Refinishing cat per catastrophe or starting over

[Jacob Galloway]

My brother and I bought a three bedroom one bath hoarder house in Northwest Indiana with the plan of a slip to gain capital for further it and hold investing.

The house has 800 sq foot of original hardwood that have large, significant pet urine stains. We had a flooring professional look at the project and some of the areas are going to require complete removal of the flooring to replace because the damage is too severe. He was pretty clear in that it’s very possible some of these things may be noticeable even after finishing. We would also be required to finish with a very dark stain to limit this. Ultimately the cost for him to refinish would be similar to us putting in our own high-grade laminate or vinyl flooring.

We have never refinished hardwood floors. I have heard nightmare stories about spending several thousand dollars and it always continues to have considerable stains. Should we bite the several thousand dollar gamble or should just accept covering the original hardwood with other hard surface durable flooring. What would you recommend, considering out-of-pocket expense will be essentially the same.