What Makes A Good Floor Sanding Company
When having your floor redone, you want to be sure that it is in safe hands. A rookie contractor without sufficient skill for the job, an unscrupulous company that will take shortcuts in a bid to cut down labour and time costs, all through to taking it on as a DIY job – these can all be frustrating. Truth be told, floor sanding is an intensive job, and one that can lead to costly ramifications should there be any blunders made during the process. Mistakes made can result in the permanent damage of the floor, putting the occupants of the building at risk due to safety measures not being put in place, coupled with the exasperation that comes due to the inconvenience caused during the process. As such, it is important to ensure that you’re dealing with the professionals when you hire a firm to carry out the task. But since the market is flooded with lots of companies offering the services, how do you decide who to hire? Here are pointers that you should be looking for as you weigh between the different options.
Factors To Consider When Selecting A Floor Sanding Company
- Company and crew details
Since you’ll be letting the personnel into your home, you want to be sure that you’re dealing with a crew you can trust. Have their employees been vetted and background checks carried out? While on this, it is important to get a clarification on who will actually be doing the work. There are firms that send out salespeople to look for the floor sanding clients, but subcontract the actual work to third-party businesses. While it is completely legal, you should still be notified about who will be handling the job. Is it the company itself, relying on its in-house team, or will they outsource the work to a different floor sanding company?
Most floor sanding companies operate between the normal Monday – Saturday working hours. However, it is understood that clients occasionally need more flexibility, and this will depend on how far the company is willing to go to blend with a time that will be convenient for you. For instance, some homeowners may be looking to have the floor sanding and restoration carried out over the course of the weekend when they will be home from work, and they are commercial establishments where the task may even be required to be carried out at night, to minimise the disruption to their activities as much as possible, and have the premises clear and clean as fast as possible. Have a discussion with the floor sanding company in order to settle on a schedule that will suit your needs.
The last thing you want is to have to keep pushing the floor sanding crew to do their job or make dozens of follow-ups after the task has been assigned. You want to deal with a company that communicates openly right from the start, and are even on-time when coming for the site-visit to give you a quotation. While you can still get an estimate via phone call, it is highly recommended that you have the site-visit, in order for the scope of the job to be accurately determined. In addition, get the quotation in writing. You don’t want to find yourself in a bait-and-switch situation, where the company gives you a price but later hikes it after the job has been started. The written quotation will ensure that you know full well what you’re signing up for, and it prevents disagreements down the road.
Go The Dustless Route With The Floor Sanding
More homeowners are increasingly requesting for dustless floor sanding services. This is due to its benefits when it comes to reducing the risks involved to the occupants of the residence, and also because there will be less clean-up required after the process – but what is it?
Dustless for sanding basically revolves around reducing the amount of dust that escapes into the surrounding space. Note that it does not mean that it will be a “dust free” sanding process. Rather, the sanding dust that will be generated will be collected with a higher efficiency compared to conventional modes of sanding, with some systems even picking up 99% of the dust. This is achieved by integrating a vacuuming system into the sanding machinery. The suction power provided by the vacuum will capture the dust immediately it has been sanded off the floor.
Professional contractors use industrial-grade machinery for this, which amps up the efficiency of the process. The dust is then safely directed into containment units – thus avoiding the safety hazards that would have been caused due to the combustible nature of the material. The dustless floor sanding systems are typically expensive – especially the high-powered units, making it more feasible to simply hire a company that uses them as opposed to purchasing the machines yourself.
Healthwise, ensuring the dust is properly controlled is key to prevent those fine particles that would have got airborne from being inhaled. They can result in a myriad of complications, from allergic reactions all through to damage to the lung tissue and even increase risks of developing cancer. Keep in mind that the sanding dust is a mixture of those bits of wood tissue ground off the floor, plus the finish products that had been applied – from the wood stains to the varnishes used. You don’t want this cocktail of toxins and carcinogens getting into your body, thus the need of preventing the dust from escaping into the airspace in the first place.
The dustless floor sanding also reduces the amount of time the renovation job will take. Since the sanding is the first stage of the process, any delay here would affect the rest of the operation, and the floor would remain out of commission all through. By taking away the rigorous cleaning job that is required after typical sanding processes, going the dustless route thus allows the next stages of the floor renovation project to be carried out much sooner, reducing the disruption to your day-to-day activities.
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