When to Hire a Professional to Sand Your Floors

‘Chatter Marks’ are the most common marks that can appear on a hardwood floor. These marks can be caused by too much weight, scraping caused by the machine, or too much sanding in one area. Even professional sanders run the risk of creating ‘chatter marks’ even when they are being careful. It is for this reason alone that you should hire a professional instead of trying to sand the floors yourself. Many professional sanders believe that machines that can be rented by homeowners are not effective and are a waste of money.

If you want to stain or refinish the flooring in your home, then you will to have the floors sanded so that the stain will stick to the wood. If the flooring already has a clear coat on it, you will not be able to simply restain the wood because it is protected. The clear coat will need to be removed first. With new wood flooring, you can use what is considered a ‘blonde finish’, which is applied to the wood soon after the flooring has been laid down. While this will not require as thorough a sanding, it will still need to be done in order for the stain to soak through the wood.

Refinishing hardwood flooring yourself could result in you spending a lot of money for new floors. If you oversand, you may make holes in the floors or cause weak spots to develop. Over time, these spots will begin to weaken and crumble. You will have to them replace sections of the flooring and eventually the entire floor anyway.

You should hire a professional whenever you need the flooring in your home sanded. Depending on the type of wood and amount of times is has been sanded, a professional will be able to use different equipment in order to get the desired look. You can find professional sanders in your phone book or online.

The only time you should consider sanding the floors yourself is if you want to sand a small area of the floor. Renting a small sanding machine should do the trick and should not require the services of a professional. But if you are not sure, then you should call and ask about small surface areas and how much they charge. It may be worth it to have a professional come out and take a look at your flooring. They will be able to give you a quote and tell you how long it will take to finish the job.

Osmundo Bernabe is a successful webmaster and publisher of HardwoodScene.com. He provides a website on hardwood floor refinishing and tips on hardwood flooring.