But that is not always true because there is something called refinishing. Finishing again. That is what I am doing today--refinishing the hardware floor in our dining room. When we first moved into our house 11 years ago, the living room carpet extended into the dining area. Not a good idea. So we tore out the carpet, installed an unfinished hardwood floor, and finished it with polyurethane.
That was 11 years ago. The floor has taken a real beating since then from the six of us who live here. So I rented one of those huge vibrating sanders and stripped off all of the old polyurethane and tried to smooth some of the nicks in the wood. Took me about 5 hours. I'm taking a break now while my wife is applying a wood sealer. After that dries when will put down three coats of Varathane, which is what they use on basketball floors.
Who in the world could possibly care about this?