Gaps between boards can let in dust and draughts

Victorian floorboards are a timeless, robust, hard-wearing and beautiful feature of many of Britain’s homes. Wooden floorboards withstand spills and heavy traffic much better than carpeting and are more hygienic and hypo-allergenic as they do not trap dust and dirt in fibres, pollutants which can reduce your home’s air quality and irritate asthmatics and allergy sufferers. Though blessed with many virtues, home owners can be frustrated by the gaps between their floorboards which can result in unwanted draughts and dust kicked up by underfloor breezes. There are several ways of dealing with gaps between boards such as:

• ‘mass fill’ where sawdust from sanding your floors is collected, mixed with a resin and laid between each board and stained to match
• wood fillets created from old floorboards and hammered into place with a rubber mallet and sanded down and stained to match the boards

While these approaches can stop the gaps between floorboards, they are costly, time-consuming and must be undertaken at the time of your floor’s refurbishment.

DIY Floorboard Insulation

Our client in East London uses DraughtEx

One way to seal the gaps in your floorboards is with the DraughtEx DIY floorboard filling system. DraughtEx is a flexible, rubber-like tubing that comes in three widths for insertion in different sized gaps. DraughtEx can effectively reduce the chill of your home and the company website claims that:

A 12 x 12ft room has approximately 25 floorboards and an average gap area of 3.87ft² which is similar to a small window being left open. Based on the results of research carried out by The Energy Saving Trust, it is estimated that filling floorboard gaps can save a household up to £20.00-£40.00/room/year.

Our own customers have had great success with DraughtEx, which not only seals gaps between boards, thereby reducing cool draughts and dust, but also results in a very clean and attractive line between boards. Best of all, DraughtEx can be installed by you after your floors have been sanded and stained at a very low cost and with the minimum of mess and fuss.

Enjoy a tree while preserving your floor's beauty

How to Protect Your Wooden Floors

Here are a few precautions to take to ensure the that one of the season’s great festive delights, a beautifully decorated live Christmas tree, doesn’t leave an unwanted impression of water damage and scratching on your wooden floors.

1. Before bringing your tree into the house, give it a gentle shake to dislodge any loose needles to avoid trailing them across the floor. If you want to be really careful, wrap the tree in a sheet of plastic or similar covering while transporting it through your house.
2. To maximise the life of your tree it will need to be watered on a regular basis, so ensure there is a base plate or similar beneath the tree stand to catch any excess water. By sitting the base plate on a folded sheet or old carpet cutting you can significantly lessen the chance of scratching your wooden floors.
3. Once the tree is installed in its stand or pot and the decorations are up, give the floor around the tree a good sweep and pick up any needles that have become dislodged. This stops these needles from being stepped on and ground into the floor, which can leave unsightly scratches and marks.
4. Enjoy the fruits of your labour and have a very happy Christmas!

Removing your Christmas Tree

As when installing your tree, there are a few points to bear in mind when it is time to take the tree down.

1. Now that your tree is older, it will be dropping a lot of needles, so once the decorations have been removed, wrap the tree in an old sheet or sheet of plastic to catch the falling needles. Rather than removing the tree from its stand or pot, slide the stand and pot (using the soft protector under the base plate to pull) to the door and then carry out. If you do have to remove the tree from its stand also wrap something around the base so it doesn’t trail water across your wooden floors.
2. Once you have removed the tree give the floors a good sweep and wipe down to pick up any water and needles from the floor.

We hope that by following these guidelines you can enjoy a live Christmas tree while avoiding harming your wooden floors with watermarks and scratches. Have a very happy Christmas and merry New Year and don’t forget to subscribe to our free feed to read more tips and tricks for keeping your floors in great condition!

Photo by chrisroll | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Finishing a Wooden Floor

Staining can give your floors a rich finish

Now that you are at the final stage of your floor restoration you have a number of options available to you on how to finish your floors; from waxing to staining and varnishing or varnishing only. Primarily this is a personal choice based on the desired final look to your floor. Aside from the finallook you should also consider the amount of traffic and the level of wear and tear the floor will be subjected to; by choosing a reputable and strong-wearing product you will ensure your floor remains in excellent condition for years to come.

