Floor sanding and polishing: what actually happens

Before we arrive

What you need to do, and what we handle.

Preparation

• Rooms cleared of furniture, rugs and anything on the floor. We can move heavy items if arranged in advance.
• Curtains removed or lifted clear, and anything fragile taken off shelves — sanding vibration travels.
• Pets arranged elsewhere for the sanding and coating days. Machine noise is significant and coatings should cure undisturbed.
• Power available, and access agreed — including lift bookings and permitted hours for apartments.
• We handle nail punching, staple and tack removal, and any board replacement.

Day by day

Times vary with area and condition, but the shape of the job is consistent.

1. Preparation and first cut. Nails punched below the surface, staples and tacks pulled, damaged boards replaced. Then the first coarse pass takes off the old coating and levels the floor.
2. Intermediate and fine grits. Each pass removes the scratch pattern the previous grit left. Edges and corners are worked with an edger and by hand to the same finish as the field — this is where cheap jobs are visible.
3. Gap filling if specified, then a final fine cut, then vacuum and tack. We inspect under low raking light before anything is coated, because that is the only way to see a machine mark.
4. Sealer coat, then finish coats. With water-based products more than one coat can go down in a day. A light de-nib between coats knocks back the grain raised by the first coat.
5. Cure. The floor is usable long before it is fully cured, and the difference matters — see below.

Dust: the honest version

No sanding process is completely dust-free. Anyone advertising "dust-free sanding" is overselling, and we would rather tell you what actually happens.

What is achievable is containment. Every machine runs connected to M-class dust extraction, and we seal off the rooms we are not working in. In most homes that keeps the rest of the house usable throughout. In the work area itself, expect a fine film regardless.

This matters for the floor as much as the house: airborne dust that settles into a wet coating is exactly what produces a gritty finish. Containing dust is how you get a better result, not just a cleaner home.

Drying, curing, and when life goes back to normal

These two words get used interchangeably and they are not the same. A coating is touch-dry in hours and fully cured in weeks. This is the timeline that matters.

Water-based or solvent-based

Water-based polyurethane carries far lower VOCs, clears its smell in two to three days rather than lingering for a fortnight, dries fast enough for multiple coats in a day, and stays clear rather than ambering — which matters a great deal on light oak and blonde Australian species. It can also be recoated later without a full re-sand.

Solvent-based is fractionally harder and ambers over time, which some people specifically want on older hardwood. It is slower, it smells strongly, and refreshing it usually means a full re-sand.

For families, pets, tenanted properties and apartments, water-based is almost always the right answer.

Looking after it afterwards

Felt pads under every furniture leg. A doormat at each external door, because grit is what actually wears a floor. Sweep or vacuum with a soft head; damp-mop with a cleaner made for the coating you have, never a steam mop and never anything alkaline.

The single most valuable habit is recoating before the finish wears through. A light buff and recoat is a fraction of the cost of a full sand, and it does not use up wear layer. Once bare timber is exposed and marked, a full sand is the only option.

Last reviewed 2026-09. General information only, not legal advice — check your own by-laws and the current legislation before acting.