1. Feasibility - is it possible or are my floors too far gone
2. Logistics & Disruption
3. Dust & Debris
4. Cost
5. Colour
6. Finishing - Lacquers Oils & Sheen Levels
7. Guarantees, Warranty, Aftercare & On-Going Maintenance
1. Feasibility
It’s possible to restore 99% of all wooden floors and you will be surprised to find out how few are a complete write off. At the end of the day, it all comes down to how far you want to take the restoration, what you except as character and the extent and type of the repairs required to achieve the desired result.
For example, deep chunks and gouges out of the main body of the floorboards are easily repaired with a matching two-part epoxy. Whereas splits and missing slithers from the edges of the boards cannot successfully be repaired and the best solution is to replace the affected section.
When dealing with worm damaged floors, whole sections of floor may need to be replaced, as areas that don’t look too bad before sanding, can be riddled with structural damage and the first pass of the sander exposes the tunnels just below the surface.
In writing this section of worm damage, I’m reminded of The Only Fools and Horses sketch with Trigger and his broom. “I’ve had the same broom for 20 years it’s only had 17 new heads and 14 new handles”.
Worm damaged floors are the only floors I’ve come across where it’s not been cost effective to restore and it’s been better to treat and replace rather than attempt to restore. That however doesn’t mean to say that if you find inactive worm damage in one area of floor, the floor is a write off and it will be worth us popping in to assess the viability of restoration.
2. Logistics & Disruption
In this section I am going to cover the following:
Lead Times
The Need to Clear the Room
Drying Times
Putting Furniture Back
Lead Time
Most floor sanders are working a minimum 4 to 6 weeks out. However, because we work closing with other trades painters, plasterers, plumbers, some of their schedules do slip and we often have slots available at short notice where clients have had to put us back a week or two.
The Need to Clear the Room.
Yes it is obvious that you need to clear the room and you need to think about the logistics about where you store that large table seating, side board or piano, while the work is being done.
Drying times
This is critical when considering sanding halls and access points
The good news is that you can walk on the floors when the sanding process is taking place. However, there are two periods of five hours at the end of the day and the beginning of the next, when the floors cannot be walked on as they are being prepared for lacquering and being lacquered.
We can move those larger pieces of furniture for you and as a last resort, split the room and complete half the room and return after moving the furniture across to complete the other side. This however, will incur a surcharge of £70 resulting from the additional travel time and lost productivity.
3. Dust & Debris
One of the major concerns about sanding is the dust it will potentially produce.
Many peoples mistaken preconceptions of sanding today, harks back to old technology, hire machines and the bad old days when you couldn’t see from one side of the room and the other, this vision could not be further from the truth.
All modern sanding equipment is considered dust free and is where the term Dust Free Sanding originates from.
All the equipment either has powerful impellers sucking the dust straight into a bag or is connected to a vacuum and separator, consequently the process results in little or no airborne dust.
Is it 100% dust free ? No
Does the process produce substantial less dust than you think? Definitely
Does it produce less airborne dust than other trades like painters, tilers and plasterers ?
Yes.
All equipment used is connected to a powerful vacuum and hepa filter or has an inbuilt dust impeller.
4. Cost
What factors affect the cost of sanding floors ?
Do you want us to remove carpets and or furniture in order to clear the room ?
What is the extent of repairs required if any ?
If staining is required, what type of stains will you choose ?
What lacquers or oils will you choose to protect the floor ?
Are you prepared to dispose of the rubbish in your bins (3 bags per room) ? Because as a business we need to use a weigh bridge to dispose of rubbish with a minimum charge of £70
All of the above decisions affect the total cost of professionally restoring the Wow factor back to your floors.
However, to get an accurate ball park figure of the true cost and to assess whether both Citrus and Dust Free Sanding is a good fit for your project, our web developer is currently working on an App / Calculator
In the meantime we have got a downloadable Floor Sanding & Finishing Calculator but unfortunately it is currently only available in excel. However, the PDF with all the figures is available, but you will have to do the calculations manually. All you need to input is the square meterage of your floors, the number of rooms or Linear meters where appropriate and you will be able to work out the price.
If you are not sure about any of the options, please check out our videos or simply give me a call on 07724148800 or email me direct at paul@citrusflooring.co.uk
In summary
If your floors are located within the Pitlochry Glasgow Edinbough triangle, the room is clear, the floors require no repairs, the work can be carried out during normal office hours and you are happy to put three bags of dust and rubbish in your bins per room, there are only three options affecting the cost.