Waxing

Using hard wax on untreated strip flooring:

1. Using a soft porous cloth grab a handful of wax and wrap it in the cloth
2. Apply the wax evenly in the direction of the flooring (not too thickly)
3. Once the whole floor has been completed, allow it to dry and then apply a second coat
4. Repeat this process until a thin film remains (the wood will absorb the initial coats)
5. Buff and polish

Stain and Varnish

Varnish protects your floors while making them shine

If you wish to colour your floors and you have chosen your desired wood stain:

1. Use a sponge to apply the stain to the, in the direction of the flooring
2. Leave the stain to dry
3. Once dried, if you want a darker hue, apply another coat of stain
4. Using a fine brush (or sponge for water based varnishes) paint on a coat of varnish in the direction of the flooring
5. Once varnish is dry, re-apply
6. If the wood absorbs the varnish quite quickly re-apply a third coat – this will ensure that any spills in the future won’t be absorbed into and mark your floors

Key to a Beautiful Finish

Do your research, there are a number of options from green products to water or oil based finishes and different wearing options available, such as domestic or commercial grade.

• When staining do a spot test to ensure you have the colour you want
• Whichever method you choose, make sure the room is well ventilated at all times
• Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to ensure the best finish

We hope this series has helped you to develop greater confidence to undertake your floor restoration. Still uneasy? Contact us and let’s talk about how we can work with you to ensure a professional finish to your floors.

How to Sand a Floor: The Process

Your first port of call is your local hire specialists where you can rent a drum sander and edge sander; you’ll want to go for a newer drum sander which minimises dust creation. You will also need to buy enough abrasive sheets to sand the entire floor.

Level your floors with a diagonal cut

Remember, safety first so eye protection in place, gloves, dust mask and ear muffs on. Now, if the floor is uneven or very rough you will need to sand diagonally across the floor aligning the sander at approximately 35-40 degrees to the grain of the wood. This method speeds the levelling process and helps to ensure that you get a level floor. If the floor is level then diagonal sanding is not required.

To sand your floor, start the sanding with the drum off the floor. Starting at the left hand side of the room and going with the grain of the wood, start walking forward and ease the drum to the floor. As you near the end of the pass, gradually raise the drum off the floor, turn around and repeat the pass over the same area. At the end of this run, move the machine across approximately 7cm to the right so the machine overlays 2/3 of the first run. Repeat the pass and overlay process until you have completed the entire room.

With a drum sander you can reclaim the beauty of your floors

For those of you who don’t want gaps between your boards, once the floor is free of dust take the clean 80 grit dust, mix it with resin and fill the gaps. Once the resin mix has dried, sand the whole floor one final time. This gap fill process should only be used on gaps less than 5mm.

Finally, give the floor a good hoover and ensure the floor is dust free; your floor is now ready for finishing.

Floor Sanding Fundamentals

A couple of key things to keep in mind to ensure a great sanding job:

• Always sand with the grain of the wood (the exception being a diagonal cut to level your floor)
• Be sure to ease the drum sander down, too fast and you will gouge out parts of the floor
• Parquet and original wood strip floors can be sanded HOWEVER you need to take extra care as the wood is thinner than floorboards

We hope our guide has helped you to build the confidence to undertake your DIY floor restoration. Still feeling unsure? Contact us and let’s talk about how we can work with you to ensure a professional finish to your floors.

First things first, to prepare your floors you’re going to need a hammer, nail punch, scraper, gloves and eye protection. Now let’s get manual; move the furniture out and take down any curtains or drapes. Tape shut any cupboards and doors to seal them against the dust. Then, if you have carpet you will need to rip up the carpet, underlay and gripper strips, while for those of you with vinyl or linoleum, once you have removed the covering any glue or adhesive on the boards will then need to be scraped off. Easy!

Some floors need more preparation than others!

