Timber Floors: Sand Or Replace

A timber floor that looks finished usually is not. Sanding and recoating brings back most of them, and it costs a fraction of replacement.

The question is whether this particular floor has enough left in it.

Solid timber

A solid board can be sanded several times over its life, because you are removing a fraction of a millimetre each time and there is real thickness above the tongue.

The limit is how close the boards already are to the tongue, and how many times it has been done before. Once the sanding would expose the tongue or the fixings, the floor is finished.

On an older Sydney terrace or apartment with original hardwood, there is usually plenty left, and those floors are worth recovering rather than covering.

Engineered timber

An engineered board is a thin timber wear layer over a substrate. That wear layer sets the limit, and on a thin one there may be no sanding available at all.

Some can take one light sand. Some cannot take any. It depends entirely on the product, and it has to be established before anyone starts rather than discovered halfway across the room.

Laminate and vinyl

Not timber, cannot be sanded. Damage means replacement of the affected area, and matching an older product is often impossible, which is why the whole floor tends to go.

What sanding fixes and what it does not

Fixes: surface scratches, worn and patchy finish, minor stains in the finish rather than in the timber, dullness, and light water marks.

Does not fix: boards that have cupped or crowned from moisture, deep gouges through to bare timber that has then been stained, black marks where water has been through to the substrate for a long time, and structural movement.

That last one matters. If the floor bounces, squeaks badly or has a noticeable dip, the problem is under the boards. Sanding a floor with a joist or bearer problem produces a beautifully finished floor with the same problem.

What is underneath

On a suspended timber floor, the subfloor is what decides longevity. Poor ventilation, damp ground, a leaking pipe or blocked subfloor vents all put moisture into the timber, and that is what makes boards cup and gaps open and close with the season.

Fixing the floor without fixing the moisture means doing it again.

On a concrete slab, moisture coming up through the slab produces the same result. It needs a barrier rather than a better finish.

Boards can be replaced individually

Where a section is damaged, individual boards can be cut out and replaced, then the whole floor sanded so the repair blends.

Matching is the difficulty. On an older floor, the species and the milling may not be readily available, and secondhand boards of the same age often blend better than new ones.

The repair is far more convincing when the whole floor is sanded afterwards, because the finish unifies it. A replaced board in an otherwise untouched floor always shows.

Finishes

Water based finishes dry faster, have far less odour and stay clearer over time. Solvent based finishes are more durable in heavy traffic and add warmth to the colour.

For an occupied apartment or a property between tenancies, drying time and odour usually decide it, because they determine how long the property is out of use.

In an occupied or tenanted property

The floor is out of use for several days, and the apartment is largely unusable during it. That has to be planned rather than discovered.

Between tenancies is the obvious window, and it is the same window as painting, so doing both together makes sense and the order matters. Floors after painting, generally, so the finish is not damaged by trades working above it.

We handle sanding, board repairs, the subfloor work where it is needed, and the painting alongside it through flooring and painting. Tell us what the floor is doing and we will tell you whether it is recoverable.