FAQs PAGE
Floor Sanding Tips + Floor Sanding Advice + Dustless Floor Sanding + Floor Gap Filling + Environmental Floor Finishes
Please see our Floors page for more information regarding floor sanding, colouring, staining and sympathetic repairs to period floors here. Please visit our gallery to see detailed pictures of floor sanding, floor filling, floor staining and floor repairs in progress here.
Below are the most commonly asked questions, there are very quick answers and more detailed answers.
Should we decorate before or after we sand the floor?
Will there be much dust?
Can you fill gaps? (Would you recommend this? How do you do it?)
What finish options are there?
I want an environmentally sustainable finish, can you advise?
Roughly how long does the job take?
How long before we can use the floor again after you have finished?
What maintenance regime do the different finishes require?
How long should my refurbished floor last?
Should we decorate before or after we sand the floor?
Quick answer: Before is best.
In reality it really is up to you and your decorators. We would recommend getting the decorating completed before we start unless you have really, really clean decorators, thing is, we usually take much more care of their paintwork and are much cleaner (much less dust believe it or not) than they do of our floors. Whilst we endeavor to take every effort to be careful there may be some slight scuffing or coating residue to the skirting boards which is largely unavoidable as we sand and finish right up to the edge, the skirting may need to be touched up afterwards. Generally decorators would prefer to decorate first as they don't need to take so much care. Building work is definitely best done first as most general builders are even more unsympathetic than painters and it is highly likely they will damage your new floor, even the good ones.
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Will there be much dust?
Quick answer: No
Our state-of-the-art machinery is virtually dust free, some machines being tested to German wood dust standards (the highest in the world) all our hand held sanders are attached to dedicated automatic dust extraction units and we vacuum for several hours a day with an industrial vacuum cleaner. Many companies spout this rhetoric but we ACTUALLY do have the latest brand new German dust free sanders and dust extractors and the most powerful 230V vacuum/extractor in the world, all our large sanding machines are regularly serviced direct by the importer and maintained to the highest standard. (See our Equipment page for our dust free sanding machines here) For modern flat and level floors there really is virtually no dust at all, much less than your decorators for example. For older and more uneven floors there is always a little more dust but we use large volume extractor fans to remove the airborne dust and vacuum regularly, cleaning all surfaces including all the walls if necessary. It is very rare if we do not leave the property cleaner than when we arrived. All in all, it is fair to say we are about as dust free as it is physically possible to get.
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Can you fill the gaps? (Would you recommend this and how do you do it?)
Quick answer: Yes. Depends. Resin and sawdust and coloured two part resin.
Please note! This is one of the most common complaints I hear from unsatisfied customers of other companies, poor filling, filler falling out etc (sometimes before the job is finished!) It does not take a rocket scientist to 'fill a hole' surely? You see a hole, you put something in it right? Wrong. Very wrong. Most companies offer filling as a means to obtain work, and rush it, I do not. I do not make any money on filling, I do not like filling but if I do it, I do it properly. 80% of filling involves fixing the floor down as absolutely perfectly as is possible, otherwise loose floor boards equal filler falling out. Refixing a floor properly takes several times longer than the actual filling but it is an essential part of the job. Then I clean the edges of the boards, painstakingly raking out years worth of dust/paper mache/old filler/mastic etc (if the edges are not clean the filler just sticks to the dirt and comes out when vacuuming) After that I fill twice, yes, twice. Sanding in between. I probably take around five to ten times as long as most people do on 'filling'. My filling lasts much, much longer, these facts are directly related. (I do not charge five times as much either) If you asked your average floor sander if he 'cleans the edges of the boards before filling' he will probably have a funny look on his face, one of incomprehension. The free advice here would be, if you are going with a very cheap quote, leave out the filling as it WILL fall out and you will not be happy. It's simple, filling, done correctly on old pine floors, can take up to half the job time, if someone is offering to do it for free, or nearly free, well, you can use your common sense to assume that they probably won't be doing it properly!
We advise on gap filling on a job by job basis as there is a lot to consider. As a rule we automatically fill all solid fixed substrate floors, that is floors that are glued or nailed to a solid under floor (sub floor) or tongue and groove boards that effectively have a continuous solid layer below the gaps. That means almost all parquet, finger parquet, block, narrow strip, engineered and tongue and groove board floors get filled as a matter of course unless advised otherwise. Having a solid base underneath vastly reduces the possibility of the filler falling out.
For square edge plank floors (the majority of old pine floors in London for example) we discuss this with the client. Wood is a flexible and naturally moving material which absorbs and releases moisture, expands and contracts across its width and deflects under walking which goes for both the boards and the joists underneath. With such a lot of movement it is quite probable some filler will work loose over the months and years. To negate this we take great care to fix the boards firmly, adjust for height differences and use modern specially designed fillers. For smaller gaps we use a modern resin and sawdust mix, for larger gaps we have developed a bespoke coloured two part resin system which can fill any size of gap, as far as we are aware we are the only company who offer this service.
Sawdust and glue does not work, neither does paper mache or string. Wood slivers do not work either as even if they are glued on one side only (to allow for lateral movement) they tend to break up and can cause horrendous splinters. We can not recommend them but will fit them if requested, we have a stock of specially machined slivers made from reclaimed wood stock.
Professionally speaking I think period floors with small gaps look better and more traditional unfilled. For floors with very large gaps or floors which require a large amount of repairs, kitchen or bathroom floors (to make them water tight) would perhaps be better filled.
Minor holes, large cracks, knot holes and unsightly end board joins (damage by previous builders) are filled as a matter of course in all cases.
Whilst no one can honestly guarantee you that some filler will not fall out (even before the job is finished if you have loose boards/joists that cannot be fixed properly due to excessive damage and/or poor routing of services/pipes/cables) we can guarantee that we will fill your floor as carefully and conscientiously as possible and that it will last as long as it is possible to last.
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What finish options are there?
Quick answer: Very durable lacquer, traditional less durable shellac & wax. Intermediate oil & wax oil.
We finish the majority of our floors with high performance commercial water based floor lacquers from Bona and Blanchon. These are natural looking, virtually odour free, environmentally responsible and give excellent durability with virtually no maintenance, as used in hotels, bars, museums and retail outlets. They come in super matt, matt, satin and gloss finishes. We advise satin or matt as the gloss version does not show as good clarity. We seal all our floors with a shellac base coat which aids adhesion and enhances the clarity and beauty of the wood.
For gloss or semi gloss finishes we advise the use of a two part solvent finish which gives greater clarity and just as low maintenance and high durability as the water based finishes although the smell can be obtrusive during coating.
For older period floors (see our gallery for examples) we recommend a traditional shellac and wax finish, this gives a much less durable finish which cannot be water washed but has a traditional sheen and warmth that cannot be matched. All period "waxed" floors were shellacked first to give them body and stop the wax from drying out, for more detail please see my article The definitive guide to wood finishing. Not advised for high traffic or wetted areas.
Modern oil and wax oil finishes can give a very low build and natural look but their durability lies somewhere between the water based and shellac systems (see below). They bear little relation to their traditional namesakes as they are highly modified for ease of application and speed of drying and are really modified varnishes. The clear finishes can oxidise and go orange/yellow but the coloured finishes can give very unique results. Not advised for high traffic or wetted areas unless applied very heavily in which case they resemble water based lacquers and you would be better off with one of those.
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I want an environmentally sustainable finish, can you advise?
Quick answer: Joint 1st. Water-based lacquer & Shellac & wax. 3. Oil & wax oil. 4. Volatile solvent finish.
Please read carefully as unfortunately there is a lot of disinformation around, what I term "green marketing" which can be misleading.
Water based lacquers. Developed by Bona AB of Sweden in the 1970's less than 6% VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds - normally obtained from fossil fuels) approx. 40% solid content mostly made from refined maize starch, solvent is water, very environmentally responsible, zero fire rating. Virtually no fumes and virtually odour free.
Shellac. Resinous exudate of the laccifa lacca beetle from India and Sri lanka, harvested from the twigs of trees on managed estates, melted, sieved and dissolved in wood alcohol (methylated spirits) approx. 25% solid content organic and natural resin totally non toxic, used to coat smarties, fruit, chocolates and headache tablets. Solvent methylated spirits, 90% ethanol (alcohol) 9.5% methanol (to avoid consumption) ethanol and methanol produced from natural gas or from fermentation of starch and sugar based crops, also from food waste. Mostly and increasingly sustainable as South and now North America adopt the bio production route of ethanol as a bio fuel. Very environmentally responsible. Flammable. Fumes given off during drying may be unpleasant but not harmful.
Traditional wax. Mixture of paraffin wax, beeswax and carnauba wax softened in 10 to 20% naphtha (white spirit) or pure turpentine. High quality waxes contain mostly beeswax (from honeycomb) and carnauba wax (from nuts) and little or no paraffin wax (from fossil fuels) and are very environmentally sustainable especially as very little is required for a large area. The cheaper the wax the more refined fossil fuel (paraffin wax) they contain. Pronounced but normally pleasant, sweet odour. Used in conjunction with shellac (above) Shellac traditionally applied to fill the grain and apply a protective sheen, then waxed to smooth out the lustre and provide a replenishable protective surface (application of subsequent maintenance coats of wax serve to increase protection and clean surface at same time)
Modern oil and wax-oil finishes. 40% to 90% oil content (typically around 50%) naphtha (white spirit based) solvent from fossil fuels normally 50% plus. Oils refined from natural plant and nut extracts with some paraffin oil refined from fossil fuels. High solvent content, strong and unpleasant odour (similar to gloss paint) flammable. Although 50% of product largely plant derived, processing required consumes much energy and fossil based solvent is very high. The majority are not very environmentally sustainable due to their very high fossil-based solvent content (unless at 90% oil concentration) Driers and plasticisers are added to aid film formation. Although heavily mismarketed as environmentally sustainable they are, in essence, high oil content (long spar) varnishes with alternate chemicals substituted for the traditional polyurethane and alkyd resin film-forming components to promote, film formation, quick drying and water/UV resistance. Their true environmental impact is therefore only medium and lies between water based, shellac & traditional waxes (low) and volatile solvent based (high)
NB Traditional oils like Tung oil (from nut of Chinese tree) and Linseed oil (from Flax seed) take far too long to dry to be practical, boiled Linseed oil (effectively an early varnish of sorts with driers) dries quicker but is weaker and still not suitable. Two hundred years ago people waited weeks for their floors and furniture to be finished! These days people expect (and can only afford) a slightly quicker service.
The marketing of these modern 'Green' oils preys on peoples wish to make an effort to be environmentally responsible, whilst alluding to the traditional oils of the past (which were very 'green' as they had virtually no solvents at all) to which they bear little resemblance. Coupled with the facts that modern oil finished floors only last a fraction of the time of the water based lacquer finished floors before requiring refinishing and that they require constant maintenance I find it upsetting that they are dishonestly marketed as being 'green' when, frankly, many of them are not. If you want to be sustainable, go for a water based lacquer or Shellac and wax. If you really want an oil finish, go for a really low solvent one like Bona Oil 90 (only 10% VOC's) or better still Blanchon Wood Floor Oil Environment this uses the latest technology and remarkably uses water as a highly emulsified solvent and thus makes the finish very sustainable as there are virtually no VOC's, just oil and water it gives a very matt almost invisible effect. We like Blanchon Environment as although it is not as durable as the water based lacquers it has an unique look and is truly sustainable. Contact us to enquire about these new finishes or for more advice.
Two part (catalysed) solvent finishes. Solvent borne polyurethane or nitro cellulose base with aromatic hydrocarbon solvent. approx. 20 to 35% solid content. Produced largely from fossil fuels, high solvent content, very unpleasant and strong odour during drying. Not very environmentally sustainable and unpleasant to use. Very heard wearing, excellent clarity (especially on darker woods and at higher gloss levels) and excellent chemical resistance though.
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