Glossary

Floor recoat glossary

The words you will hear when you look into the floor recoat business, in plain English. Each one links to a short page with more detail and the guide to read next.

The floor and the work

Screen and recoat: A screen and recoat is a way to bring back a worn hardwood floor without sanding it down to bare wood. A buffer lightly scuffs the old clear finish, and then a fresh coat of finish is rolled on top.
Buff and recoat: Buff and recoat is another name for a screen and recoat. The old finish is buffed so a new coat can grip, then a fresh coat of finish goes on, with no sanding to bare wood.
Sand and refinish: A sand and refinish grinds the old finish and a thin layer of wood off a hardwood floor, then stains and coats the bare wood from scratch. It takes several days and makes a lot of dust.
Traffic lanes: Traffic lanes are the paths across a floor where people walk the most, like a hallway or the route from the door to the kitchen. The finish wears down there first, so those paths look dull next to the rest of the floor.
Cupping: Cupping is when the edges of wood floor boards sit higher than the middle, so each board looks like a shallow dish. It is usually caused by moisture, and a recoat cannot fix it.
Gray wood: Gray wood is bare wood that has turned gray because the finish on top wore all the way through. Dirt and water get into the open wood, and a recoat cannot bring it back.
Engineered hardwood: Engineered hardwood is a floor board with a top layer of real wood glued over layers of plywood or other wood below. The top is real wood with a real finish, so it can usually be recoated like a solid wood floor.
Prefinished floors: Prefinished floors are wood floor boards that were sanded and coated at the factory, before they were ever put in the house. Many have a very hard factory finish, so they need a careful check before a recoat.
Cure time: Cure time is how long a new floor finish takes to fully harden after it goes on. A floor can be dry to walk on well before it is fully cured, so the homeowner gets a timeline, not just a "done."

Finishes

Two-part polyurethane: Two-part polyurethane is a floor finish that comes in two containers: the finish (Part A) and a hardener (Part B) that you mix together on the job. The hardener makes it cure chemically, so it ends up tougher than a one-part finish.
Water-based finish: A water-based finish is a clear floor coat that uses water to carry the finish onto the floor, instead of oil-based solvents. It goes on clear and stays clear, and it has much less smell than an oil-based finish.
Oil-based finish: An oil-based finish is a clear floor coat that uses a solvent to carry the finish onto the floor. It has a strong smell, dries slowly, and turns amber over the years, which gives many older floors their warm color.
Aluminum oxide finish: An aluminum oxide finish is a factory floor finish with tiny, very hard aluminum oxide particles mixed in. It is common on prefinished wood floors, and it is so hard that a new coat has trouble gripping it.
Sheen: Sheen is how much light a floor finish reflects, from flat matte to shiny gloss. A worn finish loses its sheen in the busy spots, which is why traffic lanes look dull.
Floor polish: Floor polish is a store-bought product that leaves a shiny film on top of a floor. It is not a real finish, and it softens, scuffs and peels, so it has to be stripped off later.

Tools

Floor buffer: A floor buffer is a machine with a round spinning pad underneath that you walk behind and guide across the floor. On a recoat it spins an abrasive screen that dulls the old finish so the new coat can grip.
Screen grit: Screen grit is the number that tells you how rough or fine an abrasive floor screen is. A higher number means a finer screen, and a recoat uses a fine one because it only needs to dull the old finish.
Tack cloth: A tack cloth is a slightly sticky cloth used to pick up the last fine dust from a floor before the finish goes on. It catches what a vacuum leaves behind.

The business

Franchise disclosure document: A franchise disclosure document, or FDD, is the legal document a franchise has to give you before you buy in. It lists the fees, the startup costs, the royalty, the territory rules and much more.
Royalty: A royalty is a share of your sales that a franchise owner pays to the brand, on every job, for as long as they own the business. Floor franchises like N-Hance and Mr. Sandless list a 6% royalty.
Ad fund: An ad fund is money a franchise owner pays into the brand's shared advertising, usually a percent of sales. It is on top of the royalty and on top of any money spent on local ads.
Territory: A territory is the area a business is set up to serve. Some territories are exclusive, which means no one else from the same program can work there, and some are shared.
Lead: A lead is a person who has asked about your service, for example by filling out a form or calling. A lead is a chance at a job, not a sold job.
Booking rate: Booking rate is the share of your leads that book an estimate. You find it by dividing the estimates booked by the number of leads.
Close rate: Close rate is the share of your estimates that turn into sold jobs. You find it by dividing the jobs you sold by the estimates you ran.
Cost per lead: Cost per lead is how much you spend on ads for each lead they bring in. You find it by dividing your ad spend by the number of leads.
Owner-occupied home: An owner-occupied home is a home where the person who owns it also lives in it. The U.S. Census counts them, and they are the homes most likely to pay to fix up their floors.