Cost of living crisis/kWh Measuring Contest

Can also be balancing and appropriate size of your radiators.

Yeah the floor thing is probably something to do when you do the floor anyway. They can do stuff with robots I understand, so might be possible to do corner or something.

I paid £4885.92 for all the original pine wooden floors in our house to be sanded and oil applied, including fixing broken ones and supply of reclaimed boards to replace them.

The double lounge was £900.25 to sand - invoice says 36 sq m. We paid £691.60 for all the staining with osmo products, about 100 square meters (£7 per sq m). (Add VAT).

This was done a bit as a rush job but I think the pricing was competitive.

Edit: also included £225 for removing a concrete fire hearth in one of the rooms.

Yeah to add - the £900 included a clear lacquer or oil (the difference here is really preference - oil is more natural, and while the finish won't last as long, you can reapply the oil quite simply every couple years with a rag, with lacquer you need to redo the sanding.

The extra cost was for colouring (we did Osmo cognac for a dark look in the upstairs, and Osmo white for a skandi whitewashed look in living / dining room - wish we had done that everywhere perhaps, it looks fantastic, considering the state of the original pine boards).

Yeah I think one room is totally doable if the boards are in good condition, just need the sanding equipment.

In fairness, it also sounds like you did more of a bigger house, so the pricing is probably bang on, tbh.

Floor sanding specialist.

For the insulation question you are looking at more of a builder I think.

Housing was fucked loooong before Brexit

Yeah, it depends on where the booms happen in the US. I lucked out and got in before our area saw rapid expansion, my $220k home is now worth over half a mil, and I could easily see how a similar house to mine in one of the coastal areas would be well into 7 figures. But there’s also still huge demand here so people looking to buy often get outbid by others paying over the odds. It’s glory days right now if you want to live in bumfuck county ruralsville and work remotely for Cali wages, not so much if you want something more 21st century. I’ve managed to hit the happy medium between those, but not everyone would have that luxury.

More that you're living with Texans.

Unless you live in a bright house with plenty of natural light AND the rooms are pretty massive, don’t stain. Go natural instead. Keeps cost down as well. Money that can be spent of higher quality wood.

Hire a professional unless it’s a cupboard or small room and you’re not fussy about the result. If you plan on staining then doing it yourself is basically guaranteed to give shit results.

Moving all the furniture around is a massive pain but should only be for a few days.

Don’t use oil unless you’ve got heart pine, which is unlikely in the UK. Water based all the way. More expensive but much tougher and also a lot quicker with negligible VOCs. (You cannot just put oil down with a rag every few years. Either you were lied to or the UK has an oil based product not heard of in the US. Oil is much easier to apply if you DIY but it’s an inferior product all round. Water based pretty much requires a professional. You also should never need to resend a floor unless it gets comprehensively fucked up or you want to change the color with a new stain. A buff and coat will keep them floors fresh. Reminds me, if you’ve never used a buffer before don’t learn how to in a small room or anywhere near a wall.

If you are refinishing existing wood the best plan is to hire a pro. They will have the right equipment, (unless you live near a rental place that hires out the big belt sanders you aren’t going to get good results for any size able project) and the know how. It’s difficult to get good results, especially on a softer hardwood like pine and it’s brutal physically.

If you are ripping out existing and installing get prefinished for sure. This can be done if you have rudimentary carpentry skills and learn the basics before starting. Only downside is prefinished is easy to damage during installation. Also, unless your subfloor demands it, (say concrete) engineered wood is shite. If it gets jacked up or you or a potential buyer wants to change the look you are ripping it out and installing new. It’s very hard to sand an engineered wood unless you know what you are doing. Even then, you can go through the veneer.

I’ve been doing refinishing and installing of hardwood for the last nine years as my livelihood. Sanded literally hundreds of jobs and installed dozens. Any questions, happy to help anyone considering the project.

I use Bona all the time. Got certified at their training school, which might have colored my opinion of water vs oil. Perhaps the product you refer to is a water based oil product. Hybrids are quite popular

The physics behind it still puts me in water based only, unless the project is better suited by oil

I read up on it and withdraw my criticism before. I’ve used teak oil on a floor, which is essentially the same thing. Ballache that was as it bedded half dozen applications

Still dubious you’d get a good finish with a rag. I’d use a roller or similar applicator to make sure you get even coverage

The Buckle of the Bible Belt. For my sins