Prefinished hardwood floorings have never been more popular than today. The reason is that they are stained and finished in the factory professionally. Hence, they are durable and easy to install. More recently, manufacturers began to offer prefinished floorings in a wide variety of styles, colors, and patterns. There are several advantages of buying and installing prefinished hardwood flooring as well as disadvantages. Sometimes choosing between an unfinished and finished is not an easy decision. To make sure that the final result of the flooring project deserves your valuable time and money, you should understand the pros and cons of prefinished floors. Benefits of Prefinished Floors 1. Durability: The first advantage of prefinished floors is that they are more resistant to scratches and spills than in site-finished floors. The finish treatment is applied to the planks in the factory with professional tools. This means they are able to use strong chemicals that is otherwise is not possible at home. The labor cost of finishing is reduced in this way. When you purchase a prefinished hardwood floor you are going to pay for more than 5 layers of urethane sealant. Each layer of sealant typically involves aluminum oxide crystals embedded in a UV-cured urethane coat. The result is a more durable and reliable floor. The durability is especially important in high humidity or traffic areas. Therefore, the prefinished floor is a wise choice for a kitchen or subfloor. 2. More Warranty: Manufacturers typically warranty site-applied finishes for 3 to 5 years. In contrary, the sealant finishes applied at the factory may have warranties up to 25 years or more. In addition, prefinished floors usually come with a warranty protecting against board defects. This should be enough to show you the quality of coating layers in prefinished floors. 3. Fast and Easy Installation: Perhaps the primary benefit of prefinished floors is easy and fast installation. Once you purchased a prefinished wood floor all you should do for floor installation is to nail it down to the subfloor. This is quicker and cleaner than going through the process of sanding and finishing. You don’t have to know how to use a sanding machine or even hire a professional for sanding. In Addition, the risk that you damage your expensive flooring during sanding is eliminated. This makes the prefinished boards the best option for DIYers. Besides, it is not necessary to wait for hours or even days to finish to dry. You can walk on the floor as soon as it is installed. 4. Less Mess: Sanding a wood floor is a messy and odorous process. Sanding dissipates a lot of sawdust in the air. Besides some finishes used for floor coating are detrimental to health or even toxic. If you have kids or pets you cannot say at home while sanding and finishing is going on. Furthermore, you have to wait for the finish to dry before moving in again which may last for days. You can skip all of these issues by buying and installing prefinished hardwood flooring. 5. Ease of maintenance: When the sealant is applied in the factory the floor it is slightly more impervious to spills, stains, and discoloration. The stronger the finish is, it is easier to maintain. In addition, a thicker coating lasts for a long time which means you have more few years before you have to reach into your pocket and pay for sanding and finishing. You can choose prefinished floors to reduce time, expense and chaos required for sanding unfinished floors a few years later. 6. It can be refinished: Although factory-applied sealant layers are usually enough in the life span of the floor you can sand and finish a faded prefinished floor manually just like another type of hardwood floors. Refinishing an old floor reveals its natural wood color and fixes scratches and dents. All tips and tricks for sanding and refinishing a hardwood floor applied to prefinished floors too. It is better you leave the task of in-situ refinishing a prefinished flooring beyond the factory-applied coat to professional rather than Doing It Yourself(DIY)