Sunday, June 7, 2009

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Essential tools and equipment

It is essential if you are going to sand your floor that you use the right tools as this will not only save you time but also will produce a much better finish and if you are going to the trouble of sanding a floor you may as well do it right.
Unless you are embarking on a career in floor sanding you will be looking to hire your tools this will generally cost between £80-£200 depending on the length of hire £80 being a weekend hire and £200 being a week’s hire.
Many floor sanding machine hire companies offer package hire which will consists of either, a floor sander and floor edger or a floor sander, floor edger, corner sander and belt sander. Opt for the second package as this will mean you have all the correct tools just try sanding corners without a corner sander, you can’t.
The next job is to make sure you have all the correct sanding discs, belts, sheets and pads. There are different qualities so make sure you check out some online stores before you just opt for the first ones. You can choose from zirconia, silicon-carbide and aluminium-oxide the best of which depends on the job you are doing so check it out with some suppliers.
The last bit of kit you need to be completely ready is your lacquer, be warned do not opt for cheap lacquer as this will result in you having to re-sand your floor up to five times sooner than if you use a quality lacquer, stain. Two very good lacquers on the market are Bona and Junckers, Junckers is slightly cheaper but not inferior to Bona. If you are looking to stain your floor both companies offer arrange of different styles and finishers that will suffice.
If you want help with getting flooring suppplies click here


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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Tip 3

Choosing the right lacquer is all important as it could mean the difference between having to do re-sand in 2-3 years as opposed to 15 years. So if you choose the wrong lacquer expect to be re-sanding your floor 5 times earlier than if you don’t. Ok so a cheap lacquer from B&Q may cost from £25 for 2.5ltrs, well believe it or not you can buy quality lacquers like Junckers or Bona for nearly the same cost, here’s the catch you have to buy 5ltrs but if you buy Junckers this can cost less than £50 and you can rest assured that you won’t have to re-sand your floors for many years to come.
So what tools should you be hiring when sanding your wooden or parquet floor? There are a number of tools to choose from but here is a brief list of the essentials.


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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Tip 2

Are you having problems with squeaky floorboards? If so this is a great tip to sort them out. Many people will just reach for the hammer and nails to sort out the problem this will at best sort the problem for a short time. What you need to do is lift the offending boards and check the joist that the board is fixed to, most of the time you will find that the joist is damaged or rotten and needs to be replaced or a section needs replacing. This can be easily done by cutting out the section damaged and refit a larger section of joist attaching it to the adjacent joists and fix with screws. You now have a new section of joist to fix your floorboard to and have eliminated those ghastly squeaks.


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Tip 1

Are you unhappy with the look of your floorboards do they look to far gone to repair, well think about taking a trip down to the reclaim yard and you may be surprised to find that he has just what you’re looking for. Every town will have a few reclaim yards and a couple if not all with have reclaimed floorboards to match your existing boards remember to take a sample of your floorboard to match. This means that even the worst condition floor can be restored and for the faction of the cost of having a new wooden floor.


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Basic guide to laying laminate flooring

Ok Here is a basic guide on how to fit laminate flooring. First things first clear the room of as much furniture as possible, if you can’t clear it all out of the room then at least move it to one side so as you are able to have a clear area to start from.
To start you need to make sure your floor is level (again, it’s all in the preparation) laying click together laminate can be one of the easiest jobs in the world if you have a level floor. If you have poor condition floor boards which you’ve decided to lay over then you should first lay some 7mm ply board to the area. This will give a stable subfloor for your laminate to rest on. Eliminate squeaky floor boards first the best way to do this is using screws rather than nails as nails may work lose over time causing the return of the squeaky boards. After laying your ply board if you still have level variations use a wood levelling compound to finish the job. If the unlevelled floor is concrete simply use a concrete levelling compound to level the area.
Now you have a nice level area on which to start to lay your laminate boards. Remember when laying the boards to lay the length of the board to follow the length of the room. So if you have a room 20” x 12” the length of the laminate boards should follow the 20”.
You will have to start laying the boards from one side of the room to the other, it is always best to work your way back to the door of the room. You now need to check that the wall you are starting from is square. The best way to check this is to lay boards the length of the room and slide them to meet the wall you are starting with. Then just look down the length of the boards to get an idea of how square they look. (the term square in this context means, not crooked. You do not want to look at your nice laminate floor and see it running at a different angle to the walls of your room and it is possible that one wall in your room is square but the other is not, so you need to compensate for this when you start.
If you are happy that your first row of boards is square you now need to scribe them into the wall. This is a process by which you follow the pattern (shape) of the wall, if the wall curves in places you want your first row of boards to curve with it. You must remember to leave a 5-8mm gap between the edge of the laminate boards and your skirting boards, or wall using spaces every 12” you will be able to tightly fit your boards this will make your job easier when laying the rest of the boards. Now your first row of boards follow the contours and shape of the wall you have scribed them to the rest is easy all you need to do is start with the next row of boards always make sure you don’t have boards joining at the same point leave at least a 12” space.


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Tuesday, May 19, 2009



Welcome everybody to Floorstock's blog this blog is designed to give as much advice as possible about wooden floors, how to lay them, how to take care of them and how to sand them. We will not only look at wooden floors but that will be the main focuss. If you have anything to add to a post please feel free to do so. We welcome everybody to share their experiences with wooden floors, good or bad.
I have been involved with wooden floors and floor sanding in particular for over 15 years and I have come accross some funny stories in my time as most tradesmen do. I am hoping that this blog will become a good resource not only to the keen DIYer but also for those of you in the trade.
The one thing I have learned through my experience as a floor sander and I'm sure this is true for all tradesmen, it is the preparation that makes a good job. Starting with the right tools! Have you ever caught your girlfriend or the misses trying to bang a nail into the wall with a wooden spoon? Maybe it's just me, or my misses, worst still I have caught her trying to bang in a screw with a wooden spoon. Oh where do you start? Sorry ladies I know there must be some daft fellers out there too, but to date I have only witnessed my misses carrying out such an exercise in daftness.
So how do we get the right tools? Well if your looking to sand floors the thing you need to bare in mind is this, do you need to make sure that no dust gets into other areas. If you are sanding your living room floor you don't want dust all the way through the house. So your not only going to need a floor sanding machine you are going to need a hover that will stuck out 99% of all the dust too.
My advice is this, if you are only going to sand 1 room you may as well pay for a professional because by the time you have hired all the equipment you need and paid for the sanding discs, belts and lacquers a good floor sander wouldn't have charged you much more. Now if you are looking to sand 2+ rooms then this is the place you need to be as I will be giving a step by step guide to how to sand your floor. If you are looking for help click here.


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