D.I.Y. versus Stripseal Flooring Ltd

We strongly suggest that the average homeowner not try to sand and finish their own floors with rented equipment. It's not that you can't refinish a hardwood or softwood floor, there are just too many pitfalls for the homeowner to hurdle such as:

• Poorly adjusted and maintained rental equipment. An out of balance drum or vacuuming system with excessive vibration (which can cause chatter marks). Levelling wheels on the sander that are out of adjustment, which can cause grooves and sanding lines.
• Use of incorrect sanding grits for the particular wood being sanded. Each type of wood requires a different combination and grade of sandpapers.
• Not having all of the necessary equipment i.e. edgers, buffers, vacuums, stains, polyurethanes and sandpapers (and a large assortment of smaller, yet necessary items peculiar to the trade).
• Little or no support from the rental operator.

A lack of experience which can result in too much, too little, or uneven floor sanding. We have had to rework many "do it yourself" floor sanding jobs over the years, because the sad part is that poorly sanded wood floors cannot show the true beauty of the valuable natural look of real wood.

Additionally people are under the impression that it is far cheaper to tackle a floor themselves. This is often incorrect as you have to cost up the price of the machine rental (which is far inferior to our modern machines, plus you do not get all necessary machinery to complete the job properly), price of inferior finish and additional price of the sandpapers used. Combine this with the time taken and the dust created in your house and the highly probable outcome of the job completed not to the floors potential and it makes a poor second choice!