Floor Sanding Gillingham, Dorset

Floor Sanding and Wood Floor Restoration in Gillingham, North Dorset

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Floor sanding before and after

Floor Sanding in Gillingham and the Blackmore Vale

This is Gillingham in north Dorset, not the Kent town of the same name, and it is a different place entirely. A Vale market town that grew around the railway and the dairy trade, with Victorian brick terraces, a handful of older buildings around the church and the High Street, and a great deal of modern development that has roughly doubled the town in thirty years.

Around it the Blackmore Vale villages hold much older property, brick, stone, cob and thatch, with elm and early pine floors on sleeper walls.

We cover Gillingham, Motcombe, Bourton, Silton, East Stour, West Stour, Milton on Stour, Kington Magna, Buckhorn Weston and Stour Provost, plus Shaftesbury, Wincanton, Sturminster Newton and Frome.

Victorian Terraces and Vale Cottages

The railway-era terraces are the bread and butter of what we do here. Narrow pine boards over a ventilated void, well laid, and generally covered over in the twentieth century rather than worn out.

What comes up under the carpet is gripper nail holes round the perimeter, staple holes across the middle, a darker rectangle from a long-standing rug, and paint from decorating. Occasionally a board lifted for plumbing and refitted badly.

The Vale cottages are older and need a lighter hand. Wide elm and early pine, often thin by now, with a great deal of previous repair. We measure before quoting and take off the minimum required, using finer grits and more passes rather than an aggressive first cut.

parquet wooden floor sanding
wooden floor sanding

Vale Clay, High Water Table and Damp

The Blackmore Vale is heavy clay and the water table sits close to the surface across much of it. Sub-floor damp is one of the most common things we find here.

The symptoms are consistent: cupped boards near external walls, blown or milky finishes in the same band, and occasionally soft timber where a joist end bears into wet masonry.

The cause is nearly always ventilation rather than a leak. Airbricks blocked by planting, rendered over or buried by a raised path, or a void sealed with concrete at some point in the last fifty years.

We take moisture readings before quoting and we will not sand a wet floor, because it will cup again and the finish will fail within a season. We tell you what needs sorting and come back when the readings are right.

Dust-Free Sanding

Our machines run to industrial extraction rather than the cloth bags fitted to hire equipment, capturing the overwhelming majority of dust as it is created.

We sheet doorways, protect what stays in the room and clean as we go rather than leaving one large mess at the end.

Nearly all our customers stay in the house while we work. We go room by room, tell you what is out of action on which days and keep a route through so nobody is stranded upstairs.

flooring sanding company

Listed Buildings and Conservation

Parts of central Gillingham and a good many of the Vale village properties are listed or sit in conservation areas. Refinishing an existing floor is generally acceptable, but lifting boards, replacing timber, altering levels or changing the character of a historic surface can need listed building consent from Dorset Council.

It is worth asking before work starts. Consent tends to be straightforward for sensible work and the conversation is far easier beforehand.

On genuinely old timber our default is minimum removal. Wear in an old floor is character rather than damage, and once it is sanded away there is no putting it back.

Commercial Floors Around Gillingham

We work for pubs, restaurants, cafes, hotels and shops in the town and the Vale villages, plus church and village halls, schools, colleges, nurseries, gyms, dance studios and sports halls across north Dorset.

Sports halls and dance floors are sanded back to clean timber, re-marked to the correct governing body specification for badminton, netball, basketball or five-a-side, then sealed with a proper sports system that keeps its grip rather than turning glassy.

Village halls we normally complete inside a single closed week, which suits committees who cannot lose a month of bookings. Pubs and restaurants are done overnight or on closed days with fast-cure sealers. School floors go into holiday windows booked a term or more ahead.

Wood floor sanding company
Floor sanding taunton

Finishes, Costs and Booking

Hardwax oil is what we fit most here. It penetrates the timber, keeps the grain visible and can be repaired in patches rather than requiring a whole room to be redone. For family halls, rentals and shops a two-pack water-based lacquer is harder, cures faster and does not yellow with age.

Sanding and sealing generally runs twenty-five to forty pounds a square metre, parquet forty to sixty, stairs by the tread, and repairs quoted line by line.

The survey is free and takes about half an hour. Ring 01823 674562 or use the contact form, and send photographs of the room and the worst area if you can.

In and around Gillingham we do: restoration, parquet and block floors, lacquering, waxing, gap filling and pubs and restaurants.

If you want the detail: Exhibition Hall Floors: Mastering Variable Load Dynamics, or The Impact of Seasonal Changes on Wood Floor Life.

Nearby areas we also cover: Shaftesbury, Sturminster Newton, Blandford Forum and Bournemouth. There is a page for each, and the full list of towns is on our areas we cover page.

FAQ: Floor Sanding in Gillingham, Dorset

Gillingham, Motcombe, Bourton, Silton, East Stour, West Stour, Milton on Stour, Kington Magna, Buckhorn Weston and Stour Provost, plus Shaftesbury, Wincanton, Sturminster Newton and Frome.

Dorset. This page covers Gillingham in the Blackmore Vale, north Dorset, near Shaftesbury and Wincanton, not the Kent town of the same name.

Generally twenty-five to forty pounds a square metre for sanding and sealing, and forty to sixty for parquet. Stairs are per tread and repairs quoted separately. Survey and quote are free.

Almost always moisture from a sub-floor void that has stopped breathing. On Vale clay with a high water table, blocked or buried airbricks make it much worse.

Refinishing an existing floor is normally acceptable, but lifting, replacing or altering historic timber can need listed building consent from Dorset Council. Ask before starting.

Usually narrow pine boards in decent order over a ventilated void. Expect gripper and staple holes, a darker patch where a rug sat and some paint. All routine to put right.

We run industrial extraction which captures the great majority of dust at the machine. Not literally zero, but nothing like a hired drum sander.

A single room is around two days and a full downstairs three to four. Oil wants a day before light use and a week before rugs. Lacquer is quicker.

Yes. In older property we generally recommend timber slivers rather than resin, because the boards still move with the seasons and slivers move with them.

Yes. Pubs, restaurants, cafes, hotels, shops, village and church halls, schools, colleges, nurseries, gyms, dance studios and sports halls including line marking.

Case Studies

Once your floor has been professionally sanded and finished, it is important to take steps to maintain its appearance and durability.

FLOORING GUIDES

Once your floor has been professionally sanded and finished, it is important to take steps to maintain its appearance and durability.

Our company provides professional wood floor restoration services and floor installations for both commercial and domestic clients across the UK. With more than 30 years of experience under our belts, ..

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