Bexleyheath is classic interwar commuter housing, and that means a very consistent kind of floor: softwood boards over joists, laid in the 1920s and 1930s and covered up ever since. We work across DA6 and DA7 regularly, and we know what is likely to be under your carpet before we lift it.
The floors we find in Bexleyheath
The dominant stock is the 1930s semi, built in large estates for people commuting into London. These almost universally have pine or fir boards, typically 4 to 5 inches wide, laid over joists with a ventilated void below. There is also a substantial amount of 1960s and 1970s housing around Barnehurst and Upton, where you often find parquet tiles laid on bitumen or, later, on a foam backing.
Can 1970s parquet tiles be saved?
More often than people assume. The thin mosaic panels from that era are only a few millimetres of usable wear, so they take one careful sanding at most — but one is usually all they need. The bigger risk is the adhesive underneath. If it is bitumen, lifting tiles releases a lot of mess and the subfloor needs cleaning before anything is re-laid. We check a corner first and tell you honestly whether it is worth the work.
What a job in Bexleyheath usually involves
- Survey and moisture check. We measure board thickness and check whether the floor has been sanded before. On a board already sanded two or three times there may not be enough timber left, and we will say so.
- Repairs first. Loose, split or missing boards are fixed before any sanding. Sanding a loose board just produces a smooth loose board.
- Dust-free sanding. Coarse grit to remove the old finish and damage, then progressively finer grits until the surface is closed.
- Gap filling, if wanted. Resin and sanding dust for hairline gaps, timber slivers for wider ones. Interwar Bexleyheath floors tend to have generous, even gaps, which take resin filling very well and make a noticeable difference to draughts.
- Finish. Hardwax oil, lacquer or oil, two or three coats.
How long it takes and what it costs
A single room in Bexleyheath is usually one to two days; a whole ground floor three to five. Guide rates are £25–£32 per m² for standard boards and £32–£42 per m² for parquet, with a £550 minimum project cost. We are not VAT registered, so there is nothing to add on top. Full detail on the prices page.
Services available in Bexleyheath
Floor sanding and restoration, parquet restoration, wood floor fitting, herringbone and chevron fitting, floorboard repairs, staining and colour changes, and re-oiling or re-coating of floors we have finished previously.
Nearby areas we also cover
Barnehurst, Welling, Upton, Erith, Northumberland Heath, Blackfen, Slade Green and Belvedere. See other areas we cover.
Get a price for your Bexleyheath floor
Send a photo to info@epic-floors.com or call 07344 467352. We can usually tell from a picture whether a floor needs sanding, repair or replacing, and give you a ballpark before visiting. Open Monday to Saturday, 8am to 6pm.
Recent floors
Get a free quote
Tell us about your floor and we will come back to you with a price. A photo gets you a far more accurate answer.