What grit sanding pads we can start at. (Pine usually needs a 7 step process starting at 24 grit whereas some Hardwoods may only need a 4 step process starting at 60 grit)
All you need is the square meterage of the room to work out a ball park figure
(Length x width, remember to split the room into rectangles and add these together if the room is variable width)
Armed with the total you should be able to work out the price by choosing one from each option and multiply each option by your squares meterage, then finally adding the three figures together
Option 1
4 step sanding £20 per Sq M
7 step sanding £24 per Sq M
Option 2
The type of lacquer you choose
Domestic 1 part £7 per Sq M
Commercial 2 part £9 per Sq M
Domestic one part lacquer ( recommended for low traffic areas - bedrooms)
Two part commercial lacquer ( the second part is a hardener , we recommend it even in domestic environments especially with dogs and kids)
Option 3
Whether you want to colour the floors with a stain
Morrells colour fast stains £7 per Sq M
No stain required £0 per Sq M
Nb all prices quoted are subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20%
5. Colour
What colour would you Like Your Floors to Be?
Natural I hear you say, let me qualify natural
Unfinished freshly sanded floors are lighter than lacquered or oiled floors, if you want to know what colour your floors will be after lacquering simply put water on the floors with a damp cloth. However, in order to kill that slightly orange tinge of the lacquer on unstained pine, we can use a specifically developed primer which has a small amount of white pigment in it.
You can stain your floors from shades of Nordic whites through to ebonies & black and any shade of brown in between.
At the end of the day, you have to live with colour, so we do everything we can to help you get it right.
How do we help you come to the correct conclusion for your house or office regarding colour
Colour swatches – We Provide samples as a guide
Test patches on your floors, because as you are probably aware the same species of wood can take up stains differently
Final sign off
Before applying the primer to any stained floor, we like to get the colour checked and signed off by the client. The reason is it’s relatively easy to tweak the colour at this stage, knocking back the intensity with a light sand or adding an additional coat of stain to darken the colour.
The Video below shows some of the most popular colours used when restoring floors
6. Finishing - Lacquers Oils & Sheen Levels
All modern water based lacquers are relatively odour free and are commercially viable after 24 hours ( hence if you are a pub or club you can open up after 24hours of lacquering). However, the lacquers will only be 80% as hard as they get, while getting progressively harder up to a month. Because the lacquers are off- gassing moisture up to a month, it’s best to leave mats and rugs off the floor to allow the floor to fully cure
Domestic one-part lacquers (ideal for low traffic areas like bedrooms)
Commercial two-part lacquers ( We recommended two part commercial lacquers even in a domestic environment as the second part of a two part lacquer is hardener)
You then don’t have to worry if you have or later get dogs, children or grandchildren.
Lacquers are available in ultra Matt , Matt , Satin, or Gloss the most popular being Matt ( if in doubt don’t worry, the sheen level is determined by the top coat) We apply Matt lacquer as a base coat so our clients can assess the sheen level before applying the final coat ( if they are happy with the sheen level we apply another coat of Matt, if however they would prefer a shinier look we swap to a satin top coat).
Lacquers compared with oils are relatively maintenance fee and with the ultra Matt and Matt sheens you can achieve the oiled look without the ongoing maintenance issues
Hard Wax Oils have their place ( not recommended for soft woods like pine, as you are trying to impart strength in to the surface, hence the use of lacquers)
Hard wax oils are used on hardwoods and work out to be the same cost as applying two-part commercial lacquer.
7. Guarantees, Warranty , Aftercare & On-Going Maintenance.
Guarantee
In order to reassure you of the confidence in our work, restoring your floors to an exceptional standard, we do not take a penny from you until we have completed the work and you are happy with the results.
Warranty
We give a two year warranty on all lacquers against failure and or delaminating.
Aftercare
Because wood is hydroscopic we recommend a low moisture cleaning regime. The Bona maintenance spray mop is recommended and comes complete with a refillable maintenance solution designed specifically for wooden flooring.
In order to maintain oiled floor to a high standard they do need regular maintenance and would recommend cleaning and re oiling them on an annual basis
There should be no need to have to re sand a floor after lacquering, unless you want to change the colour. Other than wanting to change the colour, with the correct maintenance your floors should last a lifetime and you should not have to re- sand them again. If however, they are not looking their best as Bona Certified Contractors we have two stages of maintenance ( Bronze & Silver) before ever needing to consider re- sanding.
Bronze - clean and refresh
Silver - clean key and re - coat
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#Feasibility - are my floors too far gone to restore ?
#The Logistics & Disruption caused by sanding wooden floors
#What Dust & Debris is caused by sanding wooden floors ?
# How Much Does It Cost To Sand Wooden Floors
# What Colour options do you have when sanding floors ?
#What Finishing - Lacquers Oils & Sheen Levels options are available when sanding wooden floors
#What Guarantees, Warranty, Aftercare & On-Going Maintenance options do you have where sanding wooden floors