"Same-day" gets thrown around loosely in this industry, so we want to be specific about what it actually means on our jobs, because it's not the same thing as a one-hour paint job or same-day flooring install you might see advertised for other materials.
Here's the honest breakdown of a hardwood finishing project and where the time actually goes:
Sanding and prep takes as long as it takes. A small room with a clean existing floor might take a few hours. A room with damage, old adhesive, or multiple coats of previous finish to remove takes longer. This part of the job does not get faster with LED technology, and we're not going to pretend otherwise.
Staining, if you're doing a stain, has its own timeline depending on the color and how many layers you're applying.
Coating and curing is the part that actually changes with LED technology. This is where traditional finishes cost you the most time, sometimes a full day of drying between each coat, plus a week or more before the floor is ready for furniture and normal life. With LED-cured finishes, this step happens in minutes instead of hours or days, because the finish cures under the light instead of drying through the air.
Put those pieces together and a single room with floors already in decent shape, going through sanding, staining, and two coats of LED-cured finish, can realistically go from start to livable in one day. A whole-house project with multiple rooms, or floors that need real repair work first, is going to take longer no matter what finish you choose, because the slow part of that job was never the coating step to begin with.
What we look at before telling you same-day is realistic for your project
Room size and layout. Smaller, simpler spaces are the clearest candidates.
Current floor condition. Floors that just need a standard sand and refinish move faster than floors with water damage, board replacement, or structural issues to address first.
Number of coats needed. Most projects use two coats. Some situations call for more, and each additional coat adds time even with instant curing, since the previous coat needs to be down before the next one goes on.
Whether you're staining. A natural finish with no color change moves faster than a project involving custom stain color, especially if you want to see a sample dry before committing.
We'd rather walk your specific space and give you a number you can actually plan around than throw out a generic same-day promise and have you rearrange your week around something that doesn't hold up once we're standing in the room.
Black Forest Hardwood Floors provides hardwood floor refinishing, dustless sanding, restoration, repairs, maintenance coats, and hardwood installation for homeowners throughout Spokane, Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Post Falls, and Coeur d’Alene. Whether your floors need a full sand and refinish, a small repair, a fresh maintenance coat, or a new hardwood installation, our team helps you choose the right service for your home.
Floors after being refinished look brand new. Steve and crew were extremely professional and the attention to detail was phenomenal. When they say 99% dust free that is what they mean. We have dark granite in kitchen and had a hard time finding any dust, but if there was any, they kept it clean during the refinishing process. We are perfectionist, as well as Steve and his crew! We are satisfied in every way!
Marlin Parbs
I have been meaning to write this for several months now. These guys were very professional, did a great job, and went above and beyond. I was impressed by how clean the house was after they were completed. Definitely going to be using them when I need to get them refinished again.
William DeLashmutt
Our floors look amazing! The Black Forest crew did an outstanding job refinishing the wood floors in our kitchen, dining room, and landing. They were courteous and friendly, explaining the process along the way with tips and advice. They even brought a few more stain samples than the one I chose, laying them all on the floor so I could see how they compared to one another. And their process was dust free, which I appreciate with a split level, open floor house. The job was finished on time and I'm really happy with the outcome! I would highly recommend Black Forest Hardwood Floors.
Michelle
Great experience hiring them to refinish our hardwood floors. The office manager and the floor guys were professional and easy to work with. They cleaned up well. No hidden costs. Our refinished floors look great!
Ben
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We provide premium flooring installation, refinishing, and repair services to homeowners across Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. Trust our local team for quality and care, right in your community.
No. Even on larger projects where the whole job takes several days, LED curing still cuts out the drying and curing wait between each individual coat, which is often where the most time gets lost on a traditional job. You might not get a same-day result on a big whole-house project, but you'll likely still finish faster overall than you would with a traditional poly or oil finish on the same scope of work.
Almost always it's something discovered during sanding that wasn't visible beforehand, like water damage under a rug, a section with old adhesive residue, or boards that need replacing. We build in time to check for that kind of thing during your consultation, but floors sometimes surprise you once the old finish comes off. If that happens, we'll tell you right away rather than rushing through it.
Most single-room projects can happen while you're home, though the room itself will be off limits during sanding and while the finish cures. We'll go over what to expect for noise, dust containment, and access to the rest of the house during your consultation, since that varies depending on which room you're working in and your home's layout.
Yes, the instant cure applies to both finish types since it's the LED curing technology doing the work, not the specific finish chemistry. Which one makes more sense for your project depends more on the look you want and how much upkeep you're willing to do down the road, which we cover on our poly and oil finishing pages.
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We provide premium flooring installation, refinishing, and repair services to homeowners across Eastern
Washington and Northern Idaho. Trust our local team for quality and care, right in your community.
