Sanding & Refinishing
There are many different variables that can affect the process and speed of floor sanding. Finishes, wood density, knots, desired color, pet stains, shadows, water damage all have to be considered before a project starts. All these will be gone over at the time of consultation depending on what's happening on your floor. For the most part the process is relatively the same. The floor is sanded with the big machine and edgers, the corners are scraped and made to be level with the rest of the floor. The edges are palm sanded and filled where need be. The floor is buffed and extensively vacuumed before stain is applied or before the coating process begins. The floor is coated twice then smoothed out with a final buff before the last coat goes on.
In some cases there is a perfectly good floor hidden under old carpet and vinyl. We can strip it away, fill and even replace damaged boards that may have been hidden. In this case it was covered to make cleaning easier, but with the advances in today's finishes it is no longer a problem.
In this photo you can see where the finish has started to wear through exposing the raw floor. These kinds of instances are what we deal with most but that does not have to be the case. A regularly scheduled buff and coat can save you time and money.
Small hallways are no issue when it comes to floor sanding.
Here there is some light staining or discoloration in the floor. Lots of times it can be removed with sanding or made lighter through out the process, although there are instances where it has penetrated the wood to deeply and does not come out, there are home remedies for this but is strongly recommended that they are not tried. It does have tendencies to cause finishes to react poorly i.e. Delaminate or discolor the finish.
Once the floor is exposed and the nails removed it can be sanded with the rest of the floor in one continuous motion.
The center of the room is sanded with the big machine anywhere from 1 to 4 cuts with varying grits of paper depending on the type of wood or if the floor will have color added to it.
Once the machine has cleared some space the edges, corners and registers can be dealt with.
The outer floor surface is sanded or “edged” to remove the old finish and level the floor.
The edger will follow the walls around the are being sanded and any hard to reach spots the big machine wouldn't reach. The edger can take as many as 1-4 cuts with varying grits of paper.
The edger does closets and nowhere the big machine can't fit or run with the grain of the wood. It is hooked to its own vacuum through the process for maximum cleanliness.
Turgeon’s uses a special sander to deal with hard to reach places such as base board heat and cast iron registers. The radiator sander helps quicken the pace by avoiding time consuming hand work that even some of the experienced have been known to ignore.
After buffing the floor is thoroughly vacuumed and coated a industry standard 3 times some times 4 at the request of the customer. The finish can in most cases be hard enough to walk on after several hours ( in sock feet) but does take up to two weeks to fully cure through.
