Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Simply stick some 80 grit sandpaper to the triangular head of the sander and sand the corner until all of the finish is removed just like the rest of the floor. For all intents and purposes, thats what they are. In the open areas, sanding the hardwood floors went quickly. As pictured up above in the library photo, this machine is hardcore. Once the wood has been sanded down, it's a blank canvas and can be altered as desired. By enabling corners and other hard-to-reach areas to be fully sanded, handheld edgers ensure a complete, professional-looking result. What a great, informativeand encouragingpost. Can you say ouch?

I believe that this is arguably the most important part of the whole process. can damage the floor if its improperly used, causing gouges and circular marks We use cookies to optimize our website and our service. orbital sander sanders disc edge multi ez clarke sand floor eagle rental rentals american waterville industrial Isnt that the way it is with poly? Our house is laid out like a traditional Colonial, and the living room, foyer, and dining room are open. A commercial drum sander, for example, can remove a lot of wood at once. Andy also recommends this back brace. expandable For professionals, commercial vibratory and orbital sanders can be easier to control than drum sanders. sander floor orbital Its possible for a professional to do that, but its not good advice for a novice. Its possible that I misunderstood. Orbital sanders are primarily used for finishing, subsequent sanding, the sandpaper grit gets finer. We always keep these lead check swabs handy. Next you will need to find your Connecting Line of where you sanded the belt sander in one direction and then turned around to start sanding the other side of the room. Both palm and vibratory sanders are an excellent choice for those without a lot of experience using sanding machines. First, I removed all of the shoe moldings. That means that you will need to use them in a particular way or direction. I was shocked. This weight makes it difficult to transport or haul the sanders without a dedicated team and vehicles. Educate yourself about the the same size as a drum sander, and it also has a dust bag attached. Before I start, I just want to say, either hire a professional (someone that does it every day) or do it yourself. This machine takes some getting used to. Check out ourselection of machinesdesigned to work on wood flooring and decks. I think now that were a lot more experienced in the DIY departmentand Id make sure I was involved too!we could likely get a better result. purchase sandpaper to fit each machine. He is a professional wood floor refinishing specialist with 15 years of experience. Also, Part II of thi refinishing hardwood floors as a DIY series, Removing Swirl Marks & Finish Sanding, is now available. Ive been glued to her progress as she refinishes the floors in her 1880s fixer-upper. The edger weighs about 40 lbs! Would you consider sanding hardwood floors as a DIY project? There floor edge sander sanders orbital While it was not entirely necessary, the edger sander gets pretty close, I wanted the most professional-looking job, and much of the shoe was broken or chipped. You do flooring but how often do you actually sand floors? an orbital sanding pad and a built-in dust bag.

All Rights Reserved. Although sanding hardwood floors is a dirty job, there are a few ways to keep the dust down. A detail sander with a pointed front is perfect for this job. Your DIY experience will pay off, and knowing what you are trying to avoid is helpful too. Homes dating back more than a hundred years still have their original wood flooring. If you want a perfect refinishing job, its probably best to call in a pro. I could, but it would bother me for a long time. It's equipped with unique edging wheels and a maneuverable head that gets into even the most problematic areas. It also works well across thresholds where the big machines may not reach well. Using improper equipment can lead to damaged floors or incomplete projects. I found this particularly problematic when changing from forwards to backwards. Although sanding a floor with an orbital

I must say that I was very disappointed with what the u sander did I guess I had this dream that the u sander would get rid of all the unwanted edger and drum marks but it didnt do that all! How Useful Are Hardwood Floor Repair Kits? That way you are feathering the edges out into the main floor, and smoothing out any drum marks. Its what this website is all about. the dust and debris, although youll need to vacuum thoroughly before coating hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(7667689, '1caa7391-d1db-42ca-b79c-8f80044f1608', {"useNewLoader":"true","region":"na1"}); Sanders are machines that can be difficult to control. In other words, we are in phase I. In our last house, we made some mistakes too. However, all of the finish sanding, including doing the corners in all of the rooms with the mouse sander, took a lot of extra of time. The orbital edger sander is my favorite, but I have a love/hate relationship with it.

This is also very self-explanatory and much easier on the hands. All (or most) necks, scratches, and indents will be removed.

