MATTYSUPRA- I understand that you are wish to remain diplomatic here
lets rewind to the point where woodyoulike started by having a 'pop' at my suggestions to the originally posted question, which was that rather than a DIYER use an unfamiliar heavy sander on newly fitted softwood flooring and risk damaging it he/she should consider using a hand held belt sander for greater control, especially as it is new wood and requires little taking off
by directly quoting my first post, the response from woodyoulike was directed as criticism of my advice rather than offering an alternative solution for the question posted
woodyoulike also didn't read my post correctly before jumping in, e.g. in accusing me of advising turning a machine whilst still running
woodyoulike chose to directly challenge my advice and to enter into a public debate (no slanging match on my behalf, just defence of my opinion)
perhaps woodyoulike would like to consider that in future they stick to posting alternative advice to questions rather than attempting to put others down in a vain attempt at self promotion
USE OF COMPANY NAME
woodyoulike also choose to use their company name on here and my enquiries into their trading position is neither intrusive nor breaks the data protection act (as that only applies to individuals and NOT to businesses)
NOTE: choosing to use their business name as their forum user name plus publishing their company web site details on their profile and offering professional advice publicly via this forum could possibly result in a claim against them should anything go wrong, I do hope they have Professional Indemnity Insurance NOT just Public Liability Insurance
EXPERIENCE
the length of time trading is entirely relevant as it demonstrates experience, 1 or 2 floors a week for 5 years equates to about 480 floors and hardly compares to 20+ years and over 2000 floors fitted
more importantly, what types of flooring is that experience
with? I am ignoring any 'experience' with Laminates and pre-finished engineered sticking to experience with unfinished solid timber
Length of time trading will demonstrate what the fitters exposure is to the various timbers (its origin, drying methods, machining, finishes, etc) used over the years, not just since the recent growth in popularity of alternatives to carpeting since roughly the year 2000
I will explain further, as you are no doubt aware, there are many different species of wood, many methods of growing it, also the time of year when it grows determines how hard or porous it is (earlywood or latewood) . All of which needs to be considered before determining which of the many different types of abrasives and methods of laying, preparation and finish to use. Modern timbers are entirely different to those used, for example, in Victorian times. Wood used during that period was mature and had been grown naturally i.e. at a slower pace, modern timbers are much younger at time of felling and farmed for rapid growth and return on investment.
For example, if asked to repair or renovate a floor on a Victorian house one needs to look at the age of the timber flooring as, especially in cities such as London, many properties may be Victorian design but have been repaired rebuilt after the war, with new flooring fitted
ABOUT ME
My experience is upon completing an old fashioned apprenticeship in 1976 I began working in Southampton for a premier luxury yacht builder laying inner and outer decking. This takes far more skill than fitting flooring inside a property due to having to take into account with a yacht the extremes of temperature and humidity plus dealing with a flexing superstructure. You cannot use a huge 80kg machine inside a yacht, especially curved decks, so it is always 'hand finished' (now go and tell a premier yacht builder that they will leave marks using a hand held belt sander)
Clients inquired about having wooden, inlaid and parquet flooring renovated, repaired or newly fitted into their country homes and London mansion houses and I commenced by doing odd jobs during weekends and holidays, this grew into a healthy business and I became self employed in 1989.
Luckily my client base commenced amongst these wealthy yacht owners and their circle of so called rich and famous friends, therefore my work has always been based on a quality finish rather than to a budget. I am now semi-retired and only work for existing clients or on properties that I have previously maintained and are under new ownership.
I can appreciate that I have been very lucky to work in some of the finest homes for a client base with large wallets and that usually holidays whilst work is in progress. So I have the luxury of being able to spend considerable time in getting perfection. The average MR & Mrs Bloggs (me included) don't want weeks of work, no access to rooms and a bill for a few thousand pounds.
Hence my strong defence that a hand finished and unhurried job will ALWAYS be better than a machine finished job.
