Before your floor can be treated with a wood sealer- whether as protection or for filling- it needs to be thoroughly sanded or buffed and carefully cleaned to remove any debris, dirt, and dust. A sealer is sometimes also called varnish, although technically a varnish is actually a type of wood floor sealer or, more appropriately, a self-sealing finish.
Yes, some finishes work perfectly without needing a sealer under them. In fact, finishes that cast a film on wood can work well on their own without a sealer underneath. Some good examples are shellac and oil-based finishes like polyurethane and varnish. But lacquer and other water-based finishes need a sealer under them so that they don’t get excessively absorbed by the wood.
Benefits of Sealing and Varnishing Wooden Floors
A sealer of professional quality should be able to
- Seal wood pores to present a surface that is smooth.
- Prevent excessive absorption of finishes.
- Reduce the number of coating required during finishing.
- Improve adhesion.
- Minimise grain raising, particularly underneath water-based coating.
- Protect your floor from stain.
Self-sealing finishes like varnish and other oil-based finishes can add protection to your wood floor. Depending on which one you use, the protection offered can lean more towards stain resistance than durability or vice versa. You can prolong the protection if you add in regular maintenance and routine cleaning of your wood floor.
Types of wood and their effects on sealing
The various types of wood out there play a part in determining whether a sealer should be used on a floor or not.
- Sealing is usually not required when finishing extremely dense woods—boxwood, for instance.
- Spongy woods, on the other hand, should be sealed. Sealing woods like poplar and softwoods are particularly beneficial when lacquer is chosen for finishing. The sealer forms a film over the porous wood, stopping the wood floor from absorbing the lacquer coating in excess.
- Also woods like rosewood, African blackwood, and cocobolo hold antioxidants that hamper the curing of oil-based self-sealing finishes. Lacquer, shellac, and the majority of water-based finishes are unaffected by these antioxidants.
Is quality important?
While a sealer doesn’t have to be overly expensive to be effective, a cheap sealer that is of poor quality could expose you to big expenses in the long run. This is because an inferior sealer, while requiring little expenses to acquire, offers low protection, and thus your wood floor will easily succumb to stain, scratches, or discolouration. These result in needing to sand the floor more frequently.
How GJP Floor Sanding Seal and Varnish Your Wood Floors
Do you need expert advice on 
sealing your wood floor? Perhaps you find the words ‘sealing’, ‘varnishing’, and ‘finish’ confusing, seeing as people often mistake one for another? Or you want your wood floor sanded, sealed, and finished by the book for optimum beauty and durability.
The staff at GJP Floor Sanding, Sealing and Varnishing has been in the flooring industry for over thirty years and have, through the time, gathered both immense knowledge and skilled professionals with the goal of giving your floor a treat of optimal durability and unflinching appeal.
Excellent from start to finish. Job finished as quoted plus a few small potential extras as agreed before work started (with no amends needed to final invoice), work completed faster than quoted, friendly and professional all the way, excellent communication during the work. Very happy with the final result.
Graham Luckhurst
19:32 25 Jun 18
Have use this company a number of times now for a few of my venues. They have just finished a wonderful job one 3 of them. I will continue to use them in future with no hesitation. Great guys to have along with great rates. I will be continuing to use them in future.
Jamie Hardy
09:20 05 Jan 18
Fantastic quote and fantastic work carried out by GJP. My shop floor has never looked so good. They were quicker than i thought as well. I highly recommend them! Thanks again guys!
Carl Watts
11:53 18 Dec 17
Such a brilliant job done on my mum's floor. We were hunting high and low for a great price and we found it. The whole bottom of the house looks like New.
Lake Causer
18:09 03 Jan 18
We choose GJP Flooring after looking at Reviews and after how professional and attentive GJP were when they came to look at our job. GJP were true professionals, our job was completed quickly, my boards where a mess, GJP sorted out the full, with no mess, we now have beautiful polished natural floor boards that don’t squeak, they even went beyond expectations and polished other wood.
Abbul Naveed
08:52 14 Aug 18
Great attentive service. Lovely finish to our floor. Very pleased, with our wooden floors. Great service and deserves a recommendation.
Dax MacPherson
08:58 14 Aug 18
We had all the carpets taken up in the Victorian house we recently moved into. The old wooden floors and stairs were in dire need of a sanding.We have had compliments from everyone who has visited the home, including other tradesmen. We are delighted with the work and would happily recommend GJP Flooring to anyone.
Paul Davies
08:02 17 Aug 18
GJP Flooring did an amazing job on my floor, they were on time very efficient and tidied up after themselves, the floor looks amazing, I am so glad I didn't have to get a new floor. I would highly recommend these to anyone!
Christaugunus Opara
15:25 28 Aug 18
They did such a good job, the floor looks amazing. Really great service and finish. We had the whole upstairs of our flat sanded and oiled and boards repaired.
Melvyn Rattenbury
09:20 03 Sep 18
GJP Floor Sanding did a great job with my kitchen wood floor. They are honest and very professional. He will give you helpful suggestions to make your floor look just perfect. Highly recommend.
Tina Baker
15:46 04 Sep 18
The floor is beautiful. They know what their customers want. They completely changed my bedroom floor. It looks amazing now. The pricing is straightforward and affordable. I will absolutely be recommend GJP to anyone.
