Restoring a painted wood floor in Cambridge

Restoring a wooden floor back to its original beauty can take some time and skill, especially when it has been painted.

This week one of our professional wood floor technicians, Mathew, has been working on removing paint from this wooden floor, see photos.

The first stage was to remove all of the paint from the floor boards, this was quite a time consuming process as the boards were positioned very closely together and the paint had settled in between them. We sanded back the floor and removed as much paint as possible, we avoided using an aggressive sanding process to ensure that we preserved as much as the boards as possible. We always try to find a balance between delivering a high standard of service and what the best method is to preserve the wood floor.

In order to counteract the problem of space between the boards we had to put in aceot filler before the final sanding and filling of the boards.

After we had filled and sanded the floor we then applied a natural oil, we chose Pallmann Magic oil as it’s the best oil for sealing floors, as it has a natural hard wearing finish, which will not require it to be completely sanded back each time it receives wear and tear, it also enables you to work in a localised are if there are problem scratches at a later stage. It also takes half the time to dry compared to a traditional lacquer, four hours instead of eight.

If you would like to find out more about having your wood floor cleaned and resealed then why not contact our flooring team on: 01223 863638

What can I do with my newly discovered wood floor?

Discovering that a beautiful wood floor lies just beneath a shabby old carpet can be really exciting, and it’s at this stage that you will do a search on-line for a professional sanding company.



Before you search online for sanding company you will need to consider a few things:

• Is the floor worth sanding and which service do you require?

Before getting anyone to carry out the work on your newly discovered floor you will need to check out their credentials:

• Are they insured? Ask to see their insurance papers if unsure

• Have the had professional training? Check out their certificates

• Do they have experience? Ask to meet previous customers, check out references if necessary

• Do the company offer a guarantee? Make sure you ask for this in writing

• What finish do they recommend? These are some photos of a floor we recently restored with the above type of damage.

The floor was strip filled (this is the gap between the planks) and then we filled them strip with resin

You will need to think about what type of wood flooring you have. If you have a traditional wood floor and there are large gaps between the boards then it is likely to have been made from pine. If your boards are butted neatly together then they are likely to have been made from oak, but a professional opinion would be recommended at this point. If in doubt then ask Art of Clean for advice, we have specialist wood flooring experts in our team.



A pine floor is very soft and is not exceptional quality, whereas oak on the other hand if looked after well will serve you well for many years.

What can I do with my newly discovered wood floor?

Discovering that a beautiful wood floor lies just beneath a shabby old carpet can be really exciting, and it’s at this stage that you will do a search on-line for a professional sanding company. 

Before you search on-line for sanding company you will need to consider a few things:

• Is the floor worth sanding and which service do you require?

Before getting anyone to carry out the work on your newly discovered floor you will need to check out their credentials:

• Are they insured? Ask to see their insurance papers if unsure

• Have the had professional training? Check out their certificates

• Do they have experience? Ask to meet previous customers, check out references if necessary

• Do the company offer a guarantee? Make sure you ask for this in writing

• What finish do they recommend? These are some photos of a floor we recently restored with the above type of damage. 

The floor was strip filled (this is the gap between the planks) and then we filled them strip with resin

You will need to think about what type of wood flooring you have. If you have a traditional wood floor and there are large gaps between the boards then it is likely to have been made from pine. If your boards are butted neatly together then they are likely to have been made from oak, but a professional opinion would be recommended at this point. If in doubt then ask Art of Clean for advice, we have specialist wood flooring experts in our team.

A pine floor is very soft and is not exceptional quality, whereas oak on the other hand if looked after well will serve you well for many years.

How to seal a wood floor

Art of Clean were asked to prepare and oil and newly installed rustic oak floor in the centre of Cambridge. This was a very interesting job as it was in a new Sicilian café, called Aromi opening up in the heart of Cambridge Centre.

Sealing a wooden floor with oil

Aromi had already invested in a good quality floor, so our work was relatively straight forward. We chose to seal it with oil, as it’s the best treatment for a floor that is going to receive lots of wear and tear. Oil, unlike other finishes just needs another coat when it starts to fade. A varnished or lacquered finish would need a full sand and new application to make it look good when it starts to wear.

At Art of Clean we would highly recommend oiling a floor if you have a restaurant, café or a place in your home which gets a lot of through traffic as they are much easier to maintain. If you need any help or advice about sealing your wooden floor in Cambridge and environs, then why not give our specialist team a call on: 01223863632

The divide between the two wood floors

We were recently called back to re-clean The Sacred Heart Church wood floors in St Ives, we sanded and sealed this floor with oil, to see our team in action please go to this wood sanding video.

Cleaning paint from a wooden stair case and from a floor

Our technicians were recently asked to clean paint from a formerly carpeted floor and staircase.

As you can see from the pictures, the staircase had several layers of paint applied to them over many years. Our team carefully stripped back the layers of paint before sanding and sealing with a non-slip sealer.

We made sure that the walls were covered in plastic on either side of the staircase before removing the paint, to avoid any staining to the hallway and walls.

This stage was before the final sanding took place.

The edges of the staircase were cleaned by hand.

Below is a picture before the finish sand and sealing of the staircase.

Gaps have appeared in my parquet floor

Wooden floors are beautiful, but understanding how to maintain the look of your wooden floors is imperative. By placing a rug onto a wooden floor can cause gaps to appear underneath, as wooden floors absorb moisture, and the speed in which the wood underneath the rug absorbs water will be different from the rest of the flooring, causing it to contract and detract differently; this method of contraction and de-contraction can be exacerbated by placing a plasticised rug pad or rug underlay between the rug and your wooden floor.

If you find that you have gaps appearing under a rug on your wooden floor the best thing to do is to remove the rug, allowing the wood that was underneath it to acclimatise to the same temperature as the rest of the room. Then it will expand and contract in the same way as the rest of the floor.

If at this stage you find that there are still gaps from where your rug has been placed and have left it for at least six weeks you can ask a professional wood sanding and finishing company such as Art of Clean to repair your floor. But do be cautious as the gaps might also be seasonal, which means that in an ideal scenario it would be better to leave your floor for a couple of seasons before considering having it filled. If you fill the gaps in your parquet flooring prematurely this could result in floor not being able to contract and you might find that it will cause unwanted movement in the other parts for your wooden floor.

If you would like to discuss any of your concerns about gaps in your wooden floor, then please do not hesitate to call our flooring team on 01223 863638 and we will be able to give you our professional advice on the best treatment for your floor.

Professional pine floor sanding and lacquering in Cambridge

We recently sanded and finished this wood floor in Cambridge. The customer asked for a lacquered finish on the floor. The floor is used as a study and when we were asked to sand it, it was possible to see the scratch marks where the chair had been moved across it. To protect your floor from this type of wear you can buy felt pads for your furniture, although they do tend to come unstuck after much use.

The floor was finished using Pallmann Finish Care Stop – this is offers a great Water-based wash-care combination that has a special anti-slip effect making the lacquer slip-resistant. 

We have now expanded our wood sanding to cover the Leicester area as well as Cambridge, if you would like to find out more about our wood sanding service please give our team a call on: 01223 863632.