Cost to Polish Floorboards

Roopam said:
Would you still not recommend me doing it myself.
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Roopam

I've done floating floors and they've come up really well.

And, as I've said, I've done the sanding.

But if your place is of a very high standard, you will want a top finish. In that case, get it done professionally.

But if it's older, a bit knocked about, perhaps it won't be worth the value.

Perhaps have a talk to your local real estate agent in terms of rentability and value added. They should be able to give you a few clues.
 
Thanks Geoff,

The place is surely not of high standard. In fact I would say less than average standard currently. But that's precisely the reason I am looking to renovate the place and make it "above average - good" standard. Of course, floors is just one thing I intend to do, I intend to paint, new cabinets on one level. I hope to increase the rental value of the property quite substantially.

But I get your point. I am still more inclined to give it a shot myself though haven't made a decision yet.

Cheers.
 
Roopam said:
Should mention here that I consider myself a decent renovator having done floating floors, repairing uneven walls and tricky paint jobs myself though I haven't sanded the floors myself.

Would you still not recommend me doing it myself.
Click to expand...
Highly recommended.
If you haven't handled a sander before, don't keep it running on the spot and start with 80 grit paper, it will take longer but you won't dig into the floor that easy either. Go to a 120 grit for the final sanding and if you want perfection hire a rotary floor polisher as well and use that for the final sanding and in between coats. If you don't enjoy getting high on fumes and don't have breathing equipment pay a bit extra and get the water based finish. Vacuum the dust from the ceiling, wall and floors before applying the finish and in between coats and work out your exit strategy in advance so you don't get trapped in a corner. :D

Good luck.
 
We got a bargain with floor sanding a couple of years ago. We sanded most of the house, including ripping out lino, pulling up a chipboard floor, laying a solid timber floor, all for around $2000. We had quotes just supplying the timber for the floors which were the same as they quoted for the whole job.
They were Korean, and I think the one who had done the quote had severly underquoted the job. The workers were really cranky about it, particularly when parts of the job went badly and they spent about 3 days extra than they had planned initially.
We moved out of the house for over a week and stayed in a caravan park to avoid the dust and fumes.

Pen
 
The cost to resand floors will depend on what result you want.

Option 1 - sand back to bare timber, removing all imperfections etc...will cost approx $25 to $30/sqm. Floor will require 3 coats, 1 sealer, two top coats. Floor will come up like brand new.

Option 2 - screen back and recoat. Will rough up surface for new coating to key into. Will not take timber back to bare. Deep scratches will still be present but new coating on top will give the floor a renewed look. This is recommended for rentals if you can get away with it. Expect to pay around about the $15/sqm mark.

These prices are for a floor sander to come and do it all for you. I'm in WA so rates may vary over east.

Hope this helps:)

Boods
 
Thanks for all the good advice Harb. I think I'll give this a shot and hopefully I'll have one more thing to say which I'm good at DIY. ;)
 
What would you do if the gap between timber planks is a bit more than normal? Proceed normally with sand-and-polish or is sanding and polishing not the right solution in such cases.
 
Bloke who looked at my floors the other day said that really large gaps between boards are because the sander has gone down a LONG way and taken off the top half of the tongue and groove. Or of course, they could have just been laid like that.

You're lucky - my floors are way beyond polishable. Happily piling up old baltic boards in the front yard atm, they'll probably go walkies for firewood.
 
Roopam said:
What would you do if the gap between timber planks is a bit more than normal? .
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Probably the timber was not aged enough when installed, its a common problem with old houses. I had some 100x100 jarrah posts bolted to a brickwall and they continued to shrank for almost 10 years even though I bought them already dried and ready to use from Bunnings.
The only way to fix the shrinking problem, that I can think off, is to redo the lot by removing the timber strips and re-nail them while clamping them together. I've only ever had to redo 1 room so not sure if there is an easier way. The way I did it was to remove 1 row against the wall and put it away, then move the 2 to 1, 3-2 and so on until the end where I used the first row+ some second hand strips I bought of similar height. I had to cut off the tang on the last one because I forgot to leave the previous few boards loose but otherwise wasn't to bad. Except for some rusty nails who wouldn't cooperate and having to drill holes for the new nails everything went smooth. I also used a bead of "liquid nails" so the job should last hundreds of years, unless the termites get in there. If I had to do it again and for myself I'd consider removing 10-15 strips at the time and placing some insulation foil under the timber.
To bad you don;t have timber glued on concrete or you'd be laughing, just sand it back a bit, mix the dust with sealer and fill the gaps then sand and reseal.

Oh, one more tip I learned the hard way. If you use a moisture curing finish don't walk on it for at least 48hrs even if it is looking dry and even then not bare footed for a couple of weeks because the moisture from your skin will cause the surface to cure at a faster rate. I walked on it about 12 hrs after it looked dry to touch and most of my footprints eventually disappeared after 4 weeks but if you know where to look and the light is just right you can still see them.
 
Really depends on what type of foor boards you have, condition, choice of coatings, stain?, tint? top or secret nailed etc. I'd suggest anything from $20 sqm > sky's the limit
 
I've had two properties done in the past 6 months. Each was ~85sqm of baltic pine. 2-pack water based satin finish.

First was $1800, second was $2200. Second property needed some floor board repairs which partially accounts for the extra cost. I think the first guy just underquoted to be honest.

I was happy with the work done by both sanders although the second lot really messed me around with timings. I found them by putting ads on ServiceSeeking - got quite a few responses too.
 
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poordeveloper said:
I've had two properties done in the past 6 months. Each was ~85sqm of baltic pine. 2-pack water based satin finish.

First was $1800, second was $2200. Second property needed some floor board repairs which partially accounts for the extra cost. I think the first guy just underquoted to be honest.
Click to expand...

That is ridiculously cheap at around $21 sqm for waterbase. I'd be charging upwards of $35 sqm for Baltic pine done in 2 pack waterbase
 
Been an impossible task trying to get anyone to do one for me here on
the central coast , finally the fifth phone call , someone came to quote
and doing the job for $1600 for 2 bedroom lounge,dinning, kitchen.
 
Oil based - $25sq/m
Water Based $35sq/m

Don't pick the cheapest floor sander.

There's a massive difference in quality between some of them.
 
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