Wood Restoration & Wood Refinishing

There’s nothing more inviting than a well-maintained natural wood environment. Lobbies, hallways, elevator interiors, conference rooms—wood is one of the most popular interior surfaces being used today. It can be shaped, carved, and finished in a variety of ways. However, these same characteristics make wood a fragile and vulnerable architectural material.

Exterior wood suffers from the direct effects of weather–be it rain, snow, environmental pollution, excessive humidity, or ultraviolet damage from the sun. Interior wood suffers stress of a different kind, primarily wear and tear from people (nicks and scratches), simple neglect, and environmental concerns, like drying out and cracking from heating and air conditioning systems.

Stuart Dean begins its woodwork restoration process with a complete inspection and condition assessment. Assessing the type and degree of damage to wood is an integral part of determining the best courses of action to treat the material. Wood surfaces receive special care depending on age and service location. For example, antique woods demand different treatment than modern woods; heavy traffic areas, such as those found in elevators and on staircases, demand more aggressive preventative treatments than wood finishes located in an isolated hallway or on a lobby wall.

We repair areas by replacing damaged and missing veneer with the same wood species. Minor scratches and nicks are hot-knife filled and grained to blend with the surrounding area. We use time-proven techniques to clean and treat the wood finish, and to protect against future wear and tear. At project completion, Stuart Dean’s technicians carefully inspect the job as a final quality check.

Stuart Dean advantages:

• Cost-effective preventative maintenance programs that are custom-designed by the most experienced, knowledgeable representatives in the industry
• Sensitivity to fragile and irreplaceable architectural appointments
• Proper selection of protective coatings (i.e. low VOC coatings that are environmentally beneficial)
• Creative and appropriate selection of refinishing methods, specifications, and techniques
• Widest array of specialty refinishing products being used in the industry
• Innovative new product applications to meet expanding presence of exotic substrates and finishes
• Field technician quality, efficiency, and safety standardization

Most recent awards

• The National Preservation Award
• The New York Landmarks Conservancy- Lucy G
• Moses Preservation Award for the Historical Eldridge Street Synagogue Project