Wood, however, is soft and requires a lower speed. Avoid this problem by touching the belt down gently and moving immediately. Nailing Techniques Used in Home Renovation, By continuing to browse this website, you agree to the use of cookies for the collection of traffic statistics and to improve the quality of our website. The good news is that its all a distant memory now, and the floor looks great! I recently had a call to go and look at a floor that had been sanded by a builder. Remove this by sanding the swirl by hand with 80-grit sandpaper. Andy and I decided that I would sand the entire dining room floor with the orbital edger and 20-grit sandpaper instead. Some belt sanders work on the forward motion, some work by pulling them backward. Also, Rubio Monocoat only adheres to bare wood. If the sander isnt positioned We can either A) Scrap the corner or B) Use a multi-master dremel tool.

Enter the edge sander, which is a heavy, hand-held sander with You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. It works like a dream around the edgesso fast! Your email address will not be published. Hold it firmly in your hands, or it will jerk out of your hands and swirl around the room like a beheaded chicken leaving swirl marks and gouges in its wake. Choosing the right floor sander for your project is crucial. And I cant get over her gorgeous dining room and am totally mesmerizedby this timelapse []. Also, I do not have a picture of how these rooms flow together, but there are individual pictures on the Winter Eclectic House Tour post if you want to take a look. I will keep updating this post. We have a tiny sun porch with a painted wood floor that I plan to do first as a trial project and will probably sand it by hand. and other spaces that a large drum sander cant reach. Once we could see that the poly was gone, we switched to the U-sand with the same grit that we ended on with the drum sander and worked our way to the finer grits. Cover hard-to-clean objects such as chandeliers with a plastic bag securely closed at the top. Be warned that this is a super meaty post. With a low-grit paper, it quickly strips off all types of finish from thick glossy poly to old varnish. Prospect | Elgin | Lombard | North Shore Area | Yorkville, How To Refinish Your Hardwood Floors: Final Sanding with the Buffer, How To Refinish Your Hardwood Floors: Sanding the Edges with the Edger, Office, 2540 Victor Ave, Glenview, IL 60025, How To Refinish Your Hardwood Floors: Sanding With The Random Orbital Sander. This should leave a very distinctive line, take the time to also run the Random Orbital Sander over this line until it is no longer visible. before you use the edger you sand to the finest grit with drum? It's a 16" sander that can be used for sanding interior floors and smoothing exterior decks. [] House is an absolute old-home-restoring powerhouse. Since our favorite rental place was closed for the weekend, Andy ran to Home Depot to rent a belt sander, and we were back in business in the laundry room. The hard part about the sanding errors or coating mistakes is that it is hard to get rid of them without a whole lot of extra work.

The heavy-duty orbital edger cannot reach into those tight spaces and neither can the orbital palm sander. Thanks for the tips about the edger!

However, we have also rented from Home Depot. sanders are powerful enough to remove finishes and stains, smooth high spots, If you're not a professional, it's highly recommended you practice using the disc sander before tackling your project. Hi! Long sleeves, pants, and gloves will prevent your skin from being coated with tiny particles. We used the drum sander with about two of the lowest grits to take off the old poly.

Im so happy to have found your blog in the middle of the night! The same is true in places where the old finish is already gone completely. The upside is that the dining room floor looks almost perfectno blemishes. However, I started to think about Team Andy & Stacys collective weaknesses, and I strongly considered calling in the professionals to do the sanding and limiting our involvement to finishing the floors. Close the doors to every room and plug the bottom gap with a towel or plastic. damage to your floor if you arent very careful.

I need to clarify that I never had any intention of doing this all by myself. Reputable professional flooring contractors have top-of-the-line equipment and the skills and expertise necessary to address a wide range of floor issues. The difference is that this machine is 20" and can make shorter work of large areas.

