Day one
A drum sander on new oak
Washington Park, 2026
Most people expect a week. A sound oak floor in a three-bedroom house takes us three days, and most of that is drying time.
We start with a coarse paper to take the old finish off, then two finer passes to close the grain. A living room takes about four hours; a hall and stairs take longer than their size suggests.
We brush six test stripes in the morning and you choose in daylight. Stain dries for four hours before the first coat goes on.
The floor decides the schedule. We only decide how carefully we sand it.
Each coat needs four hours with the windows cracked. After the last one, keep to socks for a day and wait two days before the furniture goes back.
If the boards are soft or thin from earlier sanding, we say so at the measure, before anything is booked.
