Hardwood Floors October/November 2025

By Avi Hadad

The first time I ran my belt sander on prefinished floors was a nightmare. My usual 50-grit belt didn’t even scratch the surface before losing any cutting capabilities. I tried a rougher grit with absolutely no luck. Then I tried an 80-grit belt which seemed to work, but only for a few more square feet before giving up on me. I didn’t know what to do except keep changing sandpaper and pushing through it. Much like a long workout, I just had to put my head down and do the work. We call it “embrace the suck.” After using an endless number of belts and edger discs, I managed to strip the finish off and continue with my usual sanding process. There were not that many floors like that in need of a refinish back in the early 2000s. I would maybe get one job a year that called for that type of sanding. Now, in 2025, the demand is growing, and those new floors that were put in decades ago need a full refinish. For the last 25 years, mainly I’ve been sanding top nail floors, because that is the majority of the floors we have in the San Francisco Bay Area. Every now and then I would have the luxury of refinishing a tongue and groove floor. I call it a luxury because sanding a top nail floor is a lot more challenging to do. It is like giving a contractor who only is used to sanding oak floors, a maple floor. You can get away with a lot of things on an oak floor that would get you in trouble on a maple one. Sanding floors has become second nature for me. I enjoy working with wood, sanding, installing, and creating. However, the aluminum oxide makes the fun part of working with wood not so fun. Over the years, manufacturers have come up with different minerals and products to tackle these hard surface finishes. Each type of abrasive has its pros and cons. Those materials can vary from silicon carbide, garnet and ceramic to zirconia and aluminum oxide. Ceramic abrasives are harder minerals and are a common material used to cut through those finishes. Know your stuff inside out, and it will make life easier.

I love woodworking to the core. Unfortunately, there are two aspects of the job I absolutely dread. One is staining, and the other one is refinishing aluminum oxide finished floors.

the magazine of the national wood flooring association

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