Sanding and varnishing Upstairs Floors

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daveco23

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Will be moving into a new build house in the not too distant future.
I am thinking of not bothering to carpet upstairs, instead sanding and varnishing the floorboards, and using the carpet allowance I will be getting to put tiles and wood flooring downstairs.
Has anyone done this previously? Pro`s and Con`s would be appreciated.
 
Noise will be the big issue. It borders on pollution of the ears.

You can overcome this to some extent with rugs but this will obviously have implications for your budget.
 
i have it done for the last 7 years .its fine and noise would only be a problem if there are loads of people or kids in the house. i fitted carpet to the stairs/landing and that was necessary gaps will appear in the winter when the heat is on all the time and disappear in the summer.
 
3 problems
1. Drafts will come through the gaps in the floor boards in the winter making it cold in the room , higher heating costs.
2. When you step out of bed onto the cold floor in the winter - not nice.
3. Noise.
 
Unregistered said:
3 problems
1. Drafts will come through the gaps in the floor boards in the winter making it cold in the room , higher heating costs.
2. When you step out of bed onto the cold floor in the winter - not nice.
3. Noise.
Click to expand...


points 1 and 2 above are rubbish in the context of a new or properly insulated house. in fact the opposite is true and you will find that heat rises easier from the bottom of the house. we have had to lower or turn off the upstairs rads in our house as we found it sometimes got too warm.
 
Carpet is nicer more comfortable, thats why every showhouse
has carpet in the bedrooms.
A cousing of mine has no carpets upstairs , when your sitting in his sitting room and someone is walking around upstairs it can very noisey.
Des kelly is cheap for carpets.
 
I sanded and varnished white deal in our house.....in my opinion it came out very well. We put down(well me specifically!) 3 coats of light oak coloured Ronseal Diamond finish to give it a colour and 1 coat of clear matt varnish on the colour.....
Noise, not really an issue. We don't tend to have herds of elephants upstairs while we watch TV.
Warmth, the house is new, we have no issues with it being cold.
Gaps, they do happen....the boards shrunk notibly in winter, but hey, wood is natural and it adds to its character.
When i step out I of bed I have to say the wood is not that cold...wood is not the coldest surface i have ever walked on, if it freaks you out that much, keep slippers next to the bed.


The sanding and varnishing yes, without a doubt is tough. We have 4 bedrooms, it took the bones of a week on and off..


Ask the builder for an off cut of the floorboard....go to a few paint shops and ask the lads to dye strips of it, use the Ronseal Diamond coat, etc. You'll be surprised how it can look nice.
One word of warning...it is a very soft wood......protect the floor by using those plastic disc things that the castors wheels slot into...otherwise, they'll actually dent the floor where the wheels are on it
 
If u have oir plan to have kids, from the dustmite point of view, it is the way to go.
Use hardwood solid or semisolid (e.g. oak), pine/deal is very soft & will mark.
If worries about noise, you can put in sound barriers underneath (2-4e/sq yrd)which will greatly reduce the noise. Contrary to the earlier post, it is not cold on the feet unless your house is very cold, and even then it is not too bad (certainly compared to tiles).
Wood floors, even battered ones, look better than carpet.

I love my oak floors, put them down myself & I admire them regularly.
 
I did this to one room which I use as a study. The rest of the upstairs is carpet. There is only a noise problem if the whole upstairs and most cases now, downstairs is wood, creates and echo effect.
When I did it to one room I did it slowly and in stages and found it most rewarding, particularly when people who have chip flooring in their new house come to visit, mainly because would have loved to do it. You have to do it right for it to look good, what type of wood it is (red or white deel?)
 
Do new floorbords have to be sanded or can you just varnish over them?
 
if the builders/painters havent been too messy,you might get away with a clean or light sanding. you might ask the builder if you can put down some hardboard sheets as soon as possible after they have laid the floors.
 
In my case I hired a vibrating sander....its quite unlikely the floors would be ok to varnish without sanding...they will be marked and dirty. Many builders make you pay for them keeping the boards clean as I guess it costs them time.

On the other hand, you probably won't need a drum sander either which is much harder to use.
 
New floor boards will have to be sanded after a while as they tend to curl upwards at teh edges after the heat is on a while. This can look unsighlty even under carpet -having a ridge effect.
The best thing is to leave the heat on for a while and then sand with a unit froma hire shop.
I am in the position of having to do this myself.
It would have been easier to do it before we moved in as there would have been less furniture to move etc.
Good luck with it.
 
Can I ask, do you need to sand new floorboards before laying laminate flooring?
 
I dont think you need to sand them, but they will need to be very level before putting laminate down. Make sure there is no concrete debris stuck to the wood, a light sanding would be a 'belt and braces' approach!
 
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