Older Timber Floors

Sometimes when polishing old timber floors it may involve some floorboard repairs and replacement.

Stains

There are some types of stains which are impossible to sand out. For example, one of the worst types of stains is animal urine. Water leakage over a period of time can also stain. Further, it can even start to rot a floor. Other stains can include oil stains, rust stains from nails, and burns.

Wall Removal

From time to time some clients change their floor plan. You should always do this before your floors are sanded and polished. Perhaps you move a wall for example; this will reveal raw timber boards. In this case, we cannot do a spot sand and coat of those boards. We would need to sand and polish the entire area.

Other Trade Work

Ensure other trades have completely finished all their work prior to polishing your floor. This includes structural changes, painting and tiling before your floor sanding company arrives. Never polish your floors before this stage, because there is a high risk you may damage the timber floor finish. Repairs may entail re-coating or complete re-sanding to gain a uniform look.

Potential Damage

Regardless of the damage, it will definitely increase your floor sanding costs. Repairs and join lines in a floor finish can be an eyesore. Using the correct location for a join line or repair can avoid this, such as in a doorway. This is opposed to, for example making a join in the middle of a room. In that case gloss level variants would be obvious in reflected light.

Borer and Termite Damage

Old Hoop Pine floors are the most common floors with borer damage. If you suspect you have borer or termite damage in your floors get a free inspection. We are experts at finding and repairing pest damaged timber floorboards.

Gaps Between Floorboards

Older floors have had their fair share of wet and dry seasons. Expansion and contraction can often cause gaps between floorboards to become an issue for some clients.

During a kitchen installation, cupboards get shuffled around, and adjusted. Splashbacks and appliances will both offer plenty of opportunities for damage. Objects and substances will meet with the floor finish. These can include tools, grout, adhesives and silicon.

Painting your walls

Be careful not to flood paint on at the skirting boards. Paint will penetrate down the gaps between floorboards. This can prove difficult or impossible to remove. No matter how careful you are, accidents do happen. So why risk it? Use plastic drop sheets to cover your floors during painting. Have a look at this Ashgrove floor sanding case study and you will see what we mean about paint spills on old floors.

A Recent Floor Restoration Job

We recently completed some timber floor sanding and polishing services for a client. It was for a customer in Bilsen Rd Wavell Heights. This was an older home typical for the area, which proved less than a straightforward project.