[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.

yep there is a lift-slide-put back down technique at the end of each run to avoid dips. forgot about that, its natural for me now. just dont let it up too long or it over spins and scorches when put back down. (a bit like changing direction when your plastering). ha ha too much advice now.....you will be fine go for it

Right...plenty of advice on the thread...some of it good...some of it, well, erm...

Those boards don't need a floor sander. They're already pretty level. And there's not enough of a run anyway to justify shitting them with a hire floor sander, which is probable.

You need to go to Wright Hire and rent a random orbital sander, something like this:

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This should take grip discs with holes in them and you should be able to hitch your vac up (with duct tape) to the extraction - which sorts you out for dust. Start with whatever the coarsest grade they sell is - you'll need lots of those, possibly P24 or P40 (they'll do them on sale or return anyway). As you use them, don't chuck them, they're handy as bits to hand sand here and there. Moving perpendicular to the boards, flatten out (don't worry about it being too flat, as long as you take the surface off) Then, move up to P60 or P80. Sand the floor, this time moving along the boards. Finish with P120's, finally folding a P120 in half and using that to run up and down the boards by hand.

And +1 to punching the nails down, but don't get too worried about it - as long as they go down a few mm you'll be fine. Buy a decent size nail punch (if you don't have one already)

Apply lacquer/oil as required. Email in prof if you need to ask more questions.

I'm not saying it's wrong but wouldn't an orbital just add to the time it takes to complete the job?

I'm not saying it's wrong but wouldn't an orbital just add to the time it takes to complete the job?

Yes, of course, but it's only 7 sqm or so - it's not really big enough to go lugging a drum sander in, given that nbt hasn't used one before. It's only softwood (in pretty good nick), so an orbital will fly through it. It'll take a day maybe instead of a half but he's got to walk through his hall and look at it for years. Why not take his time?

Get someone to do it for you!

If you can afford it, this +1. A good firm will leave your house as clean as you left it, varnish or wax it for, judging by the size of that room 150 ish quid.

Regarding the orbital sander route, I did that in my hall, as the floor boards were width ways rather than length ways. I would never, ever do it again. If kneeling on floorboards for a day, getting stiffer and stiffer is your ideas of fun, go for it.

Be careful around that radiator pipe with the edging sander!

I caught one of mine. It made a ZING sound, the lower half sprung down through the floorboard and all the water in the system rapidly became all the water that used to be in the system. 😳

Ta muchly Dedders. Owe you another pint, now 🙂

Nails punched down, I've run a sponge over everything and there's nothing catching so it's time to put up or shut up. Think I'll be following 40DD's advice and getting hold of a random orbital.

Next problem's probably going to be matching the stain used in the living room...

No probs. 😀

Oh, and when you've hoovered, tag rag the floor with a lint free cloth dabbed in white spirit (you can buy a roll of decorators cloth from bollocks and queer - excellent for bike cleaning duties too 😉 ). Cleans off last nit of fine dust. Bit stinky so make sure kids and missus are out and keep a draught through.

Hadn't appreciated twas a smallish area, but good luck with small machine sanding.

Definitely +1 million to knee pads and if you can, a dust extractor / vac is going to very handy in keeping things clean as you go.

Anyone got experience of replacing floorboards?

We've got a few loose joists downstairs and lots have been weakened over the years by cutting and drilling for pipes/wires so we've been advised to sort those before laying laminate/wood flooring.

If we're going to do that anyway, it seems like we might as well just either replace the floorboards with something nicer, or refurbish the existing ones.

Mrs. nbt here.
Thanks everyone for the brilliant advice.
Now as mentioned above I am a very house proud (read fussy) woman and our hallway is where my customers enter to collect their fantastically made curtains, handbags and other goodies,(I work from home) so it has to look really good.

I was put off hiring a firm, because our lounge was left in a bit of a state when it was professionally done (Harry the Spider's recommendation - don't worry I don't hold it against you). The firm had to be called back,(which they weren't too pleased about!) as a friend in the know, noticed they hadn't fine sanded it and it felt rough to the to touch.

We'll post up the finished result when nbt has finished.

£400
Plus travel.
Plus manbag for me.
Plus beer.

You strike a hard bargain - done 😉

Edit - I did mention to nbt last night that we should get DD round to sort it all out. Free B&B in luxurious room with own bathroom, will that tempt you?

FOUR HUNDRED QUID?

D'you need any apprentices, I've been thinking about a career change?!

Mike, I've got a stack of floorboards outside the garage, neighbours replaced their leanto with a conservatory so Mr Recycle here grabbed all the wood - big stack of floorboards and a load of 4*2. Vague plans to build either a woodstore, or perhaps roof over the gap between our house and the neighbours - but if you want them...

Oh sorry, I forgot. Northern prices. A steak pie then. 😀

if you want them...

Cheers, but I think we'd probably reuse the ones that are down, swapping dodgier ones with ones from the living room, which is carpeted.

£200 + fuel + digs + manbag. You supply the stain. I'll supply everything else.

£50 tops, as much cooking lager as you can drink and a loan of a bike to go out riding since you don't have one 😉

I'm off to the hire place in the morning then 😀

I'll bring my own bike since it's been in perfect working order since early this year. 😛

[quote=deadlydarcy ]I'll bring my own bike since it's been in perfect working order since early this year.

oooh, get you! Have you been out on it then?

I have. Plenty of times. Get me indeed.

bloody hell, the world is a changing! We'll find out next that Hora's bought a round...

the hire place was all out of random orbital sanders - all out on hire today. Am making do with my wee 1/3rd sheet beastie. slow going, as expected. I can feel the dips in the middle of the boards as I run the sander across them - P40 is taking the surface off but not really leaving them superflat, and I'm running low on it. when I popped down to the village to pick up lunch I went into the hardware shop and picked up a few more sheets of the coarsest grade they had - p36.

Cup of tea now then back to it...

I hired a proper floor sander and did an entire 3 bed house with a mate which took a weeks holiday and probably years from my life. We got a someone in to do it when we got our hall done in our last house and they did a cracking job with very little mess. The guy is based in Blackpool I think but travelled to Liverpool to do it http://jhsanding.co.uk/

first pass done. tea made. back for the second pass now. Sanding technique leaves much to be desired :S

second pass half complete. fingers tingly. 1/3rd sheet sander doing remarkably well, given that it's not meant for jobs this size and my technique is awful. extraction working fine as I've taped an old hoover to the sander 😀
As anticipated, am beginning to wish we'd got a pro in to do the job though...

About to start
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Halfway through the first pass, started at the kitchen door and completed as far as the lounge door
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Halfway through the second pass, having gone all the way to the front door (where the pic is taken) and working my way back, got as far as the lounge door
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In real life it looks a lot better, honest. Not as good as if a pro had done it, of course, but not bad.

Make life easier and take the radiator off

feel a bit better about how ours came out now!

Perhaps it just my failing eyesight, but I see very little difference between the before and after pics.

the pics aren't great, the most obvious difference is the large knot in front of the radiator

Nope, something's not right. not sure if it's the equipment or my technique, or likely both. The only "clean" board is the one with the knot in that I pointed out above. I've using VERY coarse sandpaper (P36) but it's not cutting through the crap, more buffing it. The only way I can get it to cut through the crap is to tilt the sander onto one corner.

What am I doing wrong? Not enough pressure? am guiding the saqnder with light pressure, not