Floor Sanding London | Three-Stage Sand

What Three-Stage Actually Means

One Sand, Three Distinct Stages

When our quotes say three-stage sanding, it means your floor is machine-sanded at least three separate times, each pass with a finer abrasive than the last. The first cut goes through the old finish and takes the boards back to bare timber. The middle passes flatten the floor and chase out the marks the first cut leaves behind. The final stage is the finishing pass, taken as fine as your chosen finish needs, and finer still if the floor is being stained, because colour shows every shortcut.

Belt sanding with the Lagler Hummel, not the drum sander you get from a hire shop
Edges done with a dedicated edge sander, corners by hand with a triangle sander
A buffer pass to blend field and edges before any finish goes near the floor
We own every machine we use, nothing is hired for the day

The photo here is one of ours, mid-job: original pine boards part-way through the first cut. The full process is written up in our pine sanding guide.

Pine floorboards mid-sand, half stripped back to fresh timber during the first cut

Before and After

From Near-Black Back to Natural Oak

This oak came to us stained near-black, and the brief was the opposite of most: take it back to how the tree intended. Sanding out a dark stain is slower and less forgiving than sanding a clear finish, because the colour sits down in the grain and shows any unevenness. It's routine work for us. If you've inherited a colour you hate, it isn't permanent.

The Order of Work

Repairs, Gaps, Sand, Finish. In That Order.

Damaged boards are repaired or replaced before the machines come out, with reclaimed timber where the floor is old, so the repair ages with the rest of the room: here's how we do board repairs. Gaps are filled with flexible filler rather than resin, so the filler moves with a suspended timber floor instead of cracking out; we've written up why.

Then the three-stage sand, then the finish: two coats if you choose an oil, three coats if you choose a lacquer or varnish. Not sure which suits your home? We have written an honest comparison of the two. And if you fancy a colour change while the boards are bare, that's the moment. Our staining page shows the twelve LOBA colours and how the free patch test works. You can even upload a photo of your room to the visualiser and preview the colour before we start.

Wondering about money? The real numbers, what moves them and a fully worked example are in our floor sanding cost guide.

Freshly re-oiled wooden floor at The Bread and Roses pub in Clapham, revived without sanding

Straight Talk

We'll Tell You If It Doesn't Need Sanding

Every floor only has so many sands in it, so we don't spend one lightly. Some tired floors, especially oiled ones, just need a deep clean and a fresh feed. The pub floor in this photo, The Bread and Roses in Clapham, was revived without a single pass of a sanding machine, and the bill was a fraction of a full sand.

If that's the truth about your floor, that's the advice you'll get on the site visit. The full story is in not every floor needs a full sand.

We sand floors all over London; if you're local to one of our regular patches, see the area pages for Balham, Clapham, Dulwich, Wimbledon, Purley, Kensington and Gipsy Hill. Schools, pubs and offices are on the commercial page.

Straight Answers

Floor Sanding Questions, Answered

What does three-stage sanding mean on my quote?

It means the floor is machine-sanded at least three separate times, each pass with a finer abrasive than the last. The first cut strips the old finish and takes the boards back to bare timber. The middle stage flattens the floor and chases out the marks the first cut leaves behind. The final stage polishes the timber ready for its finish. It's the difference between a floor that looks sanded and one that feels flat under bare feet.

Will you get into the corners and right up to the skirting?

Yes. The belt sander covers the open floor, a dedicated edge sander runs tight to the skirting, and corners, stair nosings and awkward spots around radiator pipes are done with a triangle sander. A buffer pass then blends the edges and the middle so the whole floor reads as one surface.

My floor was stained dark years ago. Can it go back to natural?

Usually, yes. Dark stain sits deeper in the grain than a clear finish, so the first stage is slower and less forgiving, but it's routine work for us. The oak floor pictured on this page came to us near-black and left natural. If you've inherited a colour you hate, it isn't permanent.

Do you fill the gaps as part of the sand?

Where it makes sense, yes. Gaps are part of a suspended pine floor's character, but the big ones whistle in winter. We fill with flexible filler that moves with the boards through the seasons instead of cracking out like hard resin, and the widest gaps get traditional timber slivers, fitted the way it was done a century ago. You feel the difference in draughts as much as you see it in the floor.

How many coats of finish do you apply?

Lacquer and varnish finishes are applied as three coats; oil finishes are applied as two. You choose the finish from real samples, free of charge, and we confirm it with a patch test on your own boards before the final coats go on.

Who actually turns up to do the work?

Dean or Luke, the two partners the company is named after, on every job. One of us prices your floor and the same hands sand it. Between us that's over 40 years on the machines, and it's why the reviews all say the same thing.

Thirty Seconds, Four Boxes

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Floor Sanding in London