Prefinished hardwood flooring is an attractive option for many homeowners looking to add beauty and value to their homes. As with any home improvement choice, prefinished hardwood flooring comes with its own set of pros and cons.
On the plus side, prefinished hardwood floors are known for their durability and ease of installation. They come already sanded, stained, and sealed, which means they’re ready to walk on immediately after installation. This can be a significant time-saver compared to unfinished hardwood floors that require these steps to be done on-site.
However, there are also some drawbacks of prefinished hardwood floors. So stay tuned to find out the advantages and disadvantages in detail.
Table of Contents
Prefinished Hardwood Flooring Pros And Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| No Bad Smells | Tough to Fix Scratches or Dents |
| Stronger Surface Finish | Careful Installation Needed |
| Ready to Use Quickly | Gaps Between Boards |
| No Need for Sanding | Hard to Refinish in the Future |
| Easy to Find and Buy |
No Bad Smells
Prefinished flooring doesn’t have the strong smells that come with finishing floors at home. The finish and any odors are already taken care of in the factory, so your floor is ready and smell-free when it arrives.
Stronger Surface Finish
The coating on prefinished floors is usually thicker and more even than what you can get when finishing floors at your house. This makes it tougher and better at resisting scratches and marks.
Ready to Use Quickly
Once prefinished flooring is installed, you can walk on it right away. With other types of flooring, you often have to wait for the finish to dry, which can take a long time.
No Need for Sanding
Prefinished flooring comes already sanded, so you avoid the huge mess of dust that comes with sanding floors at home.
Easy to Find and Buy
Prefinished flooring is very popular, so it’s easier to find in stores. Unfinished flooring might need to be specially ordered and can take longer to get.
Tough to Fix Scratches or Dents
If prefinished flooring gets scratched or dented, it’s hard to fix. You often have to replace the whole piece of wood. Matching the factory finish can be tough if you try to do it yourself.
Careful Installation Needed
Since prefinished floors can be hard to repair, installers need to be very careful not to scratch or dent the flooring during installation.
Gaps Between Boards
The seams between the boards of prefinished floors aren’t sealed. This means moisture can get in more easily compared to floors finished on site, where the finish covers the seams completely.
Hard to Refinish in the Future
If you ever need to completely refinish prefinished flooring, it’s a big job. You have to sand off a lot of the tough factory finish to get down to the wood, which can be hard and time-consuming.
Final Thoughts
When weighing the prefinished hardwood flooring pros and cons, it’s clear that these floors offer several benefits like being odor-free, having a strong finish, and being quick and easy to install and find.
However, they also come with challenges like being difficult to repair if scratched or dented, needing careful installation to avoid damage, potential issues with gaps between boards, and being tough to refinish down the line.
It’s important to consider both these advantages and disadvantages to decide if prefinished hardwood flooring is the right choice for your home.
John Henry is a passionate co-creator of FlooringFlow.com. a website dedicated to answer all of your flooring related questions. After taking the challenges of flooring DIYs while learning skills for years, John is now ready to share his knowledge related to floor remodeling and projects with you.
