How to best prepare for your wood floor project
#CraftedForLife
We know It takes time and effort to research, discuss, consider, choose and invest in a new floor for your home. If your project is already scheduled in the diary, congratulations. You are very close to having all your plans and hard work realised. At Fin Wood, we purposefully cost our projects to make them as efficient as possible. Most likely we will arrive at your home at 8am on a weekday ready to start the project straight away. We allocate to projects the right amount of time we think it will take to do a thorough job to a high standard. We do not want to waste time or money, ours or yours. Working efficiently helps us to be competitive for our customers. You can help us maintain this efficiency and cost savings by making sure you, your home, family, belongings and pets are ready to start on day one too. Replacing a floor is an exciting investment to your home but for a few days, regrettably, it's an invasive project. Here are our 10 top tips to making it as smooth and successful a project as possible.
1. Clear your rooms before we arrive
Due to the nature of the work we need to have complete access to the floor space. Ideally we need to have surfaces completely clear of furniture unless it’s built in, floating or suspended to the wall. Anything that is moveable, in an ideal world, should not be there. It’s best to move lamps, TVs, coffee tables etc into another room that is not being worked on.
Please let us know if storage space is limited, there is an option we can explore to wrap your furniture and move to the garden patio if necessary.
We encourage customers to move furniture into rooms that are not being worked on.
2. Empty larger furniture that you cannot move elsewhere
We understand that large items of furniture are difficult to move or store elsewhere - sofas, chest of drawers, beds, pianos etc. For a small additional cost we can help to move this sort of furniture and cover it with protective polyethylene sheets before we start the work. We ask that the contents of these large items are emptied because the weight may be too heavy and loose items may be damaged as we move things around. For example, a bookcase ideally needs to be emptied of books. A bed with drawers should be emptied and undressed. We recommend putting bed linen in large strong clean bags or even bin liners so they are well protected from the dust. We suggest putting books or display items in a strong box with a lid to protect the content. If you have a fridge that you would like us to move then we ask you to remove the bottles and jars and items that can break glass shelves. Many accidents can be avoided if fridge freezers are emptied before we move them.
We can protect fixed or fitted furniture with protective sheets.
If you are comfortable, you can leave large pieces of art fixed to the wall and we can cover them with protective sheets.
3. Remember that some items will be inaccessible
Where appropriate we stack larger items on top of each other to take up as little space as possible, keep in mind that this will make these items inaccessible for a few days. As part of your quote we can include covering your fixed furniture in protective plastic. If you are having a new floor in your kitchen. We will cover the fixed kitchen units with strong plastic sheets for protection. Please advise if you need to access the kitchen overnight. After the project we will reposition the larger items of furniture as we found them. We apply felt pads onto their feet to make sure the floor is protected and will show you how to do this too for other items of furniture.
We will cover the fixed kitchen units with strong plastic sheets for protection.
We cover kitchen units and fixed furniture. We can also set up a marquee on the garden patio for extra protection for furniture stored outside.
4. Hide away your precious pieces
Please put away any fragile or valuable items that you do not want to be damaged or dusty. If your possessions are particularly expensive or precious, such as expensive art work, we would recommend a specialist moving company to protect, move and safely store precious belongings.
Larger pieces of art or suspended TVs can be difficult to move so you may prefer to leave in place and we can cover for some protection.
If you are comfortable with leaving framed photos on the wall, we can cover them too.
5. Schedule your floor work last
If your new floor is part of an extended refurbishment project it is best to arrange for all other trades to be completed before. We can fit a protective layer over the floor if you are still expecting more work to be carried out afterwards. Please let us know what work is remaining and we can recommend a suitable option for protection based on what might be happening e.g. painting. However it is not risk-free and it's heart-breaking for customers when a new floor is damaged when first uncovered. We can come back for repairs but there may be additional costs involved and if we’re already committed to other projects you may have to wait longer than is convenient.
Here we covered the floor with a felt layer for cushioning and then another layer of correx sheet to protect against dust and liquid.
This floor is covered with a protective layer of correx sheet.
6. Expect some noise and dust
Due to the nature of our work, despite our best efforts to minimise the dust and noise, it is reasonable to expect to contend with both noise and dust. Essential power tools are noisy machines. We use the best tools in the trade to achieve a precise expert fit. Tools such as the multi-cutter saw, impact drill and the undercutting machine are particularly noisy. We work with professional vacuum cleaners and our teams are are committed to tidying workspaces but dust is always a problem.
We use Lagler sanding machines which are very effective but noisy.
Tools such as the multi-cutter saw, impact drill and the undercutting machine are particularly noisy.
7. Consider whether you want to move out for a few days
When we have a whole house project or if customers need to work peacefully from home then often they choose to move out for the duration of the work. Or some customers book us when they are on holiday. If a customer wants to stay at home during the work it is useful for us to know how many people are at home and if there are any special requirements. Such as particularly busy periods when children are getting ready for school, days when customers are working from home or times when quiet is needed for an online meeting.
8. Please communicate with your neighbours
Please inform your neighbours about the project, making them aware of the noise and the duration of the project. Also consider the impact on any communal spaces. We will be respectful and keep good communication with neighbours ourselves but it is helpful if they are expecting us.
9. Do not walk on floors that ‘look dry’
Once we start the work there will be restricted access over the work area for a few days. Usually one of the last stages is oiling the floor which we leave to dry overnight and again there will be no access over the whole surface of the floor project until it is dry the following morning. It may look finished but it may not be completely dry so best to wait until we return in the morning.
One of the last stages is oiling the floor which we leave to dry overnight and there will be no access over the whole surface of the floor project until it is dry.
A newly oilied floor may look finished but may not be completely dry so best to wait until we return in the morning.
10. Is it safe for pets?
People often ask if it is safe to leave their pets at home during the project. Ideally if they can stay with friends or family then that is best. If they do have to stay then we ask that you do your best to keep them away from the project. We cannot communicate with pets and when we have a big opening in the subfloor accidents can easily happen. Animals are often attracted to the sticky surfaces of the strong adhesives we spread on the floor. Please be aware that oil based finishes can be harmful if ingested by animals. The other consideration is noise. Animals don’t have the option of wearing earplugs and will likely be disturbed by the staple guns and other loud machines. Lastly dogs and cats may slip out the door when we enter and exit. In summary, if at all possible it is best to have your pets stay elsewhere until the new floor is finished.
If pets do have to stay then we ask that you do your best to keep them away from the project.
A busy work area with many tools is not the safest space for pets.
Animals are often attracted to sticky wet surfaces.
Some products can be harmful if ingested by animals.
A Happy Installation
We have found that a little preparation and cooperation makes a big difference in how smoothly the project goes. We hope these 10 top tips help you to not only have a beautiful bespoke floor but also an informed, stress-free, happy installation experience.
