For our floor refinishing, we used JDL Wood Floors. This post details why we selected them, now onto the review.

Overall, we were very satisfied with the service and quality of the job and would highly recommend them.

Our floors were in rough shape (as you may remember from here, here, & here). Lucio (Jon’s head refinisher) and his crew were able to bring them back to their original splendor (or rather, what I imagine that to be).

Jon was very easy to work with. Communication was great; he returned our calls, emails, & texts promptly. He was able to work with our tight timetable and started 2 days after we agreed on the total price. Regarding the cost, he really worked with our budget and didn’t go over. What we agreed upon before work began was what we paid upon satisfactory completion. The lack of surprises was awesome.

We knew we wanted the floors stained but didn’t know exactly what color. Lucio put some test samples down at the end of sanding day 1.

Seeing the samples actually on the floors was crucial! SO so helpful for us. Stains looked a lot different on our floors than they did on the Minwax website. (We went with #3, Provincial, by the way.)

Things I wish I’d known & would have done differently:

• Hire a plumber & remove the radiators. We didn’t remove the radiators before JDL started working in hopes that the refinishing could just happen around them. While they were able to scrape under the radiators, they weren’t able to get behind them. It’s not noticeable but if (God forbid) we ever remove the radiators, it will be.

• New wood & old wood take the stain VERY differently. This isn’t a bad thing! We had some rotted areas that needed to be replaced and couldn’t find any reclaimed wood. If we weren’t on such a tight deadline, we may have spent more time looking for 130+ year old pine but it just didn’t work for us. The new wood stained lighter than the old wood.
  Personally, I don’t mind it at all. There were areas that the previous owner had patched, so what we did wasn’t anything different. They’re old floors, I don’t expect them to look like new floors or completely uniform.

• You never know what’s underneath. Before JDL started, I had this picture in my mind of beautiful, rustic floors refinished with no hint of their previous painted life. Our floors are totally beautiful & rustic but there is still a hint of paint in between the boards. Sanders take off the top layer but if paint has seeped down into the cracks, it’s not coming out. Here you can see hints of red leftover from our very red painted floors.
  Same with filler. The sanders will smooth it all out but they can’t get in between boards. Even if they could get in between the boards, you’d have cracks that would trap crud & dirt. Gross. Again, this is something we were OK with. The floors are original. The paint & filler is all part of the history of our house. We’d rather have that part of the history than rip them out and put new stuff down. It seems so much more authentic this way.

From start to finish, it took JDL 5 days to complete the whole job. They started Wednesday and finished Monday (took Sunday off). They provided excellent service and value.

Saturday, Rob & I went over to the house and just laid on the floor. Yeah, we’re giant dorks. They’re just so smooth and the color is incredibly rich; simply yummy. (Satin was the way to go, by the way.) We’re very happy with them.

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*Disclaimer: Obviously, individual experiences with contractors will vary. We can only share the experiences we’ve have. Our reviews are based solely on personal experience. Always do your research and check references. Happy renovating!!