Wooden Flooring installed or sanded by yourself, good or bad idea?
Wooden Flooring or Wood Floor Sanding is like anything else, there are some people that will be successful in there DIY endeavour and some that won’t, my point is this isn’t something you want to mess up. Do it yourself? I’ve had that as a response to quotes for years. ‘For that price; I’ll do it myself’ every contractor hates to validate his pricing but it’s not up for debate. We are not a charity and like everyone else we have to make money but work on a fair profit margin trading our experience for money.
Wooden flooring is a luxury item to have in your home, you don’t try and install the kitchen yourself do you? The same goes for installing or restoring wooden flooring, it’s an art (link in previous blog) it requires years of experience and knowledge of tools, materials and equipment. If done properly wooden flooring in your home can be a character feature and increase the value of home.
To illuminate some of the potential dangers when fitting wooden flooring, If one was to install a wooden floor and not let the wood acclimatise, use the wrong adhesive or nails, set the wrong amount of expansion, not get the first line straight, getting cuts wrong, ordering the wrong amount of wood, not level the floor properly before fitting or damage the floor during install. All these things can be disastrous and result in buying your wooden flooring twice and paying someone to rectify the mistakes. On a new wooden flooring install it’s not worth the risk, at least contact a company such as myself for a consultation fee. (A step by step).
So we know that with new wooden flooring it’s not worth the risk, same goes for DIY Floor sanding, floor sanding admittedly is less risky but ‘I could do it myself for that price’ …hmmm…so let’s say here at 4 seasons for a 15sqm average sized front room in oak we charge £600. (Example pricing only, prices will vary). In the time you hire a van, (£75 a day) as you will need a van to hire the sanding equipment (cheap floor sanding hire is £150 a day for equipment that you will need)…pressure is on now as daily charges build up. Now you need papers, (allow £100+ usage on papers) then you will need to finish the floor (buy b&q classic ronseal varnish £80-120)
Lets do the Maths!
Let’s add up;
Van £75
Equipment hire £150 pd
Papers £100
Finish Products £100
Total; £425 and that’s if you manage it in a day. And if you happy with the results you have managed to produce, if not time to start the sander up and start again. Plus the day off you have spent doing it rather than spending time at work or with your family. Although this is a rough example of a floor sanding job, You can see for a further £200 it’s worth getting the job done by a professional who will be in and out with no problems.
As I mention before sometimes money is a real problem and getting a professional in isn’t an option, here at 4seasons we don’t want anyone experiencing the stress of job going wrong. We offer wooden flooring and floor sanding consultancy. A small fee to buy out experience. DIY is a last resort but best to use the knowledge of a professional.
Contact us Today for a quote on a project or for a consultancy fee to help manage.
