UKH

Sanding & finishing old pine floors in Glasgow tenement flat. At 14m2. 

What would anyone estimate this at? Two small repairs gaps to be filled to floor.

We've got two quotes, wildly different from £336 to £588!

In reply to Flinticus:

14m2 that's a bargain.

14 square metres, not so much...

In reply to Flinticus:

The £336 sounds about right if its sand & seal of standard timber flooring and not parquet style  - Looking about £23/24 per m2 which is spot on.

Make sure everything is included, i.e. protection, filling and clear up.

In reply to Flinticus:

Hiring a sander is considerably cheaper!

In reply to Ridge:

Cheaper but won't match on quality or provide a warranty on the coatings. Easier to pay a bit extra and not be responsible for the quality should it go wrong. Plus its a pig of a job.

In reply to Ridge:

And I'd have to deal with my wife if I f****d up which, given I've never sanded a floor before (or particularly want to) is likely! 

In reply to Flinticus:

Good point. Just pay them, regardless of financial cost!

In reply to Flinticus:

Yeah, I hired a sander rather than pay someone, and didn't quite appreciate the complexities of an adjustable drum.  Consequently I less sanded the floor, more created a series of furrows.

In reply to DerwentDiluted:

A hand sander and starting at an outside edge in an overlooked corner might be my own approach. It'd be hassle and effort, and ache inducing I'm sure, but less risk of furrows. 

In reply to Flinticus:

Hire of a floor sander is about £40 for a whole weekend. Quite hard to balls it up. Spend the difference taking both of you out for a fancy meal every weekend for the next month. The latter is especially pertinent if you wreck the floor.

In reply to Flinticus:I e remanded and refinished a raid few sq. M of floor... it's not hard but if is a filthy unpleasant job so I'd happily pay 350 quid or so for it. 

  You will dig a furrow at some point

provide a warranty on the coatings... what does that mean.  I refinished mine as well, easier than the sanding.

In reply to Dave 88:

Fancy meals V getting someone to sand floor...

Fancy meals loses out easily!

If you'd said:

New UL tent V hiring in a bloke...

In reply to wbo2:

They should provide a warranty on the workmanship (application of sealant/coatings) - if they mess it up, they return to fix it. You do it yourself, then no warranty or anything to fall back on.

In reply to Oceanrower:

Am I being daft? They're the same, or is that the joke?

In reply to galpinos:

I think he's twisting the way its written slightly ! 

14 meters squared is 196 square meters, 14 square meters is 14 square meters !

In reply to Dark-Cloud:

That's kind of my point.

14m2 = 14m2

14 square metres = 14m2

14 metres squared = 196m2

Oceanrower picked the first two, which were the same. I guess that was the joke.

At least he didn't write "meters" though.......

In reply to galpinos:

Ha, busy (or meant to be) writing technical documents with 1000's of meters, metres never got a look in...

In reply to Flinticus:

I have stripped quite a few floors now.  This site is fantastic for advice and guidance.

http://newellwoodworks.co.uk/index.html

As he suggests I:

1. Clean between the boards and if possible lift and stack them tight together (when I lifted mine i put insulation under as well).  Screw the boards down with good quality screws to hold them tight

2. I use wood splinters and lecol (see the site) mixed with sawdust as a filler for the gaps between boards and cover the screws.

3.  Sand the floors best way you can (I hire sanders and use my own hand held ones for fine finishing)

4.  My personal choice is diamond hard varnish.  I use the sponge mop applicator, at least 3 coats.  It gives an amazing finish and is incredibly hard wearing.  I can't be doing with waxes that need redoing constantly.  Lots of people including tradespeople have commented on the quality of the finish.

The cost of varnish, lecol, sanders would be close to some of your quotes I suspect.  2-3 days work for me solid.  

Make sure you know what you want and what they will provide.

Good luck!!

Toby

In reply to galpinos:

No. 14m2 is 14m x 14m.

14 square metres is 7m x 2m (or other variables.

In reply to Oceanrower:

A square metre is the SI unit of area and is given the symbol m2 (I can't do superscript on UKC).

Hence 14m2 means 14 square metres. Confusing, I agree.

In reply to galpinos:

Wikipedia doesn't agree with you...

https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_metre

In reply to Oceanrower:

It does?

In reply to galpinos:

I'll give you that. Which directly contradicts what they've posted immediately above!

The square metre (or square meter) is the SI derived unit of area. It has a symbol sq.m, NOT m2

In reply to Oceanrower:

I did see that bit.

Wikipedia seems to disagree with itself!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_metre

I agree with wiki, not simple wiki. It's always been pretty confusing but I'm pretty sure I'm right!

In reply to galpinos:

I'll take your word. It IS confusing, though.

In reply to Oceanrower:

NIST gives it as m2  where the 2 is superscript.