Oak Flooring Restoration Taunton

Oak Flooring Restoration Taunton Case Study

Project Brief:

This Solid Oak flooring in a Victorian house with a kitchen dinner extension in Taunton has never been sanded, now over 15 years later the floor has formed gaps between the boards through natural expansion and shrinking through the seasons, so the oak flooring needed to be filled with a resin and sawdust mix.

Client Expectations

The client informed me that when the floor was installed it had a beautiful golden look, however in time the uv light and usual signs of wear and tear, scratches, scuffs etc. had turned it an orange shade, so our client wanted a light, natural finish (not yellow/ orange) but also hard wearing due to their body lives and high traffic.

Oak Flooring Restoration Process

I started the floor sanding process by using a 40 grit paper on the large Hummel sanding machine, the floor was slightly cupped so making it a little tricky to get level and sanded clean. Once the base 40grit was complete everywhere I went to a 80grit and finished with a 120grit sandpaper on the Hummel. Followed by the edging machine (the flip) using the same process of grits; 40/80/120.

After this the finishing machine was brought out – Flexisand, where I dropped down to 100grit sandpaper to fully blend the body and the edges of the wooden flooring together, creating a beautifully smooth finish.

 

 

Oak Flooring Restoration Taunton

 

 

Oak flooring sawdust gap filling

Gap Filling the boards

The oak flooring was then hoovered and I started to mix my resin and fine sawdust. In a large bucket the resin and sawdust is mixed with a paddle and then poured onto the floor with a wood friendly trowel. This process is repeated twice to ensure all gaps are filled.

The resin dried off within the hour, leaving a filled floor that needed to be re sanded. This was done with a 100grit on the flexisand machine. The corners and edges were sanded with a palm sander to ensure there were no scratches or profiling marks left on the oak flooring. Then a final Hoover run before a 120grit final sanding run with the flexisand finishing machine.

Primer and Lacquer application

Oak Flooring Case study

As is always the case with most restoration projects, it comes down to preparation, preparation and more preparation.

Final Hoover and 7 bags of sawdust later, the floor was ready for the satisfying part of the project.…the application of a primer coat.

The primer used on this job was a raw wood finish and this was applied with a roller and paintbrush from a tray, focusing on 2 boards at a time and with the wood grain to ensure the primer is applied perfectly as this is the most important part of the finishing process. After an hour, the primer is applied and dried shortly after.

The nature of wood flooring with water based finished is that after a coat of primer is applied the wood grain raises, creating a rough finish to the touch. I then knocked back the wood grain with a diamond mesh and a buffing machine to leave a very smooth surface.

Oak Flooring Lacquered

I hoovered the floor again in preparation for the final 2 coats of lacquer. The top coats of lacquer have a higher solid % and are thicker, so must be applied with a bar and dragged across the floor again with the grain off course. Done twice with a drying time of an hour between each. The client on this occasion chose a Matt finish.

 

Challenges and Result

The biggest challenge with this project was the fact the boards were cupped, and the gaps were quite large, so the wood flooring needed to be sanded heavily and filled twice. After all this though the finishing was very satisfying.

Client Testimonial

 
James was recommended to us for which we were very grateful. We felt immediately comfortable enough to leave James in our home whilst at work.
James is incredibly professional, hardworking, passionate and very knowledgeable of his craft . Our hardwood floors were very old, tired and discoloured.
They are now transformed to brand new . We really couldn’t be happier with both, to have James working in our home and the work he completed. James will be the only person we will consider in the future and will definitely recommend him to everyone.

For any wood flooring queries please contact us on 07891 268265 or by visiting our Contact Page