For Our Clients
The Homeowner Guide to Your Hardwood Floor Project
Everything to expect before, during, and after your project: how to prepare your home, how color selection works, what each finish system does, and how to care for your floors for decades.
Before Your Project
Preparing Your Home
A hardwood project goes smoothly when the house is ready for it. There may be some disruption and inconvenience along the way, and our job is to keep it to the least possible amount. Here is what your home needs before the crew arrives.
Clear the work areas
All furniture, appliances, and personal belongings come out of the rooms being floored before crew arrival. Wall hangings too, sanding vibration travels. When moving help is needed, we coordinate a professional moving company for you.
Toilets and pedestal sinks
For new installations, fixtures sitting on the floor must be removed before work begins. For sand and finish projects, removal is the better path, though we can work around them when necessary. Removal and reconnection are handled by you or your plumber.
Run your HVAC
Bring the home to 60 to 80 degrees and 30 to 50 percent relative humidity starting two weeks before the project, and hold those conditions during and after. Wood lives and moves with moisture, and finishes cure on schedule only in that range.
A weatherproof home
No open windows, active leaks, or moisture intrusion. If your home has a crawlspace, it needs a 6-mil vapor barrier in good condition, this protects your floors for their whole life, not just the project.
Other trades finish first
Cabinetry, plumbing, and electrical work complete before sanding begins so no one works on top of finished floors.
Painting and touch-ups
You can schedule painting before or after your floors, but expect some touch-ups after any flooring work: the job happens tight against your trim and walls, and baseboards, quarter round, door jambs, and the lower walls commonly pick up scuffs. Painting after the floors is the cleaner sequence, and that final coat is what makes the room read brand new. Want it handled? We can coordinate touch-ups or full paint work with our painter at your request, priced by change order or included in your proposal.
Power and parking
Our sanding equipment needs a 240-volt outlet (a dryer or range outlet works) within reach of the work area, and the crew needs parking close to the entry for daily equipment loading.
Pets and children
Keep them away from work areas throughout the project and off the floors until the finish has fully cured.
As a working rule for timelines: installation runs about 2 to 3 days per 1,000 square feet, sanding and finishing about 3 to 5 days per 1,000 square feet, and shoe molding about a day. Your proposal carries the estimate for your specific project.
Stain & Color Selection
Choosing Your Color on Your Own Floor
Color decisions do not happen from a brochure. Stain samples are applied directly on your own sanded floor, so you judge the color on your actual wood, under your home's actual light. Three samples are included; additional samples are $100 each.
Before staining, we water-pop the floor on every stain project: a controlled wetting that opens the grain so stain absorbs deeper, richer, and more evenly. It is one of the details that separates a custom site finish from a factory floor.
Two selection timelines to know
Water-based systems: samples go down on day one of sanding, and color approval is due by 10:00 AM on day two so finishing stays on schedule.
The European Collection: your color and sample meeting happens at least five days before your project starts, because the color is built into the oil and your materials are ordered in your color.
Custom color is a real option, not a catalog limit. Hardwax oil colors can be blended on site until the tone is right, we recently mixed a custom Natura blend for a Downtown Raleigh project from samples the client picked on their own boards. Browse stain galleries before your meeting: Bona DriFast, DuraSeal, and Natura OneCoat.
Our Preferred Mill
Why We Reach for Ten Oaks First
When a project calls for new solid hardwood, our preferred mill is Ten Oaks. The reason is a manufacturing step most mills skip: every board arrives pre-sealed on all six sides, every face, edge, and end protected against moisture before the first board ever goes down. Wood moves with moisture, and a board sealed on all sides takes on and releases it far more evenly, which means a more stable floor that resists cupping and seasonal movement better than standard milling.
Ten Oaks is our preference, not a requirement, and the seal does carry a higher material cost. We quote other quality mills and grades on every project where it makes sense, and if you want to see how the numbers compare for your home, just ask. Your proposal will show each option priced side by side so the choice is yours.
The Finish Collections
Four Systems, One Standard of Work
Every collection gets the same sanding system, the same preparation, and the same craftsmanship. The difference is the finish chemistry on top, and which trade-offs fit your home.
The European Collection
Natura One Coat
A premium two-component hardwax oil, applied and burnished on site. It penetrates the wood rather than forming a surface film, for an exceptionally natural, ultra-low-sheen look. Color is incorporated directly into the oil, and worn areas can be spot repaired without refinishing the room.
Explore Natura colors →The Commercial Collection
Bona Traffic HD
A two-component water-based system: stain if selected, Bona sealer, then two coats of Bona Traffic HD. Exceptional durability and chemical resistance with fast return to service. A favorite for busy households and active spaces.
About Bona Traffic HD →The Residential Collection
Bona Mega ONE
A water-based system: stain if selected, Bona sealer, then two coats of Bona Mega ONE. An excellent balance of appearance, performance, and value with strong clarity and dependable everyday protection.
About Bona Mega ONE →The Eco Collection
Bona Domo
A water-based system: stain if selected, Bona sealer, then two coats of Bona Domo. A dependable, proven everyday system for budget-conscious projects that still deserve full quality standards.
About Bona Domo →Browsing stain colors for the water-based systems: Bona stain colors and DuraSeal stain colors.
| European | Commercial | Residential | Eco | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surface | Penetrates the wood, no film | Surface film | Surface film | Surface film |
| Look | Natural, ultra-low sheen | Clear | Strong clarity | Clear |
| Repairs | Spot repairable | Recoat | Recoat | Recoat |
| Color | Built into the oil | Stain included | Stain included | Stain included |
| Full cure | 5 days | 3 days | 5 days | 5 days |
Our Sanding System
Why the Sanding Matters More Than the Finish
Your floor has a finite wear layer, and every sanding spends some of it. Our system is built around removing as little material as necessary: we start with the least aggressive grit that will flatten the floor, and we never skip more than one grit on the way up. Skipping grits saves a contractor time, but it removes wear layer your floor did not need to give up and leaves deep scratches that were only sanded at the peaks.
