If you have existing hardwood floorboards and you’re weighing whether to sand them back or rip them out and lay new: sanding is almost always cheaper, and usually the right call.

But there’s a real answer under that, and it depends on what you’re comparing to.

The cost comparison

Sanding and polishing an existing hardwood floor, per square metre:

Standard sand-and-polish: $35–$45/m²
With staining and repairs: $50–$60/m²
Extensive restoration: $60–$80/m²

Installing new timber flooring, per square metre, supplied and laid:

Engineered oak (mid-range): $120–$180/m²
Solid hardwood, secret-nailed and finished on site: $180–$260/m²
Premium wide-board European oak: $260–$400/m²+

Plus removal of the existing floor, which adds another $15–$30/m² depending on what’s coming up.

The gap is significant. Sanding a 100m² floor runs $3,500–$6,000. Replacing the same floor with new engineered oak runs $13,500–$21,000, or double that with premium solid timber.

When sanding actually is cheaper

Almost always, if you have any of these:

Original hardwood floorboards in a 1920s–1970s house.
Any recognisable species — Blackbutt, Tas Oak, Cypress, Baltic Pine.
Enough thickness above the tongue-and-groove for another sand (usually 4mm+).
Fewer than about 15% of boards needing replacement.

When replacement genuinely makes sense

Rare, but real:

The floor has been sanded three or four times previously and there’s almost no timber left above the tongue.
Widespread board rot or structural subfloor damage.
You’ve decided you want a completely different look and species and the old floor doesn’t matter to you.
Engineered flooring in an extension where matching the old is impossible anyway.

Even then, we’d usually recommend a mix: restore what’s restorable, replace what isn’t, and stain the whole thing to blend.

Longevity comparison

An original hardwood floor that’s been sanded once every 15–20 years will outlast almost every new floor you could put in its place. Century-old Baltic pine and 1950s Blackbutt floors are common in Peninsula homes — and they’re still perfectly serviceable after another sand.

New engineered flooring has a defined lifespan set by its wear layer. Once that’s worn through — typically after one refinish, sometimes two — the floor needs replacing entirely.

What most quote comparisons miss

When people say “it’s cheaper to just replace it”, they’re usually comparing:

The cheapest possible engineered click-lock floating floor from a big-box retailer, laid by the buyer
Against a proper professional sand-and-polish

That’s not a like-for-like comparison. A cheap engineered floor is a different product to a professionally restored hardwood floor. It doesn’t feel the same underfoot, doesn’t sound the same, doesn’t age the same way, and won’t last as long.

If you compare quality-installed new solid timber to professional restoration, restoration wins on cost every time, and often on aesthetic too.

The Peninsula angle

A lot of Peninsula housing stock is 1950s-70s. Under the carpet in those homes is usually original hardwood — Blackbutt or Cypress laid over battens. Almost every one of those floors is worth sanding rather than replacing.

Older Sorrento and Portsea period homes often have Baltic pine, sometimes previously covered with a fitted carpet or lino. Sandable, characterful, and irreplaceable.

The exception on the Peninsula is coastal shacks that have had their original floors already replaced with something cheap in the eighties or nineties — those are worth reviewing case-by-case.

If you’re weighing sand vs replace on your floor, get an honest reveal-and-quote visit before you commit either way. In our experience, nine out of ten Peninsula floors are worth restoring.