Stairs Sanding & Banisters Restoration
The process of staircase and banister sanding is a bit slow because you can only use small tools and the majority of the work has to be done by hand. It is an intense and time consuming job that requires a lot of patience. As such, it should be done by a professional floor sanding company with experienced specialists equipped properly for the task ahead.
Restoring a Staircase
It is possible to sand your stairs multiple times in order to restore their natural look. The majority of the stairs we work upon are covered by carpets. People seem to be afraid that the bare wood is vulnerable to wear and tear but this is simply not true. Despite the high traffic in the area, a modern polyurethane lacquer can provide decent level of protection.
If you have a carpet on top of your stairs, it has to be removed in order to reveal the treads and risers below it. The carpet itself is held by nailed down grippers. Before attempting to do anything else, we always make sure that stairs are properly fixed and secured. If there are any damaged or broken parts, we salvage what we can and provide similar quality substitutes for those we can’t.
Small hand sanders are the perfect choice if you simply want us to strip the stairs without touching the banisters. Unfortunately, when it comes to the banisters, most of the work has to be done by hand and as you can imagine - it is a time consuming process.
We sand multiple times with different sandpaper grits in order to smooth the surface entirely. Of course, between each round all the accumulated dust has to be removed to prevent scratching. Next step on the road is staircase staining. It is fairly easy process similar to the one used for floors. As always, we can provide you with wide variety of high-quality products to fit you design choices. The last thing left to do now is to applying the finish and allowing it to dry. Unless you are after the old, more authentic look, we advise to use lacquers instead of oils because they offer better protection. Purely for banisters, though, oils are probably the better choice since they are easier to maintain and remove.
Banister Sanding, Staining and Finishing
Restoring your wooden floors and stairs is all well and good. However, if you renovate them, why not go all the way and make sure your banisters are also taken care of? They complement the staircase look and the appearance is very important for your interior design.
In most cases, banisters are round shaped and relatively small. They often contain ornaments and complicated designs which makes them hard to renovate. This is one of those tasks where the help of professional can make a huge difference in the result. While being labor and time consuming process, banister restoration will bring back the natural beauty of the stairs and make them great addition to the interior they were meant to be.
How many coats of oil are included in your service?
Our standard sanding and oiling service includes 2 coats of clear hardwax-oil or 1 coat of colour oil followed by 1 coat of clear oil. Ocassionally we can increase the number of coats depending on the timber species we are sealing.
Extra coat of hardwax-oil is also available on request.
How long it takes before for the floors to be used again after sanding service?
During the restoration service, the floors can be take light traffic, which is not disruptive for the service.
During the process of sealing the floors can be used only between the coats and after application of final coat the floors can take foot traffic in 2 hours for lacquered floors and (depending on air humidity / season) 5-8 hours for hardwax-oil.
Furniture should go back in place on the following day.
Do you do floor repairs to herringbone parquet flooring?
Yes, we can supply matching blocks for most solid and engineered herringbone flooring. Usually after herringbone floor repairs, the floors may need to be sanded, gap filled and re-sealed for achieving uniform appearance to the floor.
Do you lift & dispose old flooring?
Yes, with our floor restoration service we can remove and dispose old carpets, vinyl, laminate or wooden flooring.
What qualifications your floor sanding specialists have?
To join our networks of flooring professionals, we make sure our local floor restoration technicians comply with the quality, the standard and conduct of our service. As part of the process they must show experience, expertese and skills, good understanding of the floor finishes we use, the floor sanding equipment and the various timber species.
Additional qualifications and courses are a benefit, but as we value our experts based on results, our main focus is on previous experience and eye for detail, which is key to delivering an excellent finish.
Can I book floor sanding service throughout a weekend?
Yes, our sanding and sealing service is available to book throughout a weekend, however these works are noisy and usually noise restrictions apply in flats and residential areas with blocks.
If you property is a house, we highly encourage to inform your neighbours for the upcoiming works.
How many coats of lacquer are included in your service?
For residential restoration services, floor finishing requires 1 coat of primer and 2 coats of lacquer. The final sheen of the product is defined by the lacquer and available options are extra-matt, matt, satin and gloss.
For commercial restoration services, our floor finishing service will apply 1 coat of primer and 3 coats of commercial grade lacquer. Commercial floor finishes are available in extra-matt, matt and satin.
Extra coats are available on request and we do not recommend application of more than 5 coats of lacquer (including primer). The list of all floor finishes we use is available here.
Can you extend exsiting flooring over a fireplace hearth?
Yes, if you are planning to remove a fireplace hearth and you have parquet flooring, floorboards or planked flooring we may be able to help.
After the repairs, with matching the floor spare material, the floors will need to be sanded and refinished.