If you have original wooden floors hidden under carpet or laminate, you might want to restore them. Original wooden flooring is becoming very popular again and not only does it look fantastic, it can also add value to your home.

But how much does wooden floor restoration cost? If your room is large, it's a big project, so it’s important to set a realistic budget. We'll go through the costs to restore your wooden or parquet flooring in this guide.

How much does it cost to refinish hardwood floors in the UK?

How much it costs to refinish hardwood floors in the UK will depend on the condition of the flooring, the size of the room and the kind of repairs that need doing. You'll usually need to have your floors sanded and stained to bring them back to their best.

Here are typical costs for restoring wooden floor in the UK:

Job / item	Average cost
Remove carpet	£6-£8 per square metre
Sanding and refinishing wooden floor	£20-£30 per square metre
Sanding stairs	£35-£50 per step
Wood floor stain	£8-£12 per square metre
Carpenter hourly rate	£16-£40

These costs are based on averages from across the UK. HaMuch has a large database of hourly and daily rates for wood floor restoration professionals across the UK, and we've used this data to provide more accurate labour costs for most towns and cities in the country.

Take a look at the table further down the page to get an idea of how much labour will cost in your area.

What factors affect the cost of wooden floor restoration?

Type of wood

The type of wood your original flooring is made from will make a difference to the cost. For example, if you want to restore parquet flooring, your professional will need to take care when they polish it to ensure they don't affect the pattern.

Hardwoods are generally harder to sand than softwoods, so expect it to take longer to restore a hardwood floor. Also, if your original floorboards haven't been treated before, it will take longer to get them up to a hard-wearing standard.

Flooring condition

The condition of your wood flooring will have the most impact on the cost to restore. If your professional lifts up your carpet or floor covering and finds that the wooden flooring is in very poor condition, with lots of repairs required, it’s going to take longer to restore. Therefore, you should expect the cost to be higher.

If you need some floorboards replaced, this will drive up the cost. For two or three floorboards to be replaced it could cost around £200, but if major repairs are required to many floorboards and joists you could spend £450 or more.

Size of your room

The size of your room will also have an impact on wooden floor restoration cost. Most carpenters and flooring specialists will charge by the square metre to restore your floor.

That means if your room is 10 square metres, expect to spend between £200-£300 to sand and refinish your wooden floor. If your room is 30 square metres, it’s likely to set you back £600-£900.

Where you live

Where you live also affects the cost of restoring your wooden or parquet flooring, and unfortunately you can't do much about this one. Labour costs tend to be highest in London and the south east, while rates in the north of England and Scotland are usually much lower.

Make sure you look at our location-based carpenter rates to get an idea of how much you should budget for labour.

Is it cheaper to refinish hardwood floors or replace?

It's definitely cheaper to refinish hardwood floors rather than replacing them. Hardwood floor starts at around £30 per square metre, not including labour. But for a premium hardwood or engineered wood, expect to spend at least £80 per square metre before fitting.

Before labour, you should expect to spend between £300-£800+ on hardwood flooring for a 10 square metre room. Since it would cost £200-£300 including labour to sand and refinish hardwood floors, you can see that it’s much cheaper to refinish them rather than replace.

Plus, you're doing your bit for the environment by restoring your wooden floors rather than replacing them and causing waste to go to landfill.

Can I stay in my house while floors are refinished?

Yes, you can stay in your house while your floors are being refinished, providing you won't need to walk on the floor. It might be more pleasant to leave for the day since floor sanders are noisy and there will be lots of dust around.

The stains, oils or polishes that your flooring specialists use on your floor might have a strong smell too, so if you have young children that might be affected by the odour it might be worth leaving your house while your floors are being refinished.

However, if you need to stay at home, that's no problem. Just bear in mind that you won't be able to walk on the floor for at least 5 hours after the last coat of polish has been applied.

Is it hard to restore wood floors?

It's certainly not easy to restore wood floors! While lots of people do try to restore wood floors themselves, it often overwhelms them.

You can hire a sander to sand the floor yourself, but this is hard work that takes skill to get right. It also creates a lot of dust that some DIYers aren’t prepared for – if you don’t protect your doorways you can end up with dust all over your house, and if you don’t have the right PPE you can end up breathing in all the dust particles.

You'll also need to make sure you choose the right oil, stain or polish for your wooden floor. If you choose the wrong product for the type of wood, you could ruin the floor’s natural properties, which will affect how it looks.

We'd always recommend using a professional to help you repair and restore your wooden floors to ensure you get the best finish and don’t waste money on abandoned DIY projects.

Post your job on HaMuch now to get quotes from qualified carpenters and flooring specialists in your area.

Estimates for common carpenter & joiner jobs;

Rates for other trades