| |
Prefinished |
Site Finished |
| V-Joints |
Yes
- Required to hide minor height differences between the boards
- the most obvious difference between the two types of floors |
No (unless you want them)
- Any difference in height will be sanded out in the finishing process |
| Finish |
- Finished under 'ideal' conditions so no hair, dust etc in finish
- Sheens limited to those available
- Almost all brands will change colour with UV exposure
- Most coatings have very hard particles (powder) embedded in them to resist wear. These include Aluminum Oxide, Titanium Oxide and ceramic. |
- While we do make every effort to clean the floors we can miss a hair or piece of grit or dust
- Most brands of finish have several sheen levels available
- Streetshoe (our regular finish) has a UV inhibitor to greatly reduce colour change due to UV exposure
- Wearmax finish has both UV inhibitors and ceramic particles for extreme wear resistance |
| Colour |
- Factory applied colour stains are normally very even in colour
- Colours limited to those available |
- Site applied stains are prone to slight unevenness. Very dark, very red and pastel colours are more likely to have this problem.
- Virtually any colour is possible |
| Time Required |
- Faster completion time since no finishing is required. |
- Finishing will usually add 3 - 6 days to the installation time |
| Mess |
- While there is no fine sanding dust there is still some dust from the saws. |
- This is the reason most people choose prefinished floors. The dust from sanding (buffing) is very fine and tends to find its way into most areas of the site |
| Design Possibilities |
- There are now many species available in prefinished flooring
- Simple borders and inlays are possible |
- Every year there are more new species available and there are still more types and sizes of unfinished floors than prefinished
- The only limit to the design of a site-finished floor is your imagination (and maybe your budget?) |
| Clearing Space |
- We can work around a few large pieces or furniture |
- The whole area to be sanded has to be clear |
| Water Resistance |
- There is no difference. |
- NO, THE FINISH DOES NOT BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN THE BOARDS! It is not impervious to water penetration. |
