based polyurethane finishes remain popular to this day, achieving a clear, consistent, and durable finish on hardwood floors.
Unfortunately, oil-based finishes come with serious drawbacks. That’s because these finishes contain high levels of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).
As these finishes cure, they release harsh chemical fumes into the air. Like wood dust, these fumes can trigger short-term respiratory problems if inhaled. And like wood dust, they’ve also been linked to serious conditions like bronchitis and cancer.
What’s more, some oil-based finishes have an off-gassing period of several months. This lengthens the exposure period, increasing the risks of long-term health concerns.
Oil-based finishes also produce noxious odors. Many families choose to stay in a hotel after floor refinishing because of these odors, which can linger for several days after application.
Thankfully, oil-based finishes aren’t the only high-quality option for refinishing. Newer products — like water-based finishes — produce similar results to oil-based finishes. Yet they contain minimal levels of VOCs and produce virtually no odors, making them a healthier choice.
Breathe Easy with N-Hance Floor Refinishing
At N-Hance, we know how important it is to maintain healthy air inside your home.
That’s why our floor refinishing process involves zero sanding on most projects. It’s also why our refinishers choose water-based polyurethane finishes instead of oil-based products.
Instead of sanding, we use a liquid abrasion technique. This removes the previous layer of finish and prepares hardwood floors for refinishing. We will occasionally spot-sand areas in need of restoration. However, this creates a tiny fraction of the wood dust generated by traditional refinishing.
At the same time, we avoid the use of oil-based finishes. Instead, we use water-based polyurethane finishes, achieving a crystal-clear, long-lasting finish — without the toxic fumes or unpleasant odors of oil-based finishes.
Learn more about our unique refinishing process and book a FREE floor refinishing estimate by calling N-Hance today at (855) 642-6230!