Wooden fllorboards......

No idea about cost per square meter, but I can give you a bit of advice from personal experience.

First off - the machines. You'll need the floor sander, the edging sander, and plenty of disks / belts in different grits. Have a good look around for the best place to hire the machines, most floor sanders from hire companies are the same, and yet the price difference is dramatic. If you hire from HSS - expect to spend £100+ on hire, I rented both machines from a local independent tool hire company, and paid £50 + VAT for the whole weekend. Most hire companies will do the sanding consumables on sale or return. I got given a huge pile of paper, which was a great help as I knew I wouldn't run out. I think I paid about £1 + VAT per sanding belt. Compare those prices to a national chain like HSS and yes you are talking a lot more.

Get a good dust mask, for the job I'd invest in a fairly decent one like this - http://www.screwfix.com/p/jsp-force-8-mask-with-press-to-check-filters-p3/1863f - it's much more comfortable to wear and breathe through than the disposable PPE most hire places sell, and your lungs will thank you.

Personally I wouldn't use varnish. My experience is that it will chip, scratch and require a lot of coats. Screw fix sell a brilliant product called Hard Wax Oil from Liberon. I didn't know about this stuff until I saw it at the screw fix expo last year, and I decided to try it. The finish is really great, not too shiny, it tends to soak in a bit more, so there isn't a hard layer on top of the wood that will chip, and it takes two coats. I used this stuff -http://www.screwfix.com/p/liberon-hard-wax-oil-for-wooden-furniture-floors-matt-2-5ltr/5182f and found it great. On a 4 x 5m room I would say I used 1/3rd of a tin, so it goes a long way.

As for the draft, it depends on the floor. If it's tongue and groove then you won't get too much. Mine wasn't too bad, and since I have access to the cellar underneath I decided to put some insulation between the joists from below to help, but I found it was smaller gaps round the edges (like old radiator pipe holes) that really created a draft. Check for gaps and plug up what you can.

I would say doing it yourself isn't difficult, it just takes some time, care and attention.

 

Best advice you could be given is get the job done by a specialist company, seen many sanded floors by DIYer's and believe me when you see the difference between DIY and a professional finish you would be amazed, benefits would outweigh the extra cost. Go by recommendation.

 

Good advice Astra, diy'ers & floor sanders can be a darn right dangerous combination, seen several funnys accidents where one peep had knocked a hole through a block wall & a nasty one where the husband broke his wife's leg when sander ran away out of control.

 

Yeah, and don't forget the trenches in the floorboards!

 

I worked in a house years ago where they had spent a fortune having a solid floor laid and then decided to finish it themselves, it looked like it had been ploughed not sanded.

 

Spot on

 

You'll need a nail punch to sink the nails in or you'll go through a sanding belt every time you press the on switch.

 

I've done a couple and got good results...but I'm a stubborn and picky b*****d. You may need to sand diagonally first to get through the crud if the boards are particularly rough, then go with the grain.
Pack your other half and family off for the weekend too...it's a bit messy!

 

South, of course you can do this yourself. And if you are a half-decent DIYer, you'll manage it.

But, it's a hellish job. And it probably won't be quite as good as a pro doing it. Because you will likely - and possibly literally - cut corners.

And it is an extremely unpleasant job. But ultimately very rewarding.

You will save a shed-load. I've no idea of the exact cost of having a pro do it, but it'll turn out to be quite expensive - it is a lot of work and finishing.

Anyways, the basics have been pointed out above: get LOTS of sheets (on a return basis), and ear defenders and a good dust mask. And overalls (tho' this ain't so important if you can jump into a shower. You could no this naked if you wish.)

When I've done this job, tbh I wasn't a stubborn or picky bar steward. I knew what I would be happy with, and the floorboards were the 'pitch pine' variety so nicely grained and nicely 'old' looking anyways.

To make the job faster, I started with a really rough grit - probably 80. The idea is then to go diagonally, and actually keep some of the pressure off the drum so's it doesn't dig down too quickly.

I had tried the usually recommended 120 grit or whatever, but sod that for a tedious job...

Anyways, you'll soon get the floor nice and flat. Or, should I say, not as soon as you think; it seems to be going well - lot's of material being removed, and the floor getting nicely clean - but actually, it all slows down as the last bits need to be sanded down to, the lowest bits which is where the boards butt eachother.

So it all starts off "Wheee - this is goood!" and then becomes, "Bludy'ell - how many more passes will it take... )

When it's all cleaned up, then change to a finer grade of paper. Again, I chust wasn't bovvered about egtting this as smooth as glass - it's a bludy floor after all. An old one at that...

So I probably 'finished' with 120 grit and no finer.

Looked pretty darned good, iIssm.

And then the tricky bit starts - what 'finish' to give the floor.

But that's a whole different ballgame...

Anyways, you will save many, many £100's - possibly more - DIYing it.

 

And in one smaller bedroom I thought I could get away with using chust the edge sander for the whole floor (I couldn't do that room at the same time 'cos it was full of stuff, so re-hired just the 'edger'.)

Blimey...

On ma knees for hours, moving the sander in an arc in front of me. Back was knackered...

PS, if you are fitting new skirtngs, remove the old ones first, before sanding.

 

If you do decide to diy, rather than hiring one of those back breaking edge sanders, use an angle grinder with backing pad and disks. Much much easier!

 

refinish the wood floors ( solid or engineered plank) is not a easy job, i'd rather suggest you to find profesisonals than do it by yourself, if any fault you would lost more than just hire someone.