Most people choose a floor sander before they have chosen a finish, and it is the wrong order. The finish decides how the floor looks, how it wears, and how it is repaired in ten years.
No obligation. Takes 30 seconds.
Floor Sanding and Polishing Brisbane connects Brisbane and greater Brisbane property owners with qualified, licensed local floor sanders for coatings & finishes. 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.
The default in Australian homes now. It goes on clear and stays clear, so the timber keeps its natural colour rather than going amber. Low odour, and it dries fast enough that a floor can take all its coats in a day. Modern two-pack water-based products are as hard-wearing as solvent. The trade-off is cost and the fact that it shows every flaw in the preparation, because there is no amber tint to hide behind.
Cheaper, very durable, and it ambers the timber warmly, which some people want and others hate. The real cost is time and smell: twenty-four to forty-eight hours between coats, and a house that cannot be lived in while it cures. It also keeps ambering for years, so a repair patched in later will not match.
These soak into the timber rather than forming a film. The floor feels like timber instead of like plastic, and the great advantage is repairability — a worn patch is cleaned and re-oiled in place, with no need to sand the whole room. The trade-off is maintenance: an oiled floor wants re-oiling every year or two in traffic areas.
Matt, satin, semi-gloss and gloss. Gloss shows every scratch, every crumb and every bit of dust, and it is the single most regretted choice in this trade. Satin is the safe answer for a family house. Matt reads as modern and hides the most, but marks show up as shiny patches rather than dull ones.
Bona, Loba, Sikkens, Intergrain, Wattyl and Feast Watson are the names that come up most in Brisbane. There is no bad product among them; there are products suited to different jobs. What matters more than the brand is whether the coating system is used as the manufacturer specifies — the right primer, the right number of coats and the right time between them. Ask which system is being quoted and how many coats, and get it in writing.
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.
The core job — taking a tired timber floor back to bare wood.
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The finish itself — water-based or solvent, and how many coats.
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Lifting carpet to find — and rescue — the original boards underneath.
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Replacing damaged, cut or borer-affected boards before sanding.
Read more →Tell us the suburb and the floor area and we'll get it to the right person.
Call 0468 158 248