Wood Floor Sanding & Refinishing Services Across London
Your wood floor has been around. Dog claws, stiletto heels, and dropped wine glasses and furniture dragged across it at 2am when the flat was rearranged. Over the years, the trail is worn down. Gross scratches, grey spots, rough boards – once beautiful floor becomes an old tired looking relic.
The thing is that floor is likely not finished. Not even close.
If the wood floor is in poor shape, sanding and refinishing can bring it back to life. There have been floors we’ve seen which have looked like they needed a new floor, floors which homeowners were prepared to tear up and throw in the trash, that walk out of a refinishing job looking better than they did on day one. In some cases weaning an old floor is like discarding an old guitar when the strings break.
This is where the services of Best Flooring Fitters London come in.
The Science of Sanding: Why Sanding is Important (and What it Does)
Sanders are thought of as simply “scraping the top off” by most of people. It’s a bit more involved than that.
The professional floor sanding will remove the old finish, stain and the top layer of wood. It reveals new and unexposed wood beneath — wood that has never been exposed to light from the time of the floor’s initial production. After that surface has been exposed, it can be treated, stained and sealed to your liking.
What is the difference between the job done by a local sandhuge and a sand job? Night and day. Drum sanders rented from a local tool shop pack a punch but they can also be a hard work. It only takes one slip of the foot or hesitation to end up with a dip in the floor that is difficult to correct. Our wood floor fitters London team work with machines of a commercial level, calibrated for each type of wood floor we are fitting, be it Victorian pine, engineered oak or reclaimed timber.
Then there’s the dust factor. It is produced in huge quantities during floor sanding. Our machinery is fitted with dust-extraction systems which take up to 98% of dust at source. There is cleaner on the furniture. You have a clean pair of lungs. Your neighbours are happy.
Refinishing: The True Change Agent
The best finish for your floor
This is the discussion most contractors don’t have. They’ll take what they have in the van and slap it on the wall and call it a day! It’s not what we do.
Various floors, various rooms, various lifestyles — all require various finishes. Here’s a quick summary:
Oil finishes penetrate the wood and don’t sit on the surface. They give a natural, matt look and feel. The scratches and scuffs can typically be repaired in spots, in lieu of re-sanding the entire floor. Ideal for family homes, living rooms and hallways.
Lacquer finishes provide a hard protective top coat. Lacquer is more suitable for high traffic zones, such as kitchens, offices and rental properties. More moisture resistant and easier to clean. The trade-off is that it is slightly harder, more plastic feeling than oil.
Hardwax oils fall somewhere in between. They’re becoming more popular in London properties that require durability, but still maintain that raw, natural wood texture.
Don’t know which one is the right one for you? Call us on 020 3322 7001 and we’ll discuss it with you, there’s no sales talk, just plain advice.
This report outlines the findings from a feasibility study to assess the potential of installing micro-grid renewable energy systems in the Peckham area.
Peckham has enjoyed a real transformation in the past ten years. Victorian terraces that were subdivided into bedsits in the 80s are being restored to family homes. Old warehouses are being turned to apartments. Some period properties that have never been truly loved since the 1970s are finally being tended to.
But in the middle of many of these houses? Original wooden floors. But there are floorboards still structurally sound, still wide and characterful, and buried under layers of paint, carpet glue, old varnish and years of neglect, laid over a hundred years ago.
We are running a service throughout Peckham. The floors are here are generally old-growth pine, tighter grain, harder, denser than modern pine. They sand beautifully. If properly cared for, they can be as warm and deep as no modern engineered floor.
If you’re in Peckham and have been pulling up carpet to discover wooden boards under, stop. Don’t replace them. Please give us a call on 020 3322 7001 first and let us determine what you have. Of the nine times, the original boards are salvageable 9 out of 10 times.
What About LVT? A few words about Options:
These are some of the clients who come to us and have already considered luxury vinyl tile as an alternative to sanding their current floor. It’s a reasonable thought to ponder. If you’ve been searching for lvt flooring fitters near me, you’ll know there are plenty of options out there.
LVT is hard wearing, waterproof and not all that expensive. We install it too – and we do it right, with the correct subfloor preparation and acclimatisation. However, if you are looking at replacing original solid wood with vinyl, you cannot take this step back. That original timber has all disappeared. LVT can be functional. Once a wood has been used, it can never be replaced.