Dina Howard
08:21 06 Sep 18
Brilliant job by GJP on my oak hall floor. Awkward job with lots of inns and outs. Finish way beyond my expectations. Thoroughly professional job. Recommend GJP Floor Sanding
Steve Goundry
08:24 06 Sep 18
A really good job, completed quickly by two friendly professionals who knew what they were doing and discussed all aspects of the job before starting. Our floors look wonderful and I'm so glad we decided to have them sanded and go with GJP.
Clare Jaap
08:14 18 Oct 18
From start to finish an excellent service from the GJP Flooring team. Great pricing as well. I recommend GJP flooring and will be using them again.
Vicine Morris
08:16 06 Sep 18
Excellent company, we are very pleased with our restored parquet floors, they look fantastic. Staff are very helpful and friendly. Highly recommend.
Jill Creese
07:27 11 Sep 18
Our experience with all the staff at GJP Floor Sanding was exceptional from the initial phone call to the completion of the work required. Excellent customer service, professional manners and quality of work at competitive prices. Highly recommended.
Leyton Rooney
12:49 31 Dec 18
GJP provide an excellent service; the 2 guys that came to do the sanding were professional in their approach and hard working, The floors looked transformed. Really pleased with the job.
rachel wyndham
22:40 23 Jan 19
Extremely happy with every aspect of this job. Total pros, great value for money, helpful, pleasant, polite and quick.
Rebecca Willis
16:17 28 Mar 19
Couldn't recommend there services enough. Quick, clean and the end result was excellent.
eds john
14:34 08 May 19
Great job and service from start to finish. Did Floors look amazing.
Jeanette Ashton
10:49 18 May 19
Very professional to deal with, from the start to finish! Glyn was courteous and efficient in helping straight away and the team was top class! The job was finished in 1 day with great results! Highly recommended!
Luciane Sorrino
19:31 16 Jun 19
I am so happy with the work Paul and Luke did on my wooden floors,they look amazing now lovely pine wooden floors the notches in the wood stand out with a matt varnish finish.They both were so professional and did a great job.
Pippa Crowter
15:11 01 Jul 19
Did our oak kitchen floor. Excellent job, great guys, polite and tidy, minimal dust. 100% recommend.
charlie sefi
14:27 24 Jul 19
I am so happy with the work Paul and Luke did on my wooden floors,they look amazing now lovely pine wooden floors the notches in the wood stand out with a matt varnish finish.They both were so professional and did a great job.
Pippa Crowter
13:45 01 Jul 19
GJP did a fantastic job sanding and resealing our original pine floorboards, restoring them to their natural beauty. They also repaired a number of holes and large chunks which had been taken out, but are now barely visible. They were responsive, friendly, and the quote was very reasonable. Highly recommend and we would go direct to them for any future works. (before & after photos)
Matthew Williams
16:47 23 Dec 22
Professional and friendly service. Managed to book in a date that suited us with quite a short lead time. The team on the day were were communicative and professional, they did a great job, got it done fast and left the place very neat. Our floors look brilliant!
Violet Bennell
13:54 26 Nov 20
It was easy dealing with GJP- good communication and quick to answer queries. We love our sanded and repaired floorboards; consistent high quality finish over 3 rooms and hallway, great attention to detail. Very happy with the results.
J Lindsay
13:26 16 Sep 21
This is probably third of fourth time we've used GJP Flooring to sand our floors and they've always been excellent. They always turn up when they say, the job takes as long as they estimate and the price is fair. Best of all, the finish is spot on and the guys always work neatly and cleanly. Great work Glyn, thanks again.
Paul Spirou
11:12 01 Feb 14
This is the second house that GJP have sanded and stained the floors in. Again, they have done an excellent job, the floors look incredible. The lads were lovely and were quick and clean. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend these guys
Lauren Mitchell-Trangmar
00:53 14 May 24
Exceptional customer service from Glyn in store. He was very informative and made the process really easy. Once we picked our flooring product, installation was organised in good time. Spencer, our fitter came to visit our property to assess the floor and was extremely knowledgable and helpful. Product is really good quality, reasonably priced and has been well laid in very good time. Highly recommend. Thank you Glyn and Spencer.
Paul Nye
21:11 26 Jul 24
This is the second time we have used GJP flooring. Marcus and Joe replaced a few floorboards one around the radiator pipe which they cut/positioned perfectly. Then we had the floors sanded and lacquered and look amazing! Only issue is the filler is coming out already though I know not guaranteed seems a little too! Here are some before and after photos
Donna Andrews
13:52 01 Jun 23
Great experience with the team from GJP - very communicative and professional from day one when first contacted through to the day of the job. On the day while we were out kept fully informed of progress, any issues, solutions, and overall really happy with the end result which was done with care and attention.
Ben Franklin
20:54 21 Jun 23
Marcus & Joe from GJP FLOORING in Hove came to sand, stain & varnish our floorboards !The end result was amazing ! They both worked so hard & are really friendly guys who get on with the job ! There was little mess & our hallway & lounge diner was done in two days ! Thoroughly recommend this company for your floor restoration ! Thank You .
Peter Gidley
11:47 05 Nov 24
Great experience and professional friendly team. Came to give me a quote very quickly and then when it was time to do the job they arrived when they said they would and took time and care with my floor. Really pleased with the result. Communication was great throughout and the quote they gave me was exactly what I paid. I will use them again. Thanks Glyn and team.
Jemma T
15:11 28 Oct 24
