Sanding & Varnishing
Caring for a refinished floor and three coats of eco Finitec varnish to bring a tired floor back.
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Dorval is really two housing stories: the older homes near the lake and the village, and the condos and rentals that have gone up near the airport. For your floors, the difference is everything — one can be refinished, and one often can’t.
In Dorval’s older core — the streets near Lake Saint-Louis and the original village — you’ll find the solid hardwood we love to bring back: real strip floors that sand to bare wood and refinish ten to twelve times over.
The newer condo and rental stock near Trudeau airport is a different animal. A lot of it sits on concrete slabs, and floors laid over concrete are usually engineered or floating — a thin wear layer of real wood, or a laminate, clicked or glued down over the slab. That construction is the whole reason this is the page where we say the hard part out loud: engineered and floating floors can’t be sanded. The wear layer is too thin to survive it, and a laminate isn’t solid wood at all.
We’d rather lose the job than take your money to sand a floor that can’t be sanded. So in a Dorval condo, the first thing we do is figure out what you actually have — and if it’s engineered over slab, we’ll tell you honestly and point you toward repair or replacement instead of a refinish that would wreck the floor.
You can often tell yourself before we come. Tap the floor: a floating floor sounds hollow and gives slightly underfoot, while solid wood over a wood subfloor feels dead-solid. Look at an exposed edge or a floor vent — a thin real-wood layer over a different-coloured core means engineered. And if you’re on a concrete slab, as most ground-floor and mid-rise condos are, assume engineered or laminate until proven otherwise. When in doubt, send a photo of a board edge with your quote request and we’ll tell you what you’ve got.
Just west, Pointe-Claire is the wild card — the widest range of floors on the island, where you can’t guess what’s under the carpet — and Dollard-des-Ormeaux is split-level territory — we cover both, along with Beaconsfield.
Three things, done properly. The details live on each service page — and if you’re wondering what goes into a quote, we break that down too.
Caring for a refinished floor and three coats of eco Finitec varnish to bring a tired floor back.
Learn more
New hardwood when a floor is past saving — a range of woods, grades and board widths.
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Only if they’re solid hardwood over a wood subfloor. Most condos over a concrete slab have engineered or floating floors, and those can’t be sanded — the wear layer is too thin. We’ll check before quoting, and if it can’t be refinished, we’ll say so instead of ruining it.
Yes — Dorval is a few minutes from our Dollard-des-Ormeaux shop, near the airport and the lake, so it’s an easy same-week visit, no travel surcharge. We cover the rest of the West Island, Laval, the North Shore and Vaudreuil-Soulanges too.
Check an exposed board edge: solid wood is the same wood all the way down, while engineered shows a thin top layer over a different core. A floating floor also sounds hollow and flexes slightly. If you’re over concrete, it’s almost certainly engineered or laminate. Send us a photo and we’ll confirm.
Not sure what’s under your feet? Send a photo of a board edge with your request and we’ll tell you honestly what can be done.