The varnish has worn through in places so will be recoating.
I will be rubbing it down by hand . Would a coarse scotch brite do or do I need to use paper. If so what grit?

How to prepare a varnished floor for recoating

I will be rubbing it down by hand

I’d be booking some physio for afterwards.

You will need at least 120 grit paper to rough up the current varnish.

Unless it’s a small floor, hire a floor sander and do it properly. Take off the original and start again, it will look loads better when finished.

I did mine with a DA sander and then revarnished. Looks pretty rubbish as the areas that were previously damaged still look damaged.

I think it really all needs to come off (ie hire in a floor sander) for it to look good

Doing it by hand will be a nightmare unless it’s a tiny area.
I did our dining room, which is fairly small with a quarter sheet sander and that was laborious enough!

Goggles, mask, tape the door up and fire up the sander. Not a nice job!

A 1/4 sheet sander is only about £30 in Screwfix.
Get some nice and rough paper – 120 would get through it quickly…

There’s a few scratches that need sorting but most of it just needs keying up.

Too coarse and the grit paper clogs up with varnish, 120-180 works best.

Can you not borrow an electric sander?

Belt sander is way better than an orbital – re-did the parquet in our lounge which is 20ft long – took 2 weekends

I’m not an expert on wood but I do know about painting cars.
Sound paintwork would just get dulled with a scotchbrite not taken back to bare metal.
Is there any reason my floor is different?
I’ve given the area under the doormat a light sand with 180 and I reckon it’s good to paint / varnish.

Sound paintwork would just get dulled with a scotchbrite not taken back to bare metal.
Is there any reason my floor is different?

Yes! Car paint is solid; you can’t see through it so it’s easy to hide the shit underneath.

Floor lacquer is transparent. A half arsed job will be very apparent.
Hire a sander and take it back to bare timber. Then oil it. Any scratches or damage can then be treated by a quick wipe over with an oily rag, adding patina, adding character.

The first time around we used Rustins floor oil. That is proving hard to buy locally.
As long as it says floor oil on the tin will it be compatible with what’s already on there?