Sanding Harwood Floors: Tips on how to sand your hardwood flooring
Sanding hardwood floors is a dusty and nosy job that has to be done wearing a dust mask and protection for eyes and ears. If you are using rented equipment, make sure you follow instructions and demonstration to find out how to operate it.
A drum sander with a course paper of 20 to 36 grit has to be used in a low visibility area like under sofas. The sander first has to have its drum off the floor, and then slowly lowered onto the floor. As the drum sander is not only big and noisy, it can take some time getting used to.
Walk the sander forward from wall to wall to half or two-thirds the room while making forward and backward passes per row. The wood has to be sanded with its grain. If the floors are badly warped, it is better to first sand diagonally to the wood grain.
Final sanding of hardwood floors
However never keep the sander in a single spot as it will gouge or swirl mark in seconds. Regions that cannot be reached by the drum sander like wall edges and corners have to be sanded using an edge sander.
Once the rough sanding is done, the sander has to be changed to medium, 50-60 grit and the sanding process repeated once again. This done, check for cracks and holes and use matching wood putty to fill them up.
The final sanding has to be done with a fine 80-100 grit abrasive which is finished using a palm sander along its perimeter to feather sanding areas. The room then has to be vacuumed, including walls and ceiling. Don’t use any damp rags as its moisture will only raise the grain of exposed wood. With this, you are done with sanding hardwood floors.
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Filed under Hardwood Flooring by on Jun 23rd, 2009. 