If you’re looking at the wooden floor in your own home, or if you’ve just bought a home that has wooden flooring, you could well be debating whether or not sanding wooden floors is worth the hassle. While there is a great environmental argument for retaining, rather than replacing anything that can be saved, sometimes the hassle surrounding sanding wooden flooring just isn’t worthwhile. So how on earth do you decide?
Assessing the Age and Quality of Your Floor
One of the first things to establish is how old is your floor? If your floor is relatively recent and perhaps not of great quality, then there is normally no logical argument for investing the time, money and hassle required to get it back to life by sanding it. Wooden flooring, thanks mainly to the huge increase in competition in the marketplace has come down in price considerably in recent years. As such, the likelihood is that you can replace a relatively recent, low quality floor with something better at a lower price than sanding it.
However, if your floor is either genuinely old or is of superior quality there is probably good argument for sanding it, unless it’s engineered wood flooring. We say this because engineered wood flooring will only stand up to so many sandings in its lifetime. As a result, before automatically embarking on a sanding project, you need to establish if your floor is engineered and if so, how much lamella, or top layer it has left before you inadvertently sand your way down to the core board. If you’re in any doubt as to whether your wooden floor is solid or engineered, you should ask an expert before starting a sanding project, because otherwise, you could find yourself in the horrible position of sanding your way through the top layer, leaving nothing but core board exposed and having to replace your floor after you’ve sanded it!
If your floor is solid wood and it is genuinely old, then you need to take a look at the general condition of the floor before automatically assuming that it’s worth sanding. Are any of the boards broken? If so, are they repairable or will they need to be replaced? If they need to be replaced, do you have extra boards of the same size, species and colour, or will you have to try to track them down? Are there extensive gaps in the floor? If so, can the gaps be filled or closed relatively easily? If not, will the gaps impact on draughts and the overall stability of your floor? At the end of the day, if you’re going to sand your floor, only to find that you have a gale force wind blowing through it all winter, it probably isn’t worth going ahead.
Even once you’ve decided it is worth going ahead, it’s worth bearing in mind that sanding is a long and messy process and you need to be confident that your efforts will be rewarded with a nice floor at the end, before you take on the task. When you decide to sand a floor, you will need to clear your room of all furnishings and soft furnishings as well as protecting any blinds or curtains you can’t, or don’t want to remove, because sanding is, by its very nature, a dusty process.
Preparing for the Sanding Process
Once you’ve made the decision to sand your floors, you’ll be faced with the decision about whether you do it on a DIY basis or whether you bring in the pros. There’s no getting away from the fact that bringing in the pros is the quickest and lowest hassle option, but clearly it costs more. That said, if you decide to sand your floor on a DIY basis, the likelihood is that you’ll need to hire all the equipment as well as invest your time and effort, so depending on how highly you value your time and effort, there mightn’t be much in it cost-wise. Thereafter, it’s also well worth being brutally honest with yourself about how skillful you are in such areas before taking the risk. If you’re one of those DIY-ers that starts strong, but struggles to finish a job, the reality is that DIY sanding probably isn’t the job for you.
The success of the end result of sanding your floor will depend entirely on the quality of the floor itself as well as your, or your sanding company’s attention to detail whilst doing the job. Much of the success is down to preparation, that’s to say, making sure that gaps in your floor are fixed and that broken and damaged boards have been replaced. Thereafter it’s a case of patiently using the drum sander and the edger, making sure you go from a course sanding to a fine sanding, leaving your surface in perfect condition for finishing. Thereafter, you need to patiently apply your chosen finish.
Conclusion
If you’re prepared to do all of this, then a good floor is probably worth sanding. If not, then there’s no doubt that there is a strong argument for ripping up your old floor and starting again.
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FAQ
How do I decide if my wooden floor is worth sanding?
Determine the age and quality of your floor. If it is relatively recent and of low quality, replacing it might be more economical than sanding. However, if the floor is old or of superior quality, sanding could be worth it, unless it’s engineered wood flooring, which has a limit on how many times it can be sanded.
How do I know if my wooden floor is solid or engineered?
If you’re unsure whether your wooden floor is solid or engineered, consider consulting an expert. Sanding an engineered wood floor can risk reducing the top layer (lamella) to the core board, making the floor unrepairable.
What should I consider in the condition of my floor before deciding to sand it?
Check for broken boards and extensive gaps. If there are broken boards, determine if they are repairable or if they need to be replaced. For gaps, assess if they can be filled or closed easily and if they will impact draughts and the overall stability of your floor.
What preparations are needed before starting the sanding process?
Before sanding, clear your room of all furnishings and soft furnishings. Protect any blinds or curtains that cannot be removed because sanding is a dusty process. You’ll also need to decide whether to do the job yourself or hire professionals.
What factors contribute to a successful sanding project?
The success of a sanding project depends on the quality of the floor and attention to detail during the job. Preparation is key, including making sure that gaps are fixed and broken or damaged boards are replaced. Afterwards, the surface should be brought to perfect condition for finishing.