How long does floor sanding take?

Floor sanding typically takes 1-2 working days in a standard home of 45-80 m², and up to three days for large or very worn floors. The actual sanding takes the least amount of time; it's the drying time of varnish or oil that determines when the room can be used again. Expect 2-4 days from the first sanding until the floor can bear furniture - a little longer for multiple coats of varnish.

• 175 kr/m2Including VAT and a standard finish, from 36 m2
• 24 hoursResponse with fixed price
• Workmanship guaranteeOn all work performed

Table of Contents

1. How long does the actual sanding take?
2. Timeline for three typical floors
3. What does the time consist of, step-by-step?
4. How long is the drying time for floor varnish?
5. How long is the drying time for an oiled floor?
6. Why does it take longer in winter?
7. What makes the work faster or slower?
8. Can you live in the home while the floor is being sanded?
9. Are time and price related?
10. Does it take longer if you sand it yourself?
11. How to get a fixed date

How long does the actual sanding take?

The actual machine work usually takes 1-2 working days in a private residence. A light sanding of 45 m² of parquet flooring is typically finished in a single working day, while a worn plank floor of 80 m² that needs to be sanded down to the bare wood usually requires two days with a machine, edge sander, and corner work. The number of rooms matters more than the floor area alone: five small rooms with thresholds and skirting boards take longer than one large room of the same area because the edge sander has to go along all walls.

The time is spent on the number of passes, not on a single sanding. The method with several grit sizes from coarse to fine sanding is described in the Danish Timber Information Council's industry guideline TRÆfakta 10 on sanding older wooden floors. If you are unsure which treatment your floor needs, the guide on the difference between light sanding, full sanding, and planing describes the differences in both effort and result.

Timeline for three typical floors

A realistic process is 2-5 days from when the machine is started until furniture can be moved back in - sanding and drying time combined. The table below is based on three types of jobs we repeatedly perform in villas and apartments, showing the entire process from start to finished room.

The figures represent our typical process and assume the conditions recommended by Gulvfakta during the work: 17-25 °C and 30-65% relative humidity. Cool or humid weather extends the drying time to the longer end of the intervals.

What does the time consist of, step-by-step?

Floor sanding involves five fixed steps, and only one of them is the actual sanding. Guidelines for construction, renovation, and maintenance of wooden floors are compiled in the Danish Wood Information Council's handbook TRÆ 79 Wooden Floors from 2023, which replaced the previous books TRÆ 63 and TRÆ 64.

1. Preparation: move out furniture, cover kitchen, cupboards, and door frames, sink nails and screws.
2. Coarse sanding: old varnish, oil, or soap is sanded off, and the floor is levelled.
3. Fine sanding and edges: finer grit, edge sander along walls and corners, filling cracks and holes.
4. Vacuuming and wiping: the floor must be completely clean before the first coat is applied.
5. Treatment: varnish, oil, or lye is applied in several coats with drying time in between.

Fine sanding and edge work (step 3) often determine whether the job takes one or two days. If the floor has many cracks, repairing cracks and holes requires extra time because the filler needs to dry before further sanding can occur.

How long is the drying time for floor varnish?

Experience shows that floor varnish needs 1-3 days to dry before the floor can bear furniture, and the time depends directly on the number of coats. A varnished floor typically receives 2-3 coats, and each coat must dry before the next can be applied. Træinformation has an independent industry guideline on varnishing wooden floors, TRÆfakta 07, which covers water-based varnish types, drying times, and re-varnishing.

The surface feels dry long before the varnish has fully cured. Therefore, the order of use is: first light traffic with socks, then light furniture, and finally carpets and heavy items. Always follow the drying time specified in the manufacturer's data sheet for the specific varnish, as products vary. How long the varnish lasts before the floor needs re-sanding depends on traffic and cleaning - not on a fixed number of years. If you want to compare the two surfaces, the guide on varnishing or oiling wooden floors covers appearance, durability, and maintenance.

How long is the drying time for an oiled floor?

An oiled floor is ready for light use after approx. 1 day, i.e., faster than varnish. The oil penetrates the wood instead of forming a film on top, which is why the floor can be used earlier - but it must be treated gently for the first few days until the oil has fully cured. The Danish Wood Information Council's industry guideline on oil treatment of wooden floors, TRÆfakta 08, is based on curing oil types and describes both application and after-treatment.

