Commercial Hardwood Floor Refinishing in Vernon, CT: Bringing an Ash Floor Back to Life at Spare Time Entertainment

Some hardwood floors see a little more action than others.

And when you're refinishing the floor in the restaurant and bar area at Spare Time Entertainment in Vernon, Connecticut, you know that floor is going to see plenty of traffic.

We recently had the opportunity to take on this commercial hardwood floor refinishing project, and it was a fun one.

The existing floor was ash hardwood, a beautiful and somewhat unusual wood species with a distinctive grain pattern. Spare Time asked us to sand the existing floor, give it a new stain color and build a durable finishing system capable of handling the demands of a busy entertainment, restaurant and bar environment.

That's exactly what we did.

Ash Hardwood — Something a Little Different

We work with red oak, white oak and maple all the time throughout Connecticut.

Ash is something a little different.

Ash has a strong, pronounced grain pattern that can give a hardwood floor tremendous character. Once an older finish becomes worn, however, much of that character can get lost.

That's why the sanding stage is always exciting.

As we began removing the existing coating, the old appearance disappeared and the raw ash underneath began revealing itself again.

That's the point where a refinishing project really starts to take shape.

Once you're back to properly prepared raw wood, you can begin building an entirely new appearance.

Sanding a Commercial Floor Is About More Than Making It Look New

A restaurant and bar floor has different demands than a lightly used room in a home.

Think about what these floors experience:

Constant foot traffic. Chairs moving. Tables. Employees walking the same paths throughout the day. Food and drink service. Cleaning. And hundreds of people enjoying the space.

So our objective wasn't simply to make the Vernon floor look good in the final photographs.

It needed to be built for use.

Proper professional sanding was the foundation.

The old coating had to be removed and the ash brought back to a clean, properly prepared surface before we could begin staining and finishing.

As members of the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA), we believe proper sanding and preparation are every bit as important as the finish that eventually goes on top.

A high-performance finish can't correct poor preparation underneath it.

Adding Color to the Raw Ash

Once the sanding was completed, we applied the selected stain to the ash flooring.

This is where that distinctive grain really began to show.

Stain doesn't make every piece of hardwood identical—and we don't want it to.

Wood is a natural product.

Different areas of the grain can accept color differently, and those variations are part of the beauty of a genuine site-finished hardwood floor.

After the stain had properly dried, we were ready to build the protective finishing system.

And for this commercial environment, Spare Time chose one of Bona's high-performance options.

Three Coats of Bona Traffic HD

For this project, we applied three coats of Bona Traffic HD.

Traffic HD is a professional, two-component waterborne hardwood floor finish designed for demanding environments where durability is especially important.

This is exactly the type of project where choosing a higher-performance finish makes sense.

In a normal residential setting, homeowners don't necessarily need to spend additional money on the highest-performance commercial-grade finishing system available.

But a busy restaurant and entertainment facility is different.

When you've got people coming and going day after day, you want a finishing system selected with that level of traffic in mind.

For the ash flooring at Spare Time Entertainment, Bona Traffic HD was a great fit for the job.

Why Three Coats Doesn't Mean Burying the Wood

Even on a commercial project, there's something we don't want to lose:

The fact that this is real hardwood.

We talk about this frequently with our customers.

A finish system needs to provide protection, but simply piling excessive material onto a hardwood floor isn't the objective.

We still want to see the grain.

We still want the ash to have character.

We still want the floor to look and feel like wood rather than appearing buried underneath a heavy plastic-like coating.

Proper application matters.

Drying conditions matter.

And the appropriate intercoat preparation between finish applications matters.

It's the complete process—not simply the number of coats—that produces a professional finished floor.

A Great Commercial Hardwood Flooring Project in Vernon

This was simply a fun project for us.

We don't get to work with ash every day.

And we certainly don't get to refinish a restaurant and bar inside an entertainment facility every day.

Seeing that tired commercial floor progress from its old condition to freshly sanded ash, stain and finally three coats of Traffic HD was a great transformation.

The grain came back.

The color came back.

And most importantly, the floor was ready to go back to work.

That's the great thing about genuine hardwood.

Even after years of use, a professionally installed hardwood floor can often be sanded and refinished rather than simply torn out and replaced.

Residential and Commercial Hardwood Flooring Throughout Connecticut

At Patrick Daigle Hardwood Flooring, Inc., our family's hardwood flooring tradition dates back to 1927.

Today, four generations later, we're still sanding, repairing, installing and refinishing hardwood floors throughout Connecticut.

We're proud members of the National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) and proud to be ranked #1 in Hartford County by BusinessRate, along with our recognition as #1 in Connecticut.

And our work isn't limited to residential homes.

From this commercial project at Spare Time Entertainment in Vernon to historic properties, restaurants, offices and homes throughout the region, we work with hardwood floors of all ages, species and conditions.

You'll find our projects throughout Vernon, Manchester, South Windsor, East Hartford, Glastonbury, Bolton, Ellington, Hartford, West Hartford, Farmington, Simsbury and communities across Hartford County and Connecticut.

Some are enormous projects.

Some are one-room transformations.

Some are complicated repairs.

And sometimes we get an unusual ash floor in a busy restaurant and bar that gives us an opportunity to do something completely different.

Does Your Vernon Business Have Hardwood Floors That Need Refinishing?

Commercial hardwood flooring doesn't necessarily need to be replaced simply because it's scratched, worn or tired-looking.

Depending upon the condition and remaining wear layer of the floor, professional sanding and refinishing may give that hardwood an entirely new life.

The key is understanding what the floor needs.

What species is it?

How much traffic does the space receive?

Does it need repair before sanding?

What color is appropriate?

And what finishing system makes sense for the way that floor is actually going to be used?

At Spare Time Entertainment in Vernon, Connecticut, the answer was a beautiful ash floor, professionally sanded and stained, followed by three coats of Bona Traffic HD for a durable commercial finishing system.

The result looked great.

Now it's ready for the next round of customers.

Patrick Daigle Hardwood Flooring, Inc.
Fourth-Generation Hardwood Flooring Craftsmanship Since 1927
NWFA Member
Ranked #1 in Hartford County by BusinessRate
Residential & Commercial Hardwood Flooring
Serving Vernon, Manchester, South Windsor, East Hartford, Glastonbury, Bolton, Ellington and communities throughout Connecticut