Do my wooden floors need sanding?

It’s not quite the million dollar question, but knowing the answer could potentially save you a lot of money. We have quoted many jobs where complete renovation by wood floor sanding wasn’t necessary.

Without the benefit of an honest appraisal, some may find themselves looking at their floor thinking it needs sanding to get it clean again.

Of course if one then searches for a wood floor sanding company, chances are that they will get a quote to renovate the floor by means of sanding.

One of our biggest examples of this was when we were asked to quote for a hotel in Reading. The floor area measured six hundred square meters. A decent size job, and although the wooden flooring was an oiled oak, all the other companies that quoted specified sanding back the flooring and sealing it again.

Some specified using a lacquer despite the fact that the original finish was oil.

Having surveyed the job, the hotel was pleasantly pleased although somewhat sceptical with our recommendation to clean and re-oil it.

Our costs and estimated duration of works, in terms of money and disruption looked way more appealing over the other quotes.

In a put your money where your mouth is moment, confident of our expertise, we offered to clean and oil a sample area and prove our level of service was the better option over sanding.

Having secured the job, the hotel even provided two free rooms for the three day duration of the works.

We completed operations in three days and even though the areas included the reception, bar, dining areas and whole ground floor. The hotel didn’t need to close and we delivered the service as promised on budget with the minimum disruption to their busy operations.

Our floor cleaning service works equally well for oiled wooden floors and lacquered floors.

First point is to establish what type of finish is on the floor. Oil will usually present very naturally and can sometimes be mistaken for not even having a finish.

Lacquer will usually present with a slightly higher sheen and when closely inspected even fine lacquers will be identifiable as sitting on the surface of the flooring. Oil penetrates and the grain of the timbre is clearer visually and by touch.

Soiling and dirt can accumulate on the surface of the protection and also when the protection begins to wear penetrate the timbre. With both types of finish the flooring will begin to appear patchy, and oiled flooring may also appear dry as the protection erodes.

Even when the surface protection has been breached, in many cases a deep cleaning process can be applied prior to re-sealing the floor with its respective finish.

Lacquered wooden flooring will require a slightly heavier approach during the cleaning in order to lightly abrade the existing coating. This is achieved without sanding as part of the mechanical cleaning and provides a key for finishing with a product like Bona Mega