Wooden floors can be a big selling point to any home so don't neglect them. Make sure they are looking their best for the sales campaign. Sometimes all that's required is a bit of a clean to restore your wood to its former glory.

Hg Chemicals has a range of products for sprucing up all sorts of flooring. Try their product for soiled floor, which retails for around €10 per bottle. It gets into the grain of wooden floors and cleans the dirt away. For more seriously stained and scratched floors, consider giving your floor a new lease of life by stripping it. Stripping a floor can seem a little daunting, but the secret, if you are planning on doing it yourself, is to hire a floor sander.

The simplest sander to use is an upright or drum sander, which can be run along the floor from a standing position like a Hoover. For areas that the large sander can't reach, get a hand-held sander. A-Z Hire Ltd (1800294473) rent out drum sanders for €48.40 for 24 hours and €24.20 for a hand-held sander. An average floor should only take a couple of hours and the upstairs of a house about a day. Prepare the floor by giving it a good clean and hammer any protruding nail heads back below the surface of the wood, otherwise they will damage the sander. Remember to always sand your floor in the direction of the grain.

After you've vacuumed up all of the dust, fill in any small cracks and gaps with a good multi-purpose wood filler which matches your wood. For large gaps drive in strips of matching wood, making sure they are the same level as the floor. Then give the floor a second sand with finer paper.

If you're not up to the job and want your wood at its best, get the professionals in. ABA Wood Flooring (01 8107820) charges 18 a sq yd for a complete service. All you have to do is remove all the furniture.