Our money pit house may very well make the DIY decision for us in lieu of hiring a professional. small orbital pattern. ), but we cut our losses quickly. Should You Ever Refinish Hardwood Floors Yourself? and take the floor down to a layer of bare, untouched wood. Another handheld option, these edgers are designed to work along floor edges. Like We must sand with the Random Orbit sander the last grit that we left off with on our belt sander and edge sander. If you feel like I have left out any crucial information about the sanding process or each type of machine, please leave your thoughts in the comments. If you are removing a thick finish, the sandpaper collects corns (clumps of finish) very quickly and needs new pads. Our plan worked like a charm, but dang, that orbital edger is a backbreaker. That means that if we made any big mistakes, they would glare at us for eternity. But this is what happens when you just learn on your own without meeting other people in the industry. A builder or decorator will probably cost as much as a professional, because they will take longer to do it because they dont have the knowledge or the tools to do it quickly. in the wood. To keep floors looking their best throughout this significant lifespan, occasional sanding is necessary. Sanding a hardwood floor is the first step of the refinishing process. A few weeks ago, we demoed the old floor, and the hardwood underneath was a dirty mess. its much lighter, and rather than a rotating belt, it consists of a vibrating Im glad the post was helpful. because they remove little material. (I will be vacuuming until Im dead.). Having a nice bright halogen lamp is VERY helpful in this situation, it will highlight any edger marks and swirls. We knew that to get this done promptly, we would need to work together. Its a monster. None of our possessions are sparking joy right now. We must take care of all these areas before we begin our final sanding with the buffer. Although choosing a more powerful, complicated machine may sound like it'll do a better job, it won't in the wrong hands. You develop assumptions and bad habits that you never question. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact us. You will need to randomly orbit every single spot that you edged. Vacuum at least twice, paying special attention to the cracks between the planks and along the baseboards. Also, Im glad you added the extra information about how to move the drum sander to avoid marks. The edger is designed to go as low as 4" and reach as deep as 11". By the time I finished, I knew there was no way I was going to use the same method in the laundry room and the hall. sander will take considerably longer than it would with a drum sander, and Ben Osborne is the owner of HowToSandAFloor.com. the starting sandpaper grit should be. In todays episode, Danny Moody from Pro Historical joins Stacy for listener Q&A. You do not run the risk of cutting a finger while using this machine! I used a combination of hand sanding and these fantastic detail sanding sticks to scrub it all out of there. Choosing the right wood floor sander for your project is vital if you want the best results. tools youll need, including different types of sanders and applicators, and I work for a third generation flooring company. The builder that had sanded this floor had done it before, so dont let that one trick you either. The first half is about our method. An excellent option for wood sanding is the OF16S. It doesnt take any skill to make this change to your method yet knowing it can make a fair difference to the quality of the finish. You must run the random orbit sander over these swirls to get rid of them around the entirety of the room. BHH looks like it has been ransacked. When working on a project with any hard-to-reach areas,a floor edgeris necessary. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. sanding pad. It also has a low speed of 500rpm combined with 120V power.

It was unsightly. Each sandpaper pad costs around $1.25 each X four, and that adds up. Do you have more questions about choosing the right wood floor sander? We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Fatigue leads to accidents and mistakes, so take breaks to rest and stretch. Oh, how I understand! I am sorry you are up in the night, but Im happy you found the blog too. Use the coupon code truetales10 to save 10% off your order from Abatron.com. This will help you gain a better understanding of currently available options for your next project.

However, The downside is these machines are typically hefty and can weigh up to 100 pounds. The Window Course from Scott Sidler of The Craftsman Blog will teach you everything you need to know to restore your original wood windows. Like orbital sanders, vibrating sanders are less likely than drum Attach a shop vac instead of the dust collection bag to the sanding machine. If youre refinishing the floors in multiple rooms, sand them all at the same time. If Refinishing worn hardwood floors isnt a DIY project for the squeamish, but if youre determined and somewhat skilled, you can pull it off with the right equipment and materials. When you said in stories that youd given up on the u-sand and done the whole library with the edger I knew that youd be feeling it the next day. After a lot of discussion with the guys at my favorite rental place, I rented a U-sand machine and an orbital edger. The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. Here, we look at the different types of floor sanders and offer some tips for getting the best possible results.

