[Closed] Sanding floorboards - any tips?

Tip: Wear a mask.

Make sure you punch any nail heads that are sticking up before sanding of they will tear up your sandpaper

Having done a couple, I'd stick with the laminate.

Dust does get EVERYWHERE and you'll be knackered after.

Any tips?

Get someone to do it for you!

One and only time I sanded floor boards was a bit of a disaster.

Seriously loud bit of kit and it clearly was me as I destroyed a couple of the sanding belts (and that sounds like the end of the world when they go).

A mate had no such problems when he came round and we got the lounge done in 1/2 day iirc.

You might want to collect the dust and mix it with PVA to seal any joints, holes etc.

Preparation is key here.

Sand the floor (circular motion)

Paint the fence (good clean strokes)

You'll be a bad ass if you do it properly

It worked for DANIEL-SAN!

Punch Nails, if you can get a sander with a vac attachment, then do so, it's still a dusty job, but might keep the dust down a bit.

Tap nails. Wear mask, earplugs, goggles. Windows open. It is a hard, dirty job that creates a load of dust. Saving the dust to fill gaps is a good tip

All the PPE advised above plus knee pads.

Even with the dust extractor, this s a seriously dirty job
Dust will get everywhere in the house, whatever measures you take
Start by punching all the nails down with a good nail punch, it only takes one nail head to wreck a belt
Hire an edge sander and a belt sander, the edge sanders are a must as they get right up to the edges quickly
When you start sanding with the belt sander , don't stop mid run as it will make a groove in the floor, you sand in straight lines along the floor , not in a circular motion, when you get to the end of a run tip the machine up slightly to avoid gouging he wood

Is there much of a gap between your doors and the floorboards? You can get a toddlers arm under ours...and we frequently do, as well as draughts,dust,light,uninvited rodents!

I've sanded acres of floors and lived. I'd never use a laminate floor.

Just be really careful installing the paper onto the sander drum making sure it's tight against the drum and centred under the clamp. Recheck the clamp srews, they come loose.

Sand along the boards with coarse paper if they are warped. As has been said check for nails, they'll shred the paper. Just hire an edger too. They are very good at getting to parts the big sander cant get too even the middle of the floor. It'll take a lifetime with a hand sander.

Some floors have a really sticky varnish around the margins, You can get really heavy duty paper for that, Dont let it heat the varnish up too much or it will congeal on the paper. I've had to blow lamp that stuff off before sanding in the past.

It's a hugely rewarding job.

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always sand in the direction of the floor board going back and forth
then afterwards use a smaller professional sander for the edges

And make sure you go through different grades of sand belt.

I'll stress the point about punching any protruding nails down,
have wrecked the bar on a flour sander,
not a big problem except having to take it back to the hire place to get a replacement.
also agree with getting the edging sander much quicker than using any home sanders that'll you have,

you can successfully seal a room to stop the dust going elsewhere, did one job in a house where i sealed the door with plastic bin bags but it'll be harder in the hallway,
dust well go everywhere unfortunately just close off every room to minimise things

done loads of floors, always taken over after the customer has thought 'i can do this' and failed.

centre punch every single bit of metal (be very meticulous, sanding sheets are expensive)

never, ever, go across the boards...ever. it will seem like its quicker untill the end when you will spend ages and ages trying to get the marks out

the 36 grit is just to get the boards level for the next grades.
the boards have 'dished' during their lifetime, start by going along the joins between 2 boards until you are sanding the centre of the boards -while still touching the edge (you will understand this once you start)

dust can be minimised by discarding the bags and duct taping a henry hoover to where the bags go. wash the filter in the washing machine when done so owner of said hoover doesnt freak out

sawdust is very flamable, in fact it is explosive due to the high surface area so empty said hoover very regularly.

when you have had enough send me an email and i'll come and finish the job for you 😉

to get a good finish, go over it after first varnish with wire wool and [b]gently[/b] get rid of rough bits ( the water based varnishes lift the grain) but dont use the oil based ones as they are poison and your lungs will have taken all they can from the sanding.

Thanks folks, some interesting stuff there. Jonah, if you're near me (Marple, just outside Stockport) mail me with a quote, I'm happy to pay a pro who will do a good job but frankly the people we got in to do the lounge weren't great - given that their attempt was not perfect, I'm having a go myself 🙂

I would suggest not varnishing as it can crack. Wickes do some lovely water based wax that you can paint 3 coats on in less than a day. Keeps the boards looking natural and quite hard wearing.

I did all of ours in our last house (victorian terraced property) They looked superb and as above, it was a hugely rewarding job.

I would never, ever contemplate doing it myself again.

wide masking tape on the door gaps, underneath as well, wear a mask. good luck.