Finally, carefully inspect your floor and if you’re happy that you haven’t missed anything, do a final hoover to get up any remaining dust. Your floor is now ready for sanding. Remember, the preparation of your floor is integral to achieving a quality end result, so avoid short cuts and take the time to properly prepare your floor.

Want to learn more about how to restore your wooden floors? Check out part two of our guide, how to sand a floor. Still not sure you want to risk tackling the restoration yourself? Contact us to claim your free quote and let’s see if we can work together to create the floors that you want.

So you’ve decided to take the plunge and restore your wooden floors and you’ve decided to do it yourself. DIY is great for a host of different reasons; it’s a challenge, it can be satisfying and of course it can be a cheaper alternative to hiring a professional contractor. On the downside DIY can have pitfalls that can quickly test your patience, stretch your skills and blow out your budget. So, we’ve put together this guide to break down the floor sanding process for you; the different stages and the all-important do’s and don’ts to successfully complete your project and be happy with the result.

How to Restore a Wooden Floor

Wooden floor restoration can be broken down into three stages:

• Preparation
• Sanding
• Finishing

DIY floor restoration look too daunting to tackle? Get in touch for a free no obligation quote and find out how we can deliver professional results that last.

We're proud of our floors!

Parquet Flooring in Suffolk

Restored wooden floorboards

Wood Floor Restoration in Suffolk

Our gallery includes great examples of some of the wooden floor restorations we have carried out and it gives you a glimpse of the impact restoring your wooden floors can have on your property – transforming tired looking floors to beautifully finished floors. We work across the Suffolk area including Bury St Edmunds, Clare, Haverhill, Lavenham, Long Melford, Ipswich and Woodbridge and will happily provide a free, no obligation quote and advice on the best way to restore your wooden floors to a gorgeous, long lasting finish.

A beautiful finish requires a beautiful start

Water-Based Finishes

Natural looking floorboards with a clear finish

Oil-Based Finishes

Add warmth with a dark stain and tough top coat

The Evidence

Floors must be well-sanded before finishes are applied

The floor sanding process

At Simply Sanding we advocate wooded floor restoration over installing new wood floors; a seemingly obvious standpoint to take, but when considering the impact of floor sanding over new wood installation the pros, to both yourself and the environment, are clear.

Wooden Floor Restoration

Reduce, reuse, recycle! By choosing to restore your wooden floors you are significantly reducing the impact on the environment by using what is already in place, this cuts out a number of processes involved with using new wood. At Simply Sanding, when it comes to treating your floors, we are just as invested in being green as you are – that’s why our processes use finishes with the lowest environmental impact.

New Wood Floors

Restored floorboards

At Simply Sanding we are experts in restoring damaged, battered and scuffed floors to a beautiful finish. An aged floor that has been expertly sanded and finished has a unique quality and character that cannot be replicated by laying new wood, our extensive gallery provides evidence of the truth of this.

Choosing green flooring Going is just as easily done as it is said. We sand and restore wooden floorboards, parquet flooring and mosaic flooing in Essex, East Anglia and Suffolk. Contact us for a free no obligation quote!

If you are considering renovating or selling, whether it’s a private residence or a commercial property, and need expert advice on how to realise the full potential of your wooden floors – Simply Sanding will happily provide you an obligation free quote for your wooden floor restoration, all you have to do is contact us.

Wooden Floor Restoration

Restored floorboards

We understand that renovation work, whether it’s having your hallway floor sanded or restoring all of the floors throughout your house, is a significant undertaking; that’s why we use specialist equipment to minimise the dust and disruption to you and to make the restoration process as painless as possible. We have a number of satisfied customers who will happily supply a reference about the quality of our workmanship and our professionalism.

Floor Sanding Results

Take a moment to peruse our gallery where we have a wide selection of images, taken across sites from East Anglia to Essex and London, detailing the transformation of beaten and damaged floorboards to beautifully restored floors. If you like what you see and want to discover the true beauty of your wooden floors then contact us for a free, no obligation quote.