Floorboards Sanding DIY

Pine Floorboards Sanding

The beauty of the floorboards

Floorboard sanding has gained significant attention in households across the UK in recent times. Intrigued by this trend, I’ve delved into the intricacies of this transformative process.

The charm of wooden floors graces numerous residences throughout the UK. Often hidden beneath carpets or other coverings, these floors harbor untapped potential waiting to be uncovered.

When carpets are lifted, the typical appearance of a floor is as follows:

 

Difficulties in Sanding Floorboards

Uneven floorboard covered in residue.

Sanding pine floorboards presents a challenging task. These surfaces are often covered with adhesives, nails, screws, and staples. Additionally, they can be uneven and marred by various factors like woodworms, plumbers, and electricians. The first step in floorboard sanding is levelling the floor to streamline the sanding process and improve results. This phase can demand significant time and material resources.

Pine floorboards are softwood.

As a softwood, pine necessitates a higher quantity of sanding paper compared to hardwoods like oak. Its soft nature causes sanding paper to clog more quickly. Consequently, attaining a refined, smooth finish during the sanding and finishing stages is more challenging, resulting in a lengthier project completion timeframe.

Repairing the floorboards.

Frequently, floorboard sanding projects entail necessary repairs. The challenge lies in the fact that acquiring new pine boards would result in a noticeable disparity when compared to your century-old planks. Instead, opting for reclaimed pine timber of similar age, thickness, and width is crucial. While sources for such timber exist, their availability can be elusive, demanding a dose of patience – perhaps even some yoga or meditation :).

Repair work might encompass board replacement, hole filling, and joist building or replacement. Many hidden issues may only become apparent after work begins or when heavy machinery is used on the floor. Restoring old pine floors demands a degree of tolerance. In essence, they were never intended to serve as final flooring but rather subfloors. Even after meticulous repair work, new issues may manifest over time. It’s vital to recognize that these aren’t shortcomings of the repair process, but rather a consequence of the floor’s unknown history and what lies beneath.

Staining & Finishing your floorboards

The most common finish for pine floors is a natural look. However, if you prefer a stained finish, reactive stains from Ciranova work particularly well on pine. Have a look at the Ciranova range here-click, and scroll down to reactive stains. Pine floorboards can be finished with either oil or lacquer. The easiest and cheapest stains to work with are solvent-based options like Morrells. You can also use an oil-based stain like Pall-X 333 range if there aren’t too many imperfections on the floor and the gaps are filled.

Some examples of our work

 

 

Pricing floorboard sanding work

Clearly, this task isn’t a simple endeavour, making it challenging to predict every potential obstacle during the floorboard restoration process. Frequently, the floor is concealed beneath carpets, rendering the underlying condition invisible. While carpets are in place, we can provide a preliminary assessment, but floorboard repairs will not be included until a full inspection is conducted.

Upon carpet removal, we can thoroughly evaluate the scope of work required and then furnish you with a more accurate quote for your wooden floor’s rejuvenation. Our preference for completing the project involves utilizing top-tier products from Pallmann products to achieve a high-quality finish.