I understand your feelings. This will prevent sanding mistakes. A similar alternative is the OS2OS-L120 machine. a big impact on the floors appearance once its coated. Finally, keep all cords well out of your way as youre moving across the floor. It was worth it. The reason you want to do the rough edging during the belt sanding process is to reduce the size of the rough edged area, usually when inexperienced people do all the edging at the end they end up missing some of the scratches from the coarser grits with the finer grits. The more you know going in, the better your refinished Then, Andy came back with the U-sand and did the finish sanding. The edger has a light bulb on the front so you can see where you are going. meets the wall. just right and properly operated, it can grind deep grooves and valleys into Sanding hardwood floors as a DIY will save you money, and probably a lot of it. Edgers, however, are necessary for any project. These machines use a sanding disc orbuffing padto remove old finishes. Neither Andy nor I found sanding hardwood floors to be a particularly difficult job. how to use them. A square orbital sander can reach into corners The professionals have all sorts of tricks to keep the dust down, and they clean up when they are finished. This was a project for Team Andy & Stacy, not just me. After vacuuming, use a dry microfiber cloth to remove the finest specks from the floor. Whew! Disc sanders generally operate at high speeds, however, which can make them challenging to control. We ended up using all three sanding machines. None the less it gave me food-for-blogging-thought. To learn more, please consult BuildDirect's, Different Types of Floor Sanders and Their Uses. It doesnt look so bad when you do it, but when you put a lacquer on it with some level of reflective sheen, it stands out like a sore thumb. We were also disappointed with the U-sander. The sandpaper discs are super cheap at around $1 each, and they last well. After you are finished sanding, wait a few hours (preferably overnight) to let the dust settle. Sanding is a process that can help bring new life into your old flooring and other wood objects,like decks. Ive vacillated between wanting to do the whole project myself to wanting to outsource the sanding but Ill probably do it myself. Thank you for the details. These are smaller sanders that usually provide less power versus disc sanders. 80grit is just a rule that applies to most floors. The U-sand sander was not the right tool for this part of the project. passes. Dont hire another DIYer! Not really. I also read your other post on wetting the wood and using the palm sander to get rid of the swirl marksdid that work pretty well for you? We started with 20-grit sandpaper on both machines, and we worked our way down to 120-grit* without skipping grits. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. After each pass, vacuum the floors, even if theres a bag attached to the sander. All in, we sanded the three spaces (around 700 square feet) in about eleven hours. It is difficult to maneuver in small spaces, and it only gets within 5-8 inches of the edges of the room.

I remain confused about the multi-directionality of all drum sanders. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Whether to DIY or hire it out is a big decision. It creates a much smoother finish around the edges. Always wear goggles to prevent serious eye damage due to flying debris, and wear a dust mask to protect your lungs from fine airborne particles. No way. Start by doing the entire perimeter of the floor. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); when you say Always do the final edging after the final belt/drum sanding do you mean once you have done all your grits on the drum sander, i.e. The orbital edger will strip that paint off in no time flat. Plus Building & Hardwood Floor Refinishing, O'Hare | Irving Park | Jefferson Park | Norwood Park | Morgan Park | West Lawn | Edison Park | Austin | Edgewater | Washington Heights | South Shore | Kenwood | Ashburn | Lincoln Square | Chicago Lawn | Lake View | North Center | Garfield Ridge | Mount Greenwood | Oakland | Beverly | Chatham | Uptown | West Pullman | Lincoln Park, Park Ridge | Niles | Morton Grove | Evanston | Wilmette | Glencoe | Winnetka | Highland Park | Glenview | Northbrook | Palatine | Arlington Heights | Barrington | Buffalo Grove | Des Plaines | Downers Grove | Forest Lake | Lake Forest | Northfield | Oak Park | Skokie | Western Springs | Naperville | Mt. While still very heavy, the U-sand has both a handle and lifting bar which makes it easier for two people to lift in and out of a vehicle. , but then on the edge what you do, do you then go through the grits again ? While Quick question: did you do all the grits with the drum sander and then again with the u-sander? All the pros Ive seen on Youtube and in real life start forward and then immediately do a backward pass in the same line. a floor involves multiple passes over every inch of the surface. Smaller machines range in difficulty, so consider what your experience level with these machines is. We moved the furniture from the dining room into the living room, and we scattered everything from the laundry room all over the house, explosion style. Thanks for sharing! The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes. We are a little overly ambitious sometimes.

A floor sander helps remove wood's old finishes. Must be used in the direction of the wood grain, or there will be visible scratch marks. sanders, vibrating sanders, and some large orbital sanders are too big and experienced with this type of machine, you can quickly cause serious, permanent bulky to reach into corners and along the edges of the room where the floor Then, he would follow with the U-sand. Another option is our multi-master Dremel tool. It has to be used while squatting down or on your knees. I have a friendly relationship with a local rental store just down the road from BHH, and that is where we rent most of the time. Drum Ben is responsible for almost all the content on this website.

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