Floor Sanders |
|||||||||||||||||
|
The comments below are unedited opinions of the colleagues who submitted them. A date (month and year) indicates that the comments following that date are from the given month and year. The most recent comments appear at the bottom.
|
1/99 The Floor Sanders They did a nice job. They did my sister's house a couple of months ago and did beautiful work. They charge $1 per square foot for 2 coats. We have 1000+ sq. feet and they wanted to charge an extra $250 for the 3rd coat. We asked if they would do it for $200 and he said yes without hesitation. The 2 coats looked fine maybe not quite as shiny and durable, but we went for the 3 because we're staying therefor a while.
| I just had a very reasonable contractor do a lot of work at my apartment which is now for rent. He brought in people to sand and poly 3 floors and they did a great job. The contractor is MPD contracting in Arlington. 7816413408 4/00 ***Check out floorsanders.com. We were very pleased with their work. My husband created their website after they completed our place. (617) 7831711. Get a 10% coupon online. Also get tips on cleaning and maintaining hardwood floors online. ***The Floor Sanders They did a nice job. They did my sister's house a couple of months ago and did beautiful work. They charge $1 per square foot for 2 coats. We have 1000+ sq. feet and they wanted to charge an extra $250 for the 3rd coat. We asked if they would do it for $200 and he said yes without hesitation. The 2 coats looked fine maybe not quite as shiny and durable, but we went for the 3 because we're staying therefor a while. ***I just had a very reasonable contractor do a lot of work at my apartment which is now for rent. He brought in people to sand and poly 3 floors and they did a great job. The contractor is MPD contracting in Arlington. 7816413408 ***Lee's Floor Sanders, 6176668562 4/00 ***The inspector of my home (a great one by the way, Chris Monahon of National Home Inspection of New England, 6179232300) recommended Deng Saycocie (7813293254) for refinishing my floors. Unfortunately, he is booked through June and I cannot use him. After establishing that, I asked him for advice in selecting another floor refinisher. We then spoke for about 45 minutes about how to find people who will do good work and how to keep the floors looking good for decades. Here is what I learned. I cannot vouch for the quality of this advice. However, I do feel that Deng gave it honestly since we had already established that I would not be hiring him (I wish I could, but I want the floors done before I move in in June). (1) First, never never never never use sealer on the floor. According to Deng, it looks good initially, but after 5 years or so, it will promote cracking and chipping. So, why is it used? Because it dries quickly so that the floor refinishers can work more quickly and thereby charge you less. But, you get what you pay for. (2) Second, use at least three coats of OIL BASED (not water based) polyurethane. Four coats is even better. With three, if you take care of your floors, you can expect them to last at least 10 years, with four, they should last 20. Given (1) and (2) above, any good floor job should take three to four days and cost no less than $500. Probably $600$800 is reasonable. At the low end, they make no profit. (Think about it, 2 people working one full day and then two or three quarterdays = about 27 to 33 personhours. At, say, $20/hour this is already $540 at a minimum. Throw in materials and $600 is a bargain.) Folks who do the job in two days for under $500 are using a sealer, as discussed in (1). (3) Wait as long as you can stand it before putting furniture on a newly refinished floor. Wait at least a day or two. The longer you can wait the better. (4) Every 4 months or so, move carpets one inch along the direction of the wood. Why? Because if you leave them in the exact same place for years a color discontinuity at the rug/floor boundary will form. Moving them slightly (back and forth) every 4 months will avoid this. (5) Always protect the floors from furniture by padding the bottoms of chairs, tables, etc. Deng says the best product goes by the name of Sheapard or Sheffard at Home Depot. Has anyone used this? I've found some more advice at www.floorsanders.com. One, among many, things you will learn there is: don't use Murphy's Oil Soap. This came as a surprise to me. | |||||||||||||||