What we suggest: allow us to inspect your existing floor prior to making any decisions. LVT is the better play on occasion, due to the board. At times sanding and refinishing is a lot less and provides you a result that is just another level.
Why to Trust the Best Flooring Fitters London
With more than 20 years of experience, Best Flooring Fitters London can bring valuable hands-on expertise to any project. It’s a matter of reading a floor; knowing its age, how it was installed, the condition of the subfloor, how the boards shifted with each passing year. It is knowing when not to sand just enough so that a board won’t be thinned out. Recognizing situations where a gap between boards should be filled vs when it is simply an inherent property of the floor.
Our wood floor fitters London team can work on any property from Georgian townhouses in Peckham to modern apartment blocks throughout the wider city. Quick turnarounds and clean results on refinish floors in rental properties between tenancies. We’ve undertaken a project for a listed building where the floor finish had to match the character of the building. We have installed and refinished floors in commercial properties such as offices, boutiques, and restaurants.
We’ve seen the problems before they develop as a result of that breadth of experience. We have the experience of what to look for. There’s no element of surprise here.
Process Progression Start-to-Finish
One of the questions frequently asked is, “What about the disruption that floor sanding will cause?” It could be — if it is done wrong.
The way we do a sanding and refinishing project is the following:
Day 2 — Application to the clip. We check the floor and look for areas that are squeaky, loose boards, nails that are loose and need to be punched down below the surface, and gaps that need to be filled. These are addressed prior to sanding.
Day 1-2 — Sanding. Progressively finer grits are used and ended with the edge sander to reach corners. Detail sanding or hand-scraping is then used to sand the entire surface where machines will not go.
Day 2-3 — Finishing. Stain (if required) goes on first and is left to fully dry. Afterward the finish coats can be applied (usually two to three) and dried between coats.
Day 3-4 — Handover. We perform a final inspection, answer any questions regarding care and maintenance and you will be left with a floor that is ready to use.
Residential work typically takes 2-3 days. We are flexible about our hours as much as possible.
People Also Ask
Q: Is it worth it to sand my own wood floors and save the money that the professionals will charge?
In a nutshell, yes — with the cost of renting a drum sander and purchasing sandpaper in the beginning being less than a table saw. The actual risk is great. When sanding is uneven, ripples and dips can be seen under the light when it is raked across the floor. If sanding is too forceful on a thin board, it may cause damage. Plus if it’s your first time applying finish, you can easily mess up runs, brush marks and adhesion issues.
The actual computation is not hire cost vs. professional cost. It’s the cost of hiring them plus the cost of fixing the errors or even worse, replacing boards that you’ve damaged accidentally, versus getting it right the first time. We’ve refinished dozens of floors over the past 20 years that have been DIY-sanded, and required corrective work. That fix is always more expensive than what a professional job would have cost.
Best Flooring Fitters London is competitive with affordable and free quotes. Call 020 3322 7001 to talk through your project. No pressure, no obligation — answers only.
Laminate Flooring Peckham and Laminate Flooring Beyond Peckham.
Low Cost Laminate that Doesn’t Sound Low Cost
If a sanded original timber floor isn’t a must-have for every room, it’s certainly worth considering for many. There are times when laminate is a better option — and when properly installed, it can be quite a showpiece.
We fit laminate throughout London, including Peckham. We install laminate flooring at a number of levels from affordable laminate to top quality laminate which features wood and stone effect laminate. Installation is as important as the product. Proper acclimatisation. Correct underlay. Precise expansion gaps. Good-looking and tidy areas around doorways and thresholds.
We first sort your subfloor if it is uneven. If you put laminate over a subfloor with bumps, it will creak, bounce and ultimately fail at the laminate seams. We’ve had too many botched laminate work to skimp on preparation.
People in Peckham from Rye Lane to Nunhead, Telegraph Hill to the Old Kent Road end have entrusted their floors to Best Flooring Fitters London. Our laminate fitters London team are equally as devoted to fitting laminate as they are to all other services we provide.
Looking to get your floors straightened up?
Please contact us today by phone on 020 3322 7001 or visit flooringfitterslondon.org.uk for a free quote. We serve all London, including Peckham and environs. Don’t allow one more year to pass with floors that don’t deserve to be in your home!