FAQ’s (Frequently asked questions about floor sanding TK Flooring London)

Monika, the machines are noisy, we will be wearing hearing protectors when we are using them. In the next room and with the door shut, it will not be unpleasantly noisy, but we doubt you’ll be able to sleep through it. As to dust, obviously the sanding machines make an enormous amount of dust, but almost all of it is captured by the built-in vacuum system. A tiny amount will get out into the air, so we don’t recommend you leave sensitive equipment like TV’s, HiFi’s, and computers in the room, but things like sofas can be covered with dust sheets. We regularly vacuum the floor during the sanding process, and clean up very thoroughly before we apply floor finishes, so it won’t be a problem. -TK

John, even a small floor will take a full day. Large rooms or multiple rooms may take several days. We will discuss this before we start so we can work round you to minimise disruption. -TK

Mrs Cohen, furniture will need to be removed in the rooms or areas being sanded, if it is too heavy for you, please ask as we can move them for you. Furniture should not be put back in the room for at least 36 hours to give the floor finish time to begin hardening. -TK

Hamid, it is much the best to sand the floor part way through decorating. Get your ceiling finished, get your walls ready for the final coat, get your skirtings and architraves undercoated and ready to do final coat. Then we will finish the floor, and 2-3 days later you can mask up the floor and do your last coats of paint. This ensures you get the best finish on your floor and the rest of your decorations. Don’t leave the masking tape on the floor for longer than you have to as the floor is still finishing curing at this point. -TK

Mr Jones, we can make your old floorboards look great. If you have them sanded, filled, and stained, they will be very attractive, and much easier to keep clean than carpets which harbour dust and germs. -TK

Nigel, it is a sad fact that not all floor sanders do the same quality of work. It is possible to save a lot of money on materials if the floor sander doesn’t sand the floor thoroughly and use the right amount of lacquer to finish it. The untrained eye will not spot the difference straight away, but the floor will have a far shorter lifetime and will look tired very quickly. Bearing in mind the inconvenience of having a room emptied of furniture to sand it, you would have thought most people would rather pay a fair price for a good job and have it done less often… -TK

Edith, this is because some jobs cost us much more per square metre. If we have to travel two or three hours to get to you and the job is several small rooms with fireplaces and other features to sand round, it will clearly take much longer to do. We will always give you a fair estimate, but some jobs just do take longer and cost more than others so it is impossible to have one price to fit every job. -TK

James, staircases are no problem. We can sand all the old finish off and lacquer or Hardwaxoil them, they will match beautifully with your floors. –TK

Petra, don’t worry, if we fill the gaps in your floorboards and use a water-based lacquer, there will be a perfectly safe, hygienic surface for your baby’s room. Water-based lacquers hardly smell at all, and any odour will disappear in a day or two. And it will look good! -TK

Edwin, we don’t recommend fitting wooden floors in such humid environments as that. The wood tends to expand and contract if the temperature and humidity changes which means that in a bathroom you will be liable to get gaps opening up etc.-TK

Pavlov, it depends on your situation. If you have several small children, the floor is going to need a lot of wet cleaning, and a lacquer would be better. We can do a matt lacquer which will look closer to an oil, and if you want we could lightly stain the floor to mimic the ‘oiled’ look. If you only have adults in your dining room and it doesn’t often need wet cleaning then a hardwax oil will be fine. –TK