Don't varnish with a gloss finish, gloss is not fashionable at the moment and it shows imperfections. I would use Dulux Trade polyurethane varnish in satin - it it very forgiving and ends up looking like a waxed finish, just a subtle sheen.

Mcmoonter your floors look fantastic.

Visqueen is your friend, use it to seal up anywhere you don't want the dust to go with masking tape.

I quite liked doing it when I did it - take your time, get a mate to help you with the box sander up the stairs as it's pretty heavy.

A handy trick for making sure you have all floor imperfections like nails etc is a sponge, wipe it over the floor and it'll catch anything that would rip your belt.

Oh, see if you can get a proper mask, those white things that kinda cover the nose and mouth with a metal band on the nose are pretty pooh, if that's all you can get swop them out each morning and afternoon as they fine clog very quickly, increasing flow around the mask.

sorry mate i have to charge double for leaving wales 😉
if you become stuck, pm me advice is free 🙂

+1 for satin. i like the Bona products. im trying to remember where i got it from last time cos they were cheap. sod it, i prob found them through google anyway

good luck, take your time and do long hours

Did the lounge floor and the halls in our last house.

Tips - *don't* go down to the local hire merchant (HSS/Speedy) and get whatever they give you. Find a dedicated online floorsander hire company and get the kit from there - they'll deliver (floorsanderhire.com rings a bell). The kit is much higher quality and the extraction systems work way, WAY better. (The HSS one I used was like an old upright vacuum cleaner and was like working in a fog, the online one had a seperate dust extractor and made the experience far more pleasant. Don't think I needed a dust mask in the end, although ear defenders were mandatory.

As everyone else has said - go over the floor and punch the nails down. Then go over it again to check for the ones you've missed.

Masking tape all the doors shut.

We varnished with Wickes water based floor varnish - I stuck maybe 4 coats on...? In the 2 years before we moved it held up fine, despite my beautiful smooth planks getting covered in SPD cleat prints...

mcmoonter - Your floor is beautiful.

I'm thinking now that nbt has been put off, even though our hallway is small. The floorboards are in good condition, so that's going to be a little easier. So we're going to look at it being sanded professionally.

Anyone know a good company in South Manchester?

mcmoonter - Your floor is beautiful.

Bunnyhop, it's no longer mine. Divorce saw to that. The floor was entirely recycled. The floor area was massive and in places on two levels. I bought an artic load of boards from Dundee and had them shipped to Orkney. I pulled all the nails out of them, sorted them into about a dozen different subtly different dimensions and managed to lay them harmoniously over what was formerly a byre, barn, stable, mill, turnip shed and hayloft. I reroofed the whole thing too in Caithness slate.

This is the only picture I have of part of the exterior.
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More here
https://picasaweb.google.com/113038090087066024057/ScottishHouseHomesGardens#

I may no longer hold the title deeds, but the experience and satisfaction in it's conservation and creation is ALL mine.

Give your floor a go, post some pics up here so we can see what the floor is like. It's easily DIYable.

I did our front room and hallway when we moved in. Was a hellish weekend and it felt like I was still holding the sander about a week later!

We ended up varnishing the floor with something which turned out far too dark so got a pro in to do it all again a couple of years ago and have since had him back to do our dining room. For the cost (couple of hundred quid per room) it was money well spent. In and out in a day, very little mess left and a decent job done. Think he used a natural coloured water based varnish thing. Looks ace... Builder came in a week afterwards to fit the new kitchen and gave the dining room floor a bit more 'character' 😉

If the area's not that big, and the boards are in decent nick anyway, you may get away with a hand sander.

I did the boards in a 10'x7'-ish room with a hand sander and it wasn't too much hassle. Still pretty loud and dusty though.

[edit] Oh, and sealed it with Ronseal(?) Diamondhard satin finish varnish, looked good.

I did all the boards in this place with a decent hand sander. I was lucky that most hadn't seen the light of day since they were installed in the 20's.

Save the dust for gap filler. I mix it 50:50 with PVA & a small amount of wood stain. Apply the filler after the first coat of sealant so it doesn't stain the wood.

Finish with a couple of coats of post-sanding sealant & then a decent varnish or polish. I've had good results with the Liberon products.

I've done 2 houses now and have got it down to getting a big room done in time to clean the sanders and get them back to the shop before it shuts.

tips assuming you have not done it yet:

Don't get to anal about nails, its only the sticky out ones that tear the paper, others will just get ground down

Get more paper than you think you will need, especially the low grade, they should buy back what you don't use.

