To hire a professional or not? This is a major decision anyone planning on redecorating or renovating their home has to make. Which tasks do you tackle yourself, and which do you need an expert for?
When you’re considering whether or not to sand your hardwood floors yourself, or hire a professional, there are a few things you’ll want to consider first.
Your skill level
Firstly you’ll need to take into consideration your skill level vs the difficulty of the task.
Understanding how to properly use the different flooring materials needed for the floor sanding process can be tough for the inexperienced. The way a wood tile is handled is completely different from how wood panels are. Only a professional will understand how to work with whatever you have in order to deliver high-quality results. In addition, with so many floor finishing options in the market, only a professional floor sander would be able to offer advice on the most suitable sealant for your floors to get the best results and durability. Youtube can only guide you so far.
The time involved
(and how much you value your time)
Professional sanders do this all the time, so they are more adept at this work and can do it faster. They also have more powerful machines which they are experts in using.
Generally, most professional floor sanders can sand and refinish around 1,000 square feet per day. It will often take a homeowner 2 to 4 times as long to do the same area, and at a lower quality than the professionals.
Costs involved
Understandably many people may have a limited budget, especially first time home owners. And, many are looking for ways to save money. This is perfectly logical, but out of all of the DIY jobs, this is one of the hardest to do (and even harder to do well) and the one that saves you the least amount of money.
You will need to use the correct equipment and supplies, such as varnish, an electric floor sander, the correct sized sandpaper, a brush, hammer, bucket, and a mop. All these items are necessary to successfully refinish those floorboards, and the prices can add up quickly.
