In most Brisbane housing built before about 1960, there's a hardwood or hoop pine floor under the carpet. This is the job that made this trade here.
No obligation. Takes 30 seconds.
Floor Sanding and Polishing Brisbane connects Brisbane and greater Brisbane property owners with qualified, licensed local floor sanders for under the carpet. Tell us the rough floor area and what condition the boards are in and we'll match it to a licensed contractor covering your suburb. Firm per-square-metre price after an inspection.
Carpet went down over perfectly sound timber right through the sixties and seventies, when wall-to-wall was the fashion and exposed boards read as old-fashioned. A great deal of it never came up.
On a Queenslander in Paddington, Ashgrove or Camp Hill the odds are good. Lift a corner in a wardrobe and see.
Tack strips around every perimeter, which leave a line of nail holes. Staples — often hundreds, sometimes thousands — from underlay. Possibly a black adhesive if lino went down at some point.
None of that is fatal. Staple removal is slow, chargeable work and it's the reason carpet lift is quoted separately. What matters more is whether the boards are sound and thick enough to sand.
If boards have been cut through for ducting or plumbing across a main room, if borers or termites have been through them, or if a previous owner has already sanded twice, the sums change.
A good contractor will lift a section and tell you before you commit. That inspection is worth paying for on its own.
Brisbane.
Where this job typically sits. Access is usually a bigger cost driver than size.
| Job | Indicative price | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Sand and polish, per square metre | $35 – $60 /m² | The standard way this is quoted. Covers sanding plus coats. |
| Typical 3-bedroom house (~110m²) | $3,800 – $6,500 | Whole floor, sanded and finished. Condition drives the range. |
| Single room (~15m²) | $700 – $1,200 | Small jobs carry proportionally more setup. |
| Carpet lift and staple removal | $8 – $15 /m² | Often quoted separately. Staples and tack strips take real time. |
| Board replacement | $90 – $200 per board | Matching an old profile costs more than the timber does. |
| Extra coat of finish | $8 – $14 /m² | Three coats is standard; a high-traffic hallway may want four. |
| Stain or colour change | $10 – $20 /m² | On top of sanding. Sample it on your actual timber first. |
| Parquetry restoration | $70 – $120 /m² | Slower and more skilled than strip flooring. |
| Recoat only (no full sand) | $18 – $30 /m² | Where the finish is worn but the timber is sound. Far cheaper. |
| Moisture assessment | $150 – $300 | Worth it on any floor that has been wet or looks cupped. |
Prices are indicative only and usually quoted per square metre. What a floor costs depends on its condition, the timber, how many coats it needs and whether boards have to be replaced. You get a firm price after an inspection.
In Brisbane housing built before about 1960, very often yes — hardwood or hoop pine. Carpet went down over sound floors right through the sixties and seventies and a great deal of it never came up. Lift a corner in a wardrobe or behind a door and look. What you cannot tell that way is the board condition, or how many tack strips and staples went through them.
Typically $8 to $15 a square metre, quoted separately from the sanding. Staple and tack strip removal is slow manual work — a long-held family home may have several carpet layers and thousands of staples between them.
There will be a line of small nail holes around the perimeter where the tack strip was. They are usually filled and become unobtrusive once coated, and skirting or a rug often covers the worst of it. It is worth seeing the floor uncovered before deciding.
The core job — taking a tired timber floor back to bare wood.
Read more →
The finish itself — water-based or solvent, and how many coats.
Read more →
Replacing damaged, cut or borer-affected boards before sanding.
Read more →
Refreshing a worn finish without spending the floor's remaining thickness.
Read more →Tell us the suburb and the floor area and we'll get it to the right person.
Call 0468 158 248