Is it better to refinish or replace old hardwood floors in a heritage NB home?

In almost every case, refinishing is the better choice for heritage hardwood floors in New Brunswick — both for preserving the character and value of an older home and for getting the most out of wood that is often higher quality than anything available new today. Many heritage NB homes built between 1850 and 1950 have old-growth hardwood floors with tight grain, exceptional hardness, and a patina that simply cannot be replicated with modern lumber.

New Brunswick has a rich stock of heritage homes — Victorian-era residences in Fredericton's downtown, Georgian and Loyalist homes in Saint John, and farmsteads throughout the river valleys and rural communities that have original hardwood floors over a century old. These floors were typically milled from old-growth Maritime timber — primarily birch, maple, and occasionally fir or spruce for softwood floors — with grain density and structural integrity that modern plantation-grown lumber does not match. Refinishing preserves this irreplaceable material and maintains the historical authenticity that adds value to heritage properties.

Refinishing makes financial sense in most scenarios. A full sand-and-refinish in NB runs $3-$6 per square foot, while replacing hardwood floors costs $8-$14 per square foot fully installed — and the replacement product will almost certainly be inferior in wood quality to what you are removing. For a typical 1,000 square foot heritage home main floor, refinishing saves $5,000-$10,000 compared to replacement while producing a floor that looks brand new.

There are situations where replacement of specific boards becomes necessary alongside refinishing. Heritage NB floors commonly have damage from decades of Maritime humidity cycles, old radiator leaks, plumbing failures, and in some cases structural settling. Isolated damaged boards — warped, split, rotted, or termite-damaged sections — can be carefully removed and replaced with species-matched reclaimed or new wood, then the entire floor is sanded and refinished together. A skilled refinishing professional can weave replacement boards into an existing heritage floor so seamlessly that the repairs are invisible.

Full replacement is warranted only when the floor has been sanded too many times and the boards are now too thin to sand again (under 5/16 inch remaining thickness), when structural damage to the subfloor has caused widespread movement and instability in the hardwood above, when the floor has been so severely water-damaged that mould has penetrated through the boards, or when a previous renovation covered the original floor with layers of adhesive, vinyl, or carpet padding that damaged the wood beyond practical restoration.

Heritage homes in NB present some specific refinishing considerations. Wide plank floors (common in pre-1900 homes) will show more prominent seasonal gapping than narrow-plank floors because wider boards move more during NB's humidity swings — this is normal and historically authentic, not a defect. Square-cut nails visible in the floor surface are part of the home's character and should be set (tapped below the surface) before sanding rather than pulled. Softwood floors (fir, spruce, pine) found in some heritage NB homes dent and wear more easily than hardwood but can still be beautifully refinished — they just need a more durable finish and more frequent recoating.

Before refinishing a heritage NB floor, check whether any existing floor finishes or adhesives predate 1986 — old varnishes may contain lead, and old vinyl adhesives may contain asbestos. Testing costs $25-$50 per sample and is essential for safe refinishing in older homes.

Hire a refinishing professional experienced with heritage floors. Older wood responds differently to sanding and finishing than modern products, and an experienced professional knows how to handle the irregularities, nail patterns, and wood characteristics specific to heritage Maritime homes.

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Looking for experienced contractors? The New Brunswick Construction Network connects homeowners with qualified professionals:

• M&L Commercial and residential services
• Forever Epoxy Inc
• Arctic Fox Construction Inc.
• FRS Flooring Solutions
• The Garbage Guys Ltd