The sequence runs through named machines, not generic rentals: the Lagler Hummel belt sander makes the initial cuts, the Lagler Flip handles edges, the Bona PowerDrive planetary sander refines the field flat, and Festool orbitals blend the last inch and a half where machines meet the wall. Before any stain, we water-pop the grain so color takes deeply and evenly.
The goal is a floor that is flat, smooth, and as dust-free as professional containment can make it, with a surface the finish can bond to for the long haul. This is the part of the project you cannot see in a photo, and it is what separates 12th & Oak. Read more about our sanding equipment and process.
During the Project
What the Work Days Look Like
Expect noise while machines run, some dust despite professional containment, and finish vapors on coating days, the water-based systems are low-odor, and we tell you ahead of each coat what to expect. No shoes in the work area during the project, and keep pets and children clear.
On stain projects, day one ends with samples on your floor and day two starts with your color decision. From there, coats go on to the schedule finish chemistry allows: water-based coats dry in a few hours, hardwax oil cures overnight. We do not rush coats, drying time is part of the system, not idle time.
If anything unexpected turns up under old flooring, subfloor damage is the usual suspect, we document it, price it in a written change order, and get your approval before that work proceeds.
After Your Project
Cure Times: Dry Is Not Cured
Finishes look dry long before they are cured, and the first days decide how the next decade goes. These are the timelines that protect your investment:
4 hours after each coat
Walk in socks if needed. No shoes.
First 24 hours after the final coat
Socks only, no shoes, light traffic. European Collection floors want no traffic at all for the first 12 to 24 hours.
24 hours (water-based) / 36 hours (European)
Furniture may return with felt pads on every leg. Lift and place, never slide or roll anything across the floor, ever.
Full cure: 3 days (Commercial) / 5 days (Residential, Eco, European)
Area rugs go down only after full cure, rugs restrict airflow and slow curing underneath. After full cure, normal life resumes.
Caring for Your Floors
Quality for a Lifetime
Every client receives our Hardwood Floor Care Kit at project completion, stocked with the cleaning products made for your finish, and refills are always available from us. With the right routine, your floors may never need another full refinish: catch wear with a recoat before it reaches the wood, and the sanding stays money you never spend again.
The maintenance rhythm
- Weekly: sweep or vacuum (no beater bar), grit acts like sandpaper under foot traffic. Check felt pads and indoor humidity (30 to 50 percent).
- Monthly: clean with the supplied hardwood cleaner. Never wet mops, steam mops, vinegar mixes, or all-purpose cleaners.
- Yearly: schedule a professional deep clean, we extract what routine cleaning cannot and inspect the finish before wear becomes damage.
- Every 3 to 5 years: a maintenance recoat as traffic patterns demand, so the floor never wears through to bare wood.
The everyday rules are simple: felt pads under every furniture leg, spills wiped promptly, pet nails trimmed, rugs at exterior doors, and no walking the floors in cleats or exposed heels, a heel strike can exert the same force on your floor as an elephant.
Planning a luxury vinyl plank project instead? Our LVP Guide covers that world, no sanding, no cure times, different rules. For hardwood, the full routine, product guidance, and the why behind every rule live in our Hardwood Floor Maintenance Guide. When your floors are ready for a deep clean or a maintenance recoat, we handle those too.
Questions
Homeowner Guide FAQ
As a working rule: installation runs about 2 to 3 days per 1,000 square feet, sanding and finishing about 3 to 5 days per 1,000 square feet, and shoe molding about a day. A stain color adds roughly a day on projects under 1,500 square feet. Repairs, old finishes that gum up sandpaper, high humidity, and stairs all add time. Your proposal states the estimated duration for your specific project.
You can walk on the floors in socks about 4 hours after each coat. No shoes for the first 24 hours after the final coat. Furniture returns 24 hours after the final coat for water-based systems, 36 hours for the European Collection, always lifted into place with felt pads on every leg, never slid. Area rugs wait until the finish has fully cured, because rugs restrict airflow and slow curing.
Three stain samples are applied directly on your own floor at no charge, so you choose colors under your home’s actual lighting on your actual wood. Additional samples are $100 each. Custom colors are real options too: hardwax oil colors can be blended on site until the tone is right.
Not necessarily, but plan around the work. Expect noise, some dust, and finish vapors on coating days. Keep pets and children away from the work areas, and no shoes in the work area during the project and for 24 hours after the final coat. Many clients schedule sanding weeks around travel; many others live around the work just fine.
We sand with professional dust containment, which captures the overwhelming share of it at the machine. That is a different experience from the horror stories, but it is fair to expect some residual fine dust after any sanding project. A light cleaning after the project is normal.
Not by default, but we can. Any flooring work commonly leaves baseboards, quarter round, door jambs, and the lower walls wanting paint touch-ups, whether you painted before or not. Painting after the floors is the cleaner sequence. At your request we coordinate touch-ups or full paint work with our painter, priced by change order or included in your proposal scope.
Hidden conditions like subfloor damage under old flooring get documented and priced in a written change order for your approval before that work proceeds. No surprise charges, and no surprise work.
Ready to Get Started?
Schedule a FreeIn-Home Assessment
Serving Clayton, Garner, Raleigh, Cary, and communities throughout Johnston, Wake, and Durham Counties. We respond within one business day.
After you request an assessment, we review your project details, confirm your location, and schedule an in-home visit. You will receive a written proposal with the scope, products, timeline, and warranty clearly explained.
Want to see our work first? Browse the portfolio →