Recommendations for floor sanding South London/Surrey

[SmellTheGlove]

Anyone got anyone they can recommend to sand my original Victorian floorboards? I've just had a quote back from one company to do 2 medium sized rooms (about 12ft sq each) and a tiny hallway (about 1m sq) and it's come back at £1200 inc vat. That seems a lot to me? Also there is a hearth area that needs the concrete removed and new floorboards and they've quoted £450 to do that bit. I''d like to get at least another quote to compare before I eat into my contingency? Thank you!

Are you looking to get the wood stained afterwards or just sanded? If so that quote does seem a little high. We are currently getting quotes for repair, sanding, boards over hearth, staining and 2 layers of protection and they are coming in around the £1500-£2000 for 50sqm.

It's sanding and varnishing, don't think it was staining but have to check the quote. Mine is only about 33 square meters though so it doesn't compare very favourably...are you anywhere near me and if so would you pm the name of who you are using. Thanks for replying!

Just a little bump! I'm sure Mumsnet is awash with sanded floors!

Wow, that seems pretty pricey! Have you thought about hiring a sander and doing it yourself? We're doing our living room this weekend and the sander costs 70 pounds to hire from HSS, plus a bit extra for dust bags, sand paper etc.

I have sanded my hallway and would never ever do it again. I'm quite diy savvy but that's a whole different ballgame.

Crumbelina, take care with those sanders, they should be classed as weapons, especially the circle sander.

If varnishing/staining is included, and they do a good job, I think it's a resonable price (if the hearth bit is included in the £1.2k). I'd be tempted to take the concrete out myself -sledge hammer- and knock a bit off the price that way. They have to pay for rubble disposal, but if you take it to the dump as a private person you shouldn't have to pay. Maybe one of your friends has a skip at the moment you could dump it in?

We had a Vicorian house as our first house and put wooden floor down on top of the floorboards as it was just too cold.
You need decent gap filling, otherwise you will have the dirt and dust from underneath coming up.

I can't face doing it myself! We are renovating the whole house and I have already stripped woodchip off all the walls, removed all carpets and underlay, taken off about a thousand wall tiles and chiselled up a kitchen floor by hand! My back may actually break if I do much more! I spend half my life down the flippin' tip as it is! Mellifera the hearth is an extra 450 quid! I've got someone else coming to quote on Monday so if they are similar I guess I'll have to bite the bullet...I had budgeted 1k for the sanding though so that's quite a lot over...ah well.

The industrial sanders are no match for the hire ones. We did our floors and then had them redone by a professional.The difference is amazing and we now have a floor to be proud of.

I think you maybe surprised at the work involved - cleaning floor,repair and fill any damage, sanding, getting into the corners, staining, resandings and final polish.

Do get additional quotes, we used a local very well established firm that is in Hampshire. His quote was competitive but he was also very credible and gave us a good sense of what to expect.My friend is now using him after accepting that her diy effort was not up to scratch after seeing our floor!

Best of luck, Smell! We're in the same position. Pushed ourselves with the morgage to get a big house in a great location, but we've got to renovate most of it ourselves on a toght budget. I spend my bloody life at the tip, I've sanded, stripped wallpaper, removed rubble, tiled etc. Oh, and I'm 5 months pregnant. DH is doing all the strenuous dirty work thankfully!

Smell, wow, 450 for maybe 3 hours of work plus a tenner for a floorboard.
We bought a wreck and have almost finished doing it up (3 years later)
and I remember the woodchip and the mould behind it

Good luck for your project!

We've used DL Flooring - a one man band. He's based in Croydon I think...

We used jacks floors london who was excellent and about £25 per sq m

Hi we used a company called intercityflooring based in forest hill 0208 291 3203 a chap called Stuart did our dining room, approx 11x 11 parquet flooring, dug up concrete hearth & replaced with, reclaimed sanded & finished with satin varnish cost was £450ish was excellent.