However, an oiled floor needs to be re-oiled at regular intervals - more often in the hallway and kitchen than in a bedroom. This is quick work compared to a full sanding, and oiled floors can be spot-repaired, whereas varnish needs to be sanded in a complete section. Practical maintenance is covered in the guide on maintenance of oiled wooden floors.

Why does it take longer in winter?

Cold and humidity extend the drying time of both varnish and oil because both cure slower in a cold room with high humidity. Gulvfakta from the Danish Wood Flooring Association (Gulvbranchen under Dansk Industri) states that the temperature during work should be 17-25 °C and the humidity 30-65% RH, and that the wood's moisture content should be 6-10%. For the building as a whole, Gulvfakta's section on wooden floors specifies a relative humidity of 30-65% depending on the season and a temperature of approx. 20 °C.

In practice, this means that the heating must be on throughout the entire process - even if you are not living in the home during that time. If the home has underfloor heating, Gulvfakta recommends that the temperature is not raised again until five days after the surface treatment has been completed. Heating turned off in an empty apartment in January can easily push the final drying time back by a full day.

What makes the work faster or slower?

The condition of the wear layer, the type of wood, the floor's construction, the room division, and access conditions are the five things that most affect the timeline - and they are known even before the machine is turned on:

• Condition of the wear layer: a light sanding of worn varnish is quick. If the varnish is worn through to the wood, the floor must be sanded down to the bare wood, and that takes longer.
• Wood type: soft pine sands faster than hard oak and ash, but is also more susceptible to uneven sanding marks.
• Floor type: a solid wood floor can be sanded more times in its lifetime than engineered parquet, because the layer above the core is thicker. For engineered parquet, it is the thickness of the wear layer in millimetres that determines both if and how many times the floor can be sanded, and a thin wear layer requires more control and thus more time. The Danish Wood Information Council's handbook TRÆ 79 Wooden Floors (2023) details floor construction, renovation, and maintenance.
• Room division: many small rooms, stairs, and built-in cupboards result in a lot of edge work. Sanding a staircase is always considered a separate task.
• Access conditions: in apartment buildings such as Isbjerget, Z-huset, and Nicolinehus in Aarhus Ø, machines must be transported up and down via elevators and common stairwells. This adds time to both setup and cleanup compared to a villa with a street-level front door.

Can you live in the home while the floor is being sanded?

You can stay if you can do without the rooms being worked on, but few people would want to sleep in a home where varnish is drying. Sanding dust is not harmless: The Danish Working Environment Authority's Executive Order on limit values for substances and materials sets 1 mg/m³ for inhalable wood dust as an average over an 8-hour workday - a value that was tightened in 2020. Therefore, we sand with machines connected to vacuuming and cover doorways. Gulvfakta also recommends good ventilation until the surface treatment is dry.

In an apartment building, logistics is the biggest time factor, and it is best managed with a plan for the stairwell, elevator, and which rooms are made available when. The guide on floor sanding in an apartment reviews the sequence, and for housing associations with several apartments in the same stairwell, we coordinate tasks so that the stairwell is only affected once.

Are time and price related?

Yes - what costs time also costs money, because floor sanding is essentially about hours, machine time, and materials. At Øens HåndværkerCentral, the indicative price is DKK 175 per m² including VAT for areas from 36 m², while smaller areas are charged as fixed packages, because setup, covering, and cleanup take almost the same amount of time, regardless of how small the room is.

The standard price includes a standard finish, with the same base rate for standard lacquer and oil. We assess the floor condition and any additional work before confirming a fixed quotation. What is included and how additional work is handled are explained in our guide to what floor sanding costs.

Does it take longer if you sand it yourself?

Yes, almost always. A rented belt sander needs to be picked up, set up, and returned, and most DIY projects extend over a weekend or more for an area that a professional can complete in a day. The biggest risk is not the time, but the result: if the machine stands still for two seconds, it sands a depression that only becomes visible when the varnish is on and the light falls diagonally.

Safety also costs time. Gulvfakta recommends respirators with filters and hearing protection during sanding and emphasizes that sanding dust is highly flammable and must be removed immediately. If you are still considering doing it yourself, the guide on floor sanding yourself or professionally compares working time, machine rental, and results, while the guide on sanding parquet flooring shows how grit and treatment are related.

How to get a fixed date

You will receive a fixed price and a specific number of working days before the work begins, so you know exactly when furniture can be moved back in. Send the area, wood type, and a picture of the floor, and we will typically respond within 24 hours - see our services under floor sanding and treatment or call 20 98 88 11 via the contact page.