Dust is not that bad, just keep the doors shut, avoid walking in and out, and try to keep it tidy as you go

Diagonal first in alternating directions with the lowest grade until the boards are flat as a pancake. Only then switch to the med grade, diagonal still. Then along the grain with med and then fine.

Hire a proper belt sander for the edges. Do not bother with anything else.

Don't worry too much about the corners because by the time you varnish and put the furniture back in nobody will notice.

[quote=IHN ]If the area's not that big, and the boards are in decent nick anyway, you may get away with a hand sander.
I did the boards in a 10'x7'-ish room with a hand sander and it wasn't too much hassle. Still pretty loud and dusty though.
[edit] Oh, and sealed it with Ronseal(?) Diamondhard satin finish varnish, looked good.

Interesting. I have a hand sander, but it's an orbital not a belt sander

It's the hallway we're doing so it isn't huge - maybe 14 feet long, 3 feet wide - plus recess under the stairs, and bit in front of the stairs, so maybe 70 sq ft at a push?

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[url= http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy299/julianwinstanley/Hallway/ ]click for bigger versions [/url]

the sander I've got is not meant for big jobs like this - it;'s a black & decker cd400
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I've got plenty of sheets for it, though I'd have to cut them into thirds and add the holes for the vacuum 🙂 135watts. I can see that overheating if I use it for a while, so I'd have to split the job into segments which means more time with the job half done

I've also got a detail sander from Lidl for the corners.

It's not the work that worries me, it's the utter misery my life will be if I get dust into the kitchen (end door), lounge (side door) or upstairs. I'll end up living in the caravan or something 😉 Joking aside, it is genuinely the mess that's more worrying. It's not a big job and renting a bigger sander will probalby be worth it to save the time it'd take to do the job with the tools I have, but god the dust will be everywhere...

Tip;

Learn to like draughts

I've got plenty of sheets for it, though I'd have to cut them into thirds and add the holes for the vacuum

I got the hole punch for my Makita half sheet hand sander, so i can use the abrasive paper on a roll available from the local wood merchants.

You might get a bit of dry plaster off the boards with that sander but it certainly wont get them all smooth and clean looking, belt sander needed for such a job.

Hallway doesnt look big enough for a stand up/upright vacuum cleaner like belt sander as described above as they are quite cumbersome (think nice big rotary lawn mower v's a flymo!)........is there a smaller sander you could hire.

Tw*t of a job but well worth it. I did our parque about 5 years ago and can still hear the sander wailing!!

Good luck

Nbt, that would take about an hour to do the whole floor to the varnishing stage. Tape around the interior doors, keep the front door open. The boards look in good shape. You could probably do the whole thing in a single pass with a fine paper. Just rent the edger too.

Top tip, don't let the full weight of the sanding drum bear down on the boards until you are using the finest of finishing papers. Push down on the bars. It can gouge it's way into the boards with a coarse grade. With the fine paper you can almost lift the full weight on to the drum to almost polish the surface.

Chop chop,

Hmm, I did a hallway pretty much exactly like that one with a hand sander, but that had been varnished already so it was just a fine tarting-up job before some fresh varnish went on. It was fine (if dusty).

I suppose it depends what you want. If you want the boards stripped to clean before being varnished, you'll need a big old hire job. If you just want them cleaned up a bit so they retain a bit of 'character', then I still reckon your hand sander will do it.

The ball-ache will be sealing between the boards and under the skirting to stop the draughts.

Christonabike

I certainly wouldn't fancy trying a small 1/3 1/2 sheet handsander like that. Even a hand held pro grade belt sander would be a mission.

How about an alternate approach?:

[i][b]If[/b][/i] you could lift all the boards, why not get them put through a planer / thicknser? - Tres drastic I know but you'd be able to do the boards in one pass each.

i did a hall just about that size with a hand held belt sander

you could use that little orbital(?) one but a belt will be much better

Lifting the boards is not an option sadly. Might see about borrowing, hiring or even buying a belt sander though

Keep the machine moving! Don't stop with the belt still rotating. You could do damage that takes ages to get out. As found out by one of the guys sanding a lodge floor out near Grantown about 20 years ago. He span the course paper on the spot and left a hollow you could trip over!

* best to see if Steve Redgrave is free as you'll be wishing you had his rowing arms!

Dust mask as said
Don't stand in one place for too long!!

nbt, who's your local Tool Hire place? HSS? Someone else?

[quote=deadlydarcy ]nbt, who's your local Tool Hire place? HSS? Someone else?

http://wrighthire.com/, they've a depot ten minutes walk from my house

I did two of my places. When my wife said last week that we needed to redo the floors in our current house I rang someone ! Once is a mistake, twice is stupidity, third time outsource.