What is the difference between prefinished and site-finished hardwood for NB installations?

Prefinished hardwood arrives with its stain and protective coats already applied at the factory, while site-finished hardwood is installed raw and then sanded, stained, and sealed in your home. Both produce beautiful floors, but they differ significantly in cost, timeline, durability, and how well they handle New Brunswick's Maritime humidity swings.

Prefinished hardwood is the more popular choice in NB today, and for good reason. The factory finish is cured under UV light or aluminum oxide coatings that are harder and more scratch-resistant than any polyurethane you can apply on-site. Installation is faster — once the planks are nailed down, the floor is ready to walk on immediately with no sanding dust, no fume-filled drying days, and no waiting 3-5 days for coats to cure. Materials run $5-$9/sq ft with installation adding $3-$6/sq ft, putting a typical 1,000 sq ft main floor at $8,000-$15,000 fully installed. The downside is the micro-bevelled edges between planks. These V-grooves are milled into each board to hide minor height differences, but they collect dirt and create visible seam lines that some homeowners dislike.

Site-finished hardwood gives you a seamless, glass-smooth surface with no bevels between planks — the sanding and finishing process levels everything into one continuous plane. You also get unlimited colour control, choosing any stain shade and sheen level to match your vision exactly. However, site finishing adds $2-$4/sq ft to the project for sanding, staining, and 3-4 coats of polyurethane, plus 5-7 extra days of project time while coats dry. Your home will be uninhabitable during sanding (fine dust gets everywhere despite containment) and finishing (oil-based polyurethane fumes require ventilation and vacating the space for 24-48 hours per coat).

In New Brunswick's climate, there is an important moisture consideration. Site-finished floors get their protective seal applied after the wood has acclimated to your home's conditions, which means the finish seals the wood at its local equilibrium moisture content. This can be an advantage — but only if you time the installation correctly. Finishing hardwood during NB's winter heating season (October-April) when indoor humidity drops to 20-30% means the wood is at its driest and most contracted state. When summer Maritime humidity arrives and the wood expands, the finish flexes with it. Conversely, finishing during NB's humid summer means the wood is expanded, and winter contraction may open micro-cracks in the finish along board edges.

Prefinished boards, because they are sealed on all six sides at the factory, have slightly better moisture resistance overall — the factory seal on the bottom and edges slows moisture absorption from the subfloor, which matters in NB homes where subfloor moisture can fluctuate seasonally.

For most New Brunswick homeowners, prefinished hardwood is the practical choice — faster installation, harder finish, less disruption, and good moisture performance. Choose site-finished if you want a perfectly seamless look, a custom stain colour, or you are refinishing an existing floor where matching new boards to old requires on-site colour matching. Either way, acclimate the wood for 5-10 days in the room where it will be installed, and maintain indoor humidity at 35-55% year-round with a humidifier in winter and dehumidifier or AC in summer.

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

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