Farrell Wills Wood Floors (650) 766-8180
My business partner and I are both licensed contractors, and we work with our crews on the jobs. I’m not the boss that shows up at the end of the day with a clipboard— I’m on the job, all day! I pay a Bay Area living wage, and our prices are higher because of this. In return, I have motivated and trustworthy employees, and it helps guarantee that the job goes smoothly from start to finish.
A Quick Overview
We show up on the morning of the job and begin hanging plastic and sealing off doors. We also put down tarps and blankets so that we can store equipment on countertops, hearths, and other surfaces above the floor.
The belt sander does the large floor areas. This is a heavy-duty sander that spins at 2,880 rpms, and runs on 220 volts from the dryer plug or the main electrical box.
There are up to three sandings, with coarse, medium, and fine sandpaper. The edger is a small machine that does closets, the sides of the rooms, and any other area too small for the bigger sander. The buffer is used for the final overall sanding. It burnishes the floor, removes sanding marks, and blends the separate areas that the other sanders have covered. Sanding with the buffer is called screening.
Nailholes and cracks are filled throughout the sanding and refinishing portions of the job. We spread putty over the entire floor, and let it dry before sanding it. Sometimes we need to apply it twice. The average Bay area living room and dining room have over 10,000 nails, and they appear in lines every 7", all across your floor.
Trimming is scraping out the corners, hand-sanding the edges and doorways, and making sure all sander marks are removed. We use hand-held 100 watt light bulbs to highlight any sanding marks and ridges.
On tongue-and-groove floors, which are nailed below the surface of the floor, we sometimes need to do additional sanding with a multi-disc sander. This sander has six separate sanding wheels, and is used to get out the ‘waves’ that can occur on this type of floor. This process is called planetary sanding.
When all the preparation is done, we sweep and vacuum, and apply either a sealer or a stain. When this is dry, we vacuum this coat, and apply the first coat of polyurethane.
Between coats of polyurethane, we fill in all the remaining cracks and nailholes. We dust all surfaces with dusters, rags, and compressed air. We then buff the floor for the last time, vacuum it carefully, and tack the floor with wet rags to remove any film of dust that remains. The last coat usually needs to dry overnight before walking on it.
We show up on the morning of the job and begin hanging plastic and sealing off doors. We also put down tarps and blankets so that we can store equipment on countertops, hearths, and other surfaces above the floor.
The belt sander does the large floor areas. This is a heavy-duty sander that spins at 2,880 rpms, and runs on 220 volts from the dryer plug or the main electrical box.
There are up to three sandings, with coarse, medium, and fine sandpaper. The edger is a small machine that does closets, the sides of the rooms, and any other area too small for the bigger sander. The buffer is used for the final overall sanding. It burnishes the floor, removes sanding marks, and blends the separate areas that the other sanders have covered. Sanding with the buffer is called screening.
Nailholes and cracks are filled throughout the sanding and refinishing portions of the job. We spread putty over the entire floor, and let it dry before sanding it. Sometimes we need to apply it twice. The average Bay area living room and dining room have over 10,000 nails, and they appear in lines every 7", all across your floor.
Trimming is scraping out the corners, hand-sanding the edges and doorways, and making sure all sander marks are removed. We use hand-held 100 watt light bulbs to highlight any sanding marks and ridges.
On tongue-and-groove floors, which are nailed below the surface of the floor, we sometimes need to do additional sanding with a multi-disc sander. This sander has six separate sanding wheels, and is used to get out the ‘waves’ that can occur on this type of floor. This process is called planetary sanding.
When all the preparation is done, we sweep and vacuum, and apply either a sealer or a stain. When this is dry, we vacuum this coat, and apply the first coat of polyurethane.
Between coats of polyurethane, we fill in all the remaining cracks and nailholes. We dust all surfaces with dusters, rags, and compressed air. We then buff the floor for the last time, vacuum it carefully, and tack the floor with wet rags to remove any film of dust that remains. The last coat usually needs to dry overnight before walking on it.