Refinishing wood floors - Need sanding equipment

[Alpinfox]

 

I'm in the process or refinishing about 350sqft of red oak topnail flooring in my living rm.

 

Anybody have any experience renting floor sanding equipment in Seattle?

 

What kind of equipment did you rent?

Where did you rent?

How much was the rental?

Did the equipment do a good job?

 

Anybody own or have access to a floor sander that I could borrow?

[olyclimber]

CHEAP BASTARD IS IN DA HOUSE!!!!

[olyclimber]

I'm pretty sure Kevbone has a sander and would be willing to help you out!

[rob]

I think we rented from Lowes. Seems like I paid about $50 a day for the sander (we rented a random-orbital sander). Seems like sandpaper was like $5 for a pack of 3 or something (the sander had three heads and used three discs). You'll want to start with a coarse grain and then move to a finer grain until you can't see any scratches from the sander. You can find all sorts of stuff online about how to do this.

 

We had a smaller hand-held jobby for the edges.

 

 

The equiptment did a great job, the sander was pretty foolproof. Definitely something you can do yourself.

 

You should check out some articles online about sanding and varnishing the floor.

 

[Bug]

Make sure you get the barrel sander and not the disk snader.

[olyclimber]

make sure you do a barrel roll too

[rob]

I disagree, bug. If the wear on his floor is severe, then a drum sander will do a better job getting down to wood, but a drum sander is much more aggressive and harder to use for a beginner and has the potential to create depressions in the floor if you don't keep it moving. A random-orbital is much more fool-proof, assuming your floor is not heavily damaged and that it is relatively level.

 

Just my $.02

[Hugh Conway]

pinks a hard man, use his tongue.

[MarkMcJizzy]

I'm in the process or refinishing about 350sqft of red oak topnail flooring in my living rm.

 

Anybody own or have access to a floor sander that I could borrow?

 

Get a job, and hire it out. You're scabbing on Doug Klewin

[Bug]

I disagree, bug. If the wear on his floor is severe, then a drum sander will do a better job getting down to wood, but a drum sander is much more aggressive and harder to use for a beginner and has the potential to create depressions in the floor if you don't keep it moving. A random-orbital is much more fool-proof, assuming your floor is not heavily damaged and that it is relatively level.

 

Just my $.02

Good points. I used one many times. It doesn't take long to get the hang of it but that could be long enough to put a trough in your floor.

I like the fine grain drum finish in line with the wood grain.

[G-spotter]

JUST DO IT WITH YOUR DREMEL YOU PUSS

[marc_leclerc]

just buy an orbital sander if you dont know what ur foing...if your a bit more skilled with that stuff use a belt sander.. that would be fast.

[MarkMcJizzy]

You sir, are a floor finishing ejit

[sobo]

Is that a Band of Brothers gif for your avatar? Or Saving Private Ryan? I'm thinking BoB...

[EWolfe]

It's the edging sander that will cause you problems, Pax. Those suckers are tricky.

 

Best of luck. Erik

[G-spotter]

You sir, are a floor finishing ejit

 

If you put your ankles behind your ears, Pax could probably just push you around the floor and the sand in your pussy would do a pretty good job of polishing.

[ken4ord]

It's the edging sander that will cause you problems, Pax. Those suckers are tricky.

 

Best of luck. Erik

 

I agree with Erik on that too. I refinished wood floors in my old house and rented a drum sander. I used three different grits ending with I think 200 grit, if I am recalling right. It wasn't too difficult to get the hang of it. It was sort of like mowing the lawn with a power mower go along the grain. The edging sander, I used a disc sander I felt lot less in control and had some noticeable mistakes on the floor and base boards. With a orbital sander it is definitely easier to use, but you might not have as nice of finish. Also make sure to clean your room after sanding really good and use several coats of finsih for a nice finish.

[olyclimber]

and don't forget to pound down a few of these to finish the job:

 

[Dechristo]

pork monger

[Off_White]

Don't forget to use a scraper in the corners - round sanders don't do inside corners. Good for the very edges next to the baseboard as well.

 

If the floor already has a base shoe at the bottom of the baseboard, remove it and install new stuff. In order to make it easy on yourself, apply the floor finish and pre-finish your base shoe at the same time, install it after the floor finish is done. That way you'll cover up any finish you've slopped onto the bottom of the base.

 

Hardwood or softwood? It matters when you're selecting a finish. Swedish Finish is wicked toxic but very durable, you'll need an organic vapor respirator to even be in the house. Water based polyurethanes are okay, but follow the directions exactly and use a good applicator.

 

My favorite, and the absolute best thing to use on a doug fir floor, is an oil finish. The first two options form a coating, and with a softwood floor dings and dog claws can lead the coating to separate from the wood. an oil finish penetrates the wood rather than coats it, and tends to harden the surface somewhat. Sutherland-Welles makes a great polymerized tung oil, but you'll probably need to mail order it.

 

Oh, and just rent the equipment, most pros won't loan the tools they make their living with to noobs.

 

Edit: doh, now that I read the first post I see it's oak. I still like an oil finish for that though. My floor finisher uses a clay as a grain filler in oak, sure makes for a pretty floor.

[EWolfe]

Oh, and don't forget to lick the windows when you're done!

[Alpinfox]

 

Oh, and just rent the equipment, most pros won't loan the tools they make their living with to noobs.

 

That is a good point Off.

 

Well, assuming nobody out there in cc.com land is a pro floor finisher and willing to loan out their gear, where would be the best place for me to rent the gear? Is the Lowes/Home Despot/etc stuff good enough?

 

 

[sobo]

Well, assuming nobody out there in cc.com land is a pro floor finisher and willing to loan out their gear, where would be the best place for me to rent the gear? Is the Lowes/Home Despot/etc stuff good enough?

I've found over the years that if you want to rent just the right tool, go to one of the chains that does this for contractors as well as the layperson (SECO, Star Rentals, etc.) or one of the "mom and pop" shops (locally, that would be Bennett Rentals; that old fucker has everything, and he takes damn good care of it).