Prepare Your Home for Timber Floor Sanding and Finishing

If you have timber flooring, we are guessing you’re aware of the importance of sanding and refinishing. Both of these maintenance procedures are strongly advised to be performed on a regular basis so that your floor stays beautiful and in good condition whether it is engineered wood, solid, or parquet. If you were unaware, engineered wood and parquet-patterned flooring can both be properly sanded and refinished, so there’s no getting around this important obligation.

So, when the moment arises and you notice your wood floor is in need of some extra attention and care, either call a professional or research and prepare a DIY project. Timing is crucial when constructing or renovating a home. To avoid spoiling the floor, all carpentry, plastering, plumbing, electrical, or glazing work must be done before sanding and polishing. In this post, we’ll go over everything that you need to know about preparing for professional timber wood floor sanding and polishing, as well as some key terms to assist you in understanding the process.

How Can Timber Floor Sanding Improve Your Floors?

Sanding is the technique of removing the top layer of your timber floor’s surface with varied densities and intensities of grain sanding paper performed by a floor sanding expert. If necessary, and based on the thickness of the wooden boards, it can also remove a tiny layer of the top of the underlying wood while eliminating the worn finish. Sanding can be done up to 6-7 times in the lifetime of solid wood timber and up to four times in the lifespan of engineered wood planks, so it’s suggested every now and then.

Plan Ahead of Time

Your checklist will help immensely at this point. When you hire a floor sanding expert, make absolutely sure your calendar aligns with the contractor’s. It’s critical that you don’t create any scheduling disruptions that  would impede the floor sanding. To avoid disrupting your household’s schedule, plan the overall process ahead of time and confer with your family on a date and time which works for everyone. A true professional team will stick to the schedule they’ve set for the job. Take your family members out of the residence if you fear they may be uncomfortable. If you’re worried about dust and particles triggering asthma in your children, arrange a location for them to stay while the service is being performed beforehand, so they can adhere to their schedule and do the job on time.

Access to the Site Should Be Easy and Secure

You’ll have to leave a key in a safe place if you can’t meet the flooring professional before they start the task. Some flooring professionals can set up a lock box for you, letting you leave the key in a safe place while still having access to your property. You’ll have to ensure simple access to your property in addition to keeping the key in a safe place so that the flooring experts can bring the heavy machinery needed for sanding and polishing. They should be able to park their vehicle right outside your front door.

Noise and Dust

Sanding a wood floor can be a noisy process. To minimize unnecessary issues, it’s always a good idea to give your neighbors advance notice. Flooring professionals will rarely work after hours, particularly in residential areas, unless they have been given permission and are confident that they will not cause any inconvenience to the neighbors. Cutting-edge sanding equipment produces almost no dust. Even so, there is a significant amount of dust that cannot be completely caught at some stages of their job.

Sufficient Lights and Power

Because the flooring specialists you’ve employed will require lighting and power to sand and polish your floors, you’ll have to ensure the power stays on in your home while they’re there. If you’ve recently purchased or sold a home, it’s critical that you have the utilities covered because the task can’t be performed otherwise.

Remove All Belongings and Furniture From the Room

Remove belongings from affected rooms before having professional floor sanding done. Take a photo of the room before you remove everything, as it will assist you in putting everything back where it belongs. Find a room apart from the work area where you can store furniture and trinkets. It will be most convenient to avoid storing anything in sanded areas. Interruptions during work time are avoided by keeping the work environment uncluttered. You will also avoid any possible harm caused by sanding. Remove any curtains that may be present. Wrap the curtains in plastic or cloth and raise them as high as possible if you can’t remove them.

Clean

Cleaning your floor before each stage of the sanding process is just as vital as cleaning it after each stage. You don’t want dirt and dust particles scratching the raw wood or getting stuck in the finish for a long time, do you? Use a powerful vacuum cleaner, a mop dipped in a little water, and a cleaning product made specifically for wood floors.

Inspection

Look for protruding nail heads and hammer them down while assessing the state of your floor; otherwise, the sanding machine will grab them later and cause major scratches and dents. All small repairs to your floor, such as gap filling, nailing or cementing down loose boards, should be completed before the sanding process begins.

Ensure Proper Ventilation

Ascertain that the room has sufficient ventilation for the workers to complete their work efficiently and pleasantly. Wood floors take up to a couple weeks to clean and finish, so you want to make sure the vapors are fully dissipated. The better the ventilation is, the quicker the cleaning and drying.  Just opening the windows won’t suffice. You don’t really want wood dust and particles to infiltrate the rest of the house because finding and cleaning them becomes even more difficult.

Fill Any Gaps

Experts always recommend filling gaps as it enhances heat insulation. It means you will have nicer floors and save money on your heating bills. Cold air traveling beneath the planks is a problem that must be addressed in ground-floor rooms, so holes in kitchens and bathrooms, which are often found on lower house stories, should be repaired. Water seeping through the boards will also be less likely to cause serious harm.

Remove or Cover Basement Items

If your home has a basement, you’ll need to make sure that all objects are removed or covered, as liquid can leak through and harm your belongings.

Remove Unsealed Food

Polyurethane, which can contaminate food, is used by flooring professionals as part of the polishing operation.  As a result, you’ll need to get rid of all unsealed food from your cabinet and other storage spaces to avoid contamination.

Leave Kickboards Off in a New Kitchen

If you’re sanding and polishing a fresh new kitchen floor, leave the kickboard off till you’re finished.

Before You Begin, Finish the First Layer of Paint

If the area is being painted, the first coat should be applied before the job begins (save for the final coat on kitchen cabinets), and the second coat should be applied thereafter.

And What About Pets?

People frequently inquire about the safety of leaving their little dogs at home while the project is underway. This is dependent on a few factors. Developers employ both water-based and oil-based finishes. Water-based products are fine for pets to stay in the house, but oil-based products are not. The other factor to consider is noise. Animals do not have the choice of wearing earplugs, therefore the staple guns and other loud machinery may undoubtedly disturb them. When we enter and exit, any critters who aren’t confined may escape. It’s ideal if your pets stay somewhere else till the floor is installed.

Expertise is Key to Excellent Floor Sanding

Preparation and knowledge are the keys to a great professional floor sanding experience. You must ensure that the staging area is ready for the task. This method will reduce the amount of time your floor sanding expert spends on your property. This is work that only an expert contractor can complete effortlessly and quickly. If you want to install timber flooring, make sure you choose professionals that know what they’re doing.