One question I’ve been requested repeatedly through the years employed in the wood flooring market is can my old fitted wooden floor be sanded and refurbished? Lots of people possess a wooden floor in their home that’s been lower for six-ten years that’s searching tired, dull, has scratches or stains in and it has certainly seen better days. Generally people know that parquet floors or original floor boards could be sanded back to create a lovely finished floor, but how to handle a fitted wooden floor might be more confusing. Well hopefully this little guide can shed some light around the problem.
First of all you have to determine which kind of floor you’ve, and more importantly that it’s wood. In case your floor is really a wood effect laminate then I am afraid your best option is to replace it all. Laminate flooring is available in different amount of quality, but more often than not it’s basically a wood effect print stuck either to an MDF or plywood board having a lacquer on the top, sanding it might only sand from the print and ruin the ground. Also make sure your floor isn’t a wood effect vinyl, they’ve become extremely popular recently due to their apparently low maintenance characteristics, they’re super easy to wash but when they’re searching old and dull or scratched, regrettably your best option would be to replace.
There’s two kinds of fitted wooden flooring engineered and wood flooring and also the good news is, both could be sanded and refurbished to appear as new because the day these were fitted. Engineered wooden flooring can often be mistaken for laminate as it features a similar construction. Engineered wood flooring includes a thin layer of hardwood, usually between 3-5 mm glued to some base of either MDF or ply board, due to its construction which is equipped plus a tongue and groove, additionally, it stays very flat. What this means is if sanded properly you need to just sand off under a millimeter, therefore the floor usually can be sanded as much as 3 occasions. In case your floor is wood flooring it’ll have a really similar appearance to engineered at first glance, but it’ll be built entirely of 1 wood in the surface towards the base. Wood flooring is much more costly to create and can inevitably are more expensive to purchase, but for me it’s not as good an item as engineered because it is more vulnerable to warping. Never the less and more importantly it may be sanded and refurbished many occasions, depending within the construction there’s usually between 7-10 mm over the tongue and groove so that as lengthy while you don’t sand lower for this the ground is going to be fine.
Engineered and wood flooring could be fitted in many ways usually based on the kind of sub-floor. When the flooring is equipped directly to the floor joists, it will most likely be secret nailed. The ground nailer can be used they are driving a nail just over the tongue and in to the joist, this results in a very solid floor and can seem like original floor boards. This process can also be sometimes utilized on a chipboard subfloor. When the flooring will be suited to a concrete or screeded sub-base then your floor might be glued lower, again this results in a very solid and acoustically seem floor as there’s no void between your wood and base. Lastly and much more generally nowadays due to ease and speed, you might have a floating floor, an underlay is set and also the boards are became a member of together around the tongue and groove either with a click system much like laminate or by glue. The load from the floor cheap it’s fitted from permanent means it can’t move anywhere. For those who have a floating floor you will probably have the ability to watch a very slight spring within the floor when stepped onto. Fortunately in most situations the ground could be sanded exactly the same.
Here are a few pointers that will help you exercise which kind of flooring you’ve. First of all check should you have had the boards remaining once the floor was fitted, quite frequently the fitter will advise to help keep a few of the remaining flooring within the loft in situation you have to repair a piece. Or you might find a part of the floor where one can begin to see the edge, possibly pulling up a door threshold, air vent or perhaps a small bit of scotia or skirting board. Using this method you will be able to tell in the construction which kind of floor it’s.
So hopefully this should help you determine if your floor could be sanded and refurbished or maybe it’s time to change it. If you’re still unsure then any experienced wood flooring contractor will be able to assist you to.
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