Hardwood floor sanding?

More Specific Please on Orbital Sander??

Re: Hardwood floor sanding?

Barry Irby

Years ago I rented one of the floor sanders that appears to be four ROS pads under a big machine. If you think you understand slow, you have not used one of these. The room was about 15' by 15' and I grew old waiting for results. I sanded for hours and then my son went over it again. It got the finish off but did nothing for the dents and dings. The flooring was the prefinished oak with V grooves about an 1/8" deep. I didn't want to take off enough material to remove the V's so I restained the floor to match the original color. It's pretty good but I have more patina than I would have liked. If I were doing it now I would either scrape some of those areas or get on them with a hand held sander. This is Bruce hardwood.

I just looked up Orbital sanders and see they have one that is a large pad. Not sure it would do any better than the one I had.

I have also installed and finished several floors with the traditional drum sander. Significantly more skill required and much faster to screw up the floor, but at least ten times faster. Huge learning curve, but did I mention faster?

Re: Hardwood floor sanding?

Tom Norton

I used one of those drum Sanders years ago. It only takes a brief moment to put a big divit in your floor. I will explore the orbital floor sanders and if it is going to be really, really slow I will call in the professionals.

Re: Hardwood floor sanding?

Barry Irby

How bad is your floor? I just called a local finisher "Mr Dustless" and they wanted $800 to sand and refinish 230 SF. Their claim to fame is the dustless part. I also called Buff and Coat and they will do the same area for $265. They clean, screen the floor and apply a coat of finish. In and out in a day. This is for a condo I am flipping. Guess which way I am going. My floor is in good shape, just dull.

Re: Hardwood floor sanding?

Tom Norton

Condition of the floor itself, quarter sawn red oak is very good. It is the polyurethane. It has yellowed over time to the point where it is unappealing. Maybe water base next time?

A side note-Yesterday I stopped by a friend's home and he is in the process of doing his floors. A 60 year old bungalow with most likely the original finish on the oak floors. He has one of these orbital floor sander the pad is about 12"x18". Even with 36grit paper it is not getting down to raw wood. Wondering if it might be lots of old was and stuff.

Re: Hardwood floor sanding?

ebd

I rented a sander and did several floors when we moved into our house nearly 40 years ago. Did the edges with a belt sander. It came out fine. I don't remember if the floor sander I rented was orbital or belt. Too long ago.

Re: Hardwood floor sanding?

Barry Irby

Might be best to clean the floor with Naphtha or odorless mineral spirits.

A few years ago I repaired and refinished some floors for a friend. One room had 9x9 tile glued down with black tar like something. I would sand in other rooms with the drum sander until I sensed the sandpaper getting dull. Then I would make a couple of passes in the tar covered room. I had already scraped and planed in there. The sandpaper would load up quickly. She came along when I had it about 90% and announced she loved the black in the grain of the oak and leave it. There is no accounting for taste.

I suspect that pad sander is not designed for 36 grit. I think I started with about 50 grit when I used the 4 ros version. Took forever and three weeks.

I had much better luck with the drum sander version after I started to think of it as "flying" the drum over the floor. Gentle landings with the machine moving and take off before you get to the wall. Never let the machine sit still while running.