# Forum Home Renovation Flooring  Sand, coat and polish new yellow tongue floor?

## craigj-au

Hi! 
I'm new here, and not a great handy man, but looking for some advice about flooring options. Hope someone is able to help! 
We are building a new extension, two levels, with upper level going to have yellow-tongue floor base. 
I saw a few people on internet mention about just sanding and coating yellow-tongue floor, and wondering if that is a reasonable option? 
Does anyone have photos of what it is like? 
Budget is tight, so would it be a lot cheaper than other options? 
How durable would it be? We have 8 kids (all under 14), and it would probably get a fair bit of traffic, and a beating, with spills and soiling etc. 
What do people think? Would that be an option? Is it crazy? Approximately how much would it cost to get someone in Brisbane to do that (12m x 5m area)? (I don't dare sand it, as I fear it'd be uneven and I'd over-sand!) 
Thanks! 
Craig

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## TimDavis

No, you are not crazy sanding and polishing chipboard. It is a much cheaper option than say laying timber over the top, or covering with a floating floor, or carpeting. It actually looks like finished cork if it is coated with oil or solvent based polyurethane. Once the UV rays do their job and yellow off the coating it is quite a good looking and very durable surface. It's sometimes worth putting 4 rather than 3 coats on as chipboard is fairly porous and sucks up the first 2 coats.
It will probably cost about $25-30 per sq. meter, but you might get a cheaper quote because the sanding preparation is easier than timber. 
Sorry haven't got any photos.
Another option is to do what I did on my own floor. 2 coats of exterior acrylic house paint and then 2 coats of clear over the top. You can choose any colour you want, it looks really good and is relatively cheap.

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## craigj-au

> Another option is to do what I did on my own floor. 2 coats of exterior acrylic house paint and then 2 coats of clear over the top. You can choose any colour you want, it looks really good and is relatively cheap.

  Thanks for the reply! Regarding painting, did you sand first? Do you have photos? 
Craig

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## craigj-au

Another thing: If we were to coat or paint, would there be any potential issues if we wanted to tile, cork or floating floor down the track?

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## TimDavis

I sanded first before painting because there is meant to be a thin wax coating on the chipboard sheets for temporary weather protection. Also, the sheeting in my case was wet in the building process, the sheets swelled a little and needed flattening off on the board joins. Being a floorsander by trade it was no drama.
As far as covering later, probably not a problem as most tiles and cork sit on an underlay sheeting that sits on top of the chipboard, as do most floating floors. If you wanted to stick timber direct to the floor a simple preparatory rough sand would suffice.
If you want to go super cheap you could could risk painting direct to the unsanded floor. Try a small test patch out first, let it dry thoroughly and see if the paint sticks properly ie. push down a length of high adhesive masking tape, then rip it off fast and see if it lifts any paint.
I wondered whether sanding was necessary and rang the manufacturers, Gunns or Gunnersens I think they were. A sales rep told me it would be ok to paint without sanding, but I take most of what salesmen say with a grain of salt.
Haven't got any photos and I have to go out soon, but I will try and organise some. But just picture a shiny painted wall (admittedly showing the sheeting joins) on the floor. I am not very fussy regarding my own house, I work for anal retentives all the time, but I think my floor looks better than most of the flash floors I do professionally.

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## TimDavis

I looked around on the web before I painted my floor because no one does it much here except on concrete. In the States and Europe it is a very common job. Everyone here seems to want perfect timber finishes, whereas overseas they seem to have a much more practical and realistic approach and like floors with a more lived on character. Personally I'm well and truly "over" pristine, plastic looking timber floors. Some of the home owners I work for are almost too afraid to walk on their floors, make everyone take their shoes off, and have panic attacks over a tiny scratch. FFS you live on a floor, you don't frame them and hang them on a wall.

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## craigj-au

> ...I painted my floor...

  When you painted, did you use brush or roller on the floor? (Is that a stupid question..?)

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## TimDavis

Cut in the edges with a brush then roller for the body of the floor. Same process with the top clear coats. It's probably not necessary to clear coat but I did just to give the surface a bit more durability. It's standing up to 6 months of work boots, dogs, children,bicycles and all sorts of abuse.

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## craigj-au

It is a bit old now, but FWIW I ended up doing cheap floating laminate floor instead. Fairly happy with result, although there can be problems with water and damage from rough treatment. Used cheap stock Tarkett brand and definitely recommend it over the IKEA stuff. Much easier to install, better finish, and about the same price.

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## stevoh741

10 yrs ago I built a house and looked at polishing the yellow tongue (coast reasons as well) but in the end chose to go tiles. In the end we feel we made the right decision as any polished yellow tongue floor I have seen since looks crap IMO. In fact seeing it done again the other day I said to my wife "what were we thinking even considering that?". Each to their own but beware of false economies. May be cheap now but will be 3x the cost if you hate it later and want something else.

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