Professional Floor Sanding In Orpington

Any form of timber should be laid and fitted, then left for at least three weeks in order to allow it to acclimatise. The specific room it’s in will have its own unique levels of humidity and moisture, and the timber needs time to adjust to this. It’s unusual for a floor to be left in this manner, especially on new builds and sites that lay the floor prior to fitting the heating.

The result is that the timbers in most floors contract and expand numerous times as the humidity levels and moisture content in the air fluctuates.

When sanding wooden floorboards it’s important to remember that a floor will usually have a slight bow (crowning) or dip (curling) in the centre of each floorboard. This is a result of the timber absorbing moisture from the surrounding air.

Warping is caused by the edges of the boards drying more quickly than the centre. This results in a warped effect. When sanding, it’s important to be aware of crowning, curling and warping in your floorboards, and to use the correct tools to compensate for them, or your finish will be uneven.

If you are sanding an extremely rough floor, it may be best to start with 40 grit sandpaper, then switch to 60 grit, before using 80 grit, followed by 100 grit. Finally, finish the floor with 120 grit sandpaper that will give you an extremely smooth finish.

When working on smoother surfaces you can start with a higher grade grit, but it’s always best to start with the roughest sandpaper you need, and gradually work up to the finest grade required to achieve the desired effect. Attempting to achieve a smooth finish quickly is counter-productive. Fine grit sandpaper, when used on rough floorboards, is worn out extremely quickly – this will cost you a small fortune in sandpaper!