Floor sanding or a new floor: which is the better spend?
If your boards are sound, thick enough above the tongue and free of widespread rot or damp, sanding at £20 to £35 per square metre beats any new floor on cost and character. Replace when the timber is failing, the damp is unresolved, or the floor is a patchwork of six different repairs.
Five checks before anyone quotes
You can do all of these yourself in twenty minutes, and they settle the question more reliably than any opinion.
- Thickness above the tongue: lift one board at the edge of the room and look at the profile. Sanding removes one to two millimetres, so a board with several millimetres above the tongue has plenty of life left. Original Victorian and Edwardian pine usually does.
- Movement and squeak: walk the floor. Isolated squeaks and springy spots are a screwing-down job. Widespread bounce points at joist trouble, which is a different trade and a different budget.
- Damp and smell: a musty smell near an external wall, cupped boards or blackened ends mean water is getting in. Fix the cause first. A beautifully sanded floor over an unresolved damp problem is money on fire.
- Airbricks and ventilation: in a suspended timber floor, check the airbricks outside are open and not blocked by a raised drive or a border. Blocked ventilation is one of the most common causes of rot in Teesside terraces.
- Consistency: count how many different timbers you can see. A floor patched around old pipework in three species and two widths will always look patched, however well it is finished.
The money comparison
| Option | Cost per m² | What you end up with |
|---|---|---|
| Sand and refinish existing boards | £20 to £35 | Original floor, re-sandable again later |
| Sand plus board repairs | £28 to £45 | Original floor with reclaimed replacements |
| New engineered wood | £35 to £70 | Uniform new timber, one or two sands of life |
| New LVT | £25 to £50 | Waterproof, low maintenance, no character |
| New laminate | £15 to £30 | Cheapest today, shortest life |
When restoration clearly wins
Pre-1940 houses with original pine, which covers a large share of the terraces and villas in Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool and the older parts of Redcar. The boards are wide, well-seasoned and already there, the cost per square metre is the lowest of any hard floor, and the finished result is the one thing a factory board cannot fake. Parquet is the other clear case: a 1930s herringbone hallway is worth restoring almost regardless of condition, because replacing it like for like costs several times more than repairing it. Restoration also keeps the floor height where it was, which means no door trimming, no threshold ramps and no awkward relationship with the skirting.
When replacing is the honest answer
Widespread rot or woodworm damage, boards already sanded thin by previous owners, deep pet staining that has soaked through the timber, or a floor lifted so many times for pipes and cables that half of it is modern softwood. Kitchens and bathrooms are their own case: even a perfect original floor in a room that gets regularly wet is better covered by LVT or sheet vinyl, with the boards left intact underneath for a future owner. And if the room needs to be warmer and quieter rather than prettier, a new floor with proper insulation and underlay does something sanding cannot.
The middle path most people miss
You do not have to choose the same answer for the whole house. Restoring the hall, lounge and dining room where the original boards are best, then fitting laminate upstairs and LVT in the kitchen, spends the money where it shows and skips it where it does not. Get both prices before deciding: sanding and restoration and a new-floor quote for the same rooms, side by side, with preparation itemised on each. The cost guide has the wider figures.