LOL SL, I'm struggling to imagine it getting too cold in your 'winter'!!!! Here in Melbourne it really does get cold, so we do have to take that into consideration.

Thank you everyone SO MUCH for your wise words and suggestions, it is really very helpful. I think we will talk to some different people, and get some ideas on what can be done, cost etc. After reading all of this I think I'm leaning again to polishing the existing boards. Mel, I definitely agree with you about getting a super good professional in to do it. There are many things I'm happy to do ourselves, but this is not one of them, it's too big a feature, too important. And doing it ourselves would mean it's unlikely to happen before this baby is born . And that is one thing I'm set on, if we have to move out for a week etc, it HAS to happen before this baby joins us!

Still happy to hear other people's experiences, it's all helpful