NS Timber Flooring is proud to be North Brisbane’s leading timber floor experts with a dedicated team to sand and polish timber floors. Nothing quite compares to the warmth, quality and aesthetic appeal of hardwood timber floors. But like most things around the home, they need some care and maintenance from time-to-time to keep them looking their best. In this article, we explain the 4 steps the team at NS Timber Flooring undertakes to ensure the highest quality finish of all sanding and polishing projects and ensure that your floors are looking their best.
What is Sanding and Polishing?
The sanding and finishing process is important to the overall performance and appearance of the timber floor. But it’s also an area that offers a wide array of methodologies and coating systems which can make it confusing for homeowners to navigate alone!
It is normal to see some ‘wear and tear’ over the years including scratches and dents. Sanding is crucial as it ensures that all the boards are level, there are no ridges or high points. Importantly, it is also often done in stages with varying grades of sandpaper using specialist equipment.
The aim in all cases is to provide a smooth surface with the desired surface coating applied correctly to give an even level of sheen across the body of the floor.
How to Sand and Polish Timber Floors
Here at NS Timber Flooring, we have extensive experience with sanding and polishing timber floors (we’ve done 25,000 of them throughout the past 40 years) and we use our comprehensive 4-step process to ensure the best quality result every time.
Here’s what’s involved…
Step 1. Assess the floor prior to sanding
Prior to sanding the condition of the floor should be assessed to ensure that it is in a condition suitable for sanding.
This may include:
- assessing vertical movement at board or end-matched joints,
- an appraisal of the overall condition of the floor (e.g., degree of cupping in boards, gapping at board edges, signs of moisture) and
- checking if there are signs of abnormal moisture content.
Step 2. Preparation for sanding
- Punching nails and filling nail holes
Before the sanding process can begin, we ensure that all nails are punched a minimum of 3mm below the surface of the boards. Why? Any nail that is not suitably punched will potentially damage the sanding equipment and affect the sanding process.
- Cleaning
The floor is cleaned thoroughly to ensure it is free from dirt, grit and debris.
These particles, if not removed, can cause deep, uneven scratching in the timber surface requiring additional (often substantial) sanding to remove.
We initially sweep the floor followed by vacuuming, paying particular attention to areas which are not effectively cleaned by sweeping, such as gaps underneath the skirting, corners, windowsills and the like.
- Restricted access to protect the floor
During the sanding and finishing process it is imperative that access to the area of the work is restricted to ensure the best possible finish.
A member of the NS Timber Flooring will provide clear instructions to the owner or occupants regarding access to the work area.
Step 3. Sanding
Sanding timber floors is an artform in itself!
The sanding operation varies greatly based on the condition of the floor and the hardness of the flooring species.
If the floor is being sanded for the first time, the sanding process is made up of several separate sanding stages starting with a course paper, progressing to a finer sandpaper grade.
- Level / Basic Sanding
As the name suggests, this step is to make all the boards level, taking out any ridges or high points in the floor. It typically comprises of three ‘passes’ with the sanding machine over the floor.
- Edging
Most times our sanding machine is not able to sand boards along the edges of the room, in corners or where access is reduced (e.g. Wardrobes). For these hard-to-reach areas, we use an edge sander to ensure the boards are level and blend into the body of the floor.
- Finish Sanding
The final stage of sanding operation has two parts – initial cuts and the final sand. These smooth off any coarse sanding marks from earlier steps and helps prepare the floor for the coating system. It also includes another clean to remove dust, grit or debris that could impact the quality of the coating finish.
Step 4. Coating System Application
The fourth and final step is application of your chosen coating.
This involves:
- Cutting in
- Applying coating (water-based or solvent-based) and effectively ‘sealing’ the floor
- Sanding and cleaning between coats
- Applying a second coat and repeating for additional coats (typically 3 coats in total)
At NS Timber flooring, we use the best quality coating available, ensuring your finish will last longer than any other, and won’t need much in the way of maintenance.
If you’d like to know more about our floor sanding and polishing process, or would like a quote for your home, office or commercial space, give us a call on (07) 3881 1158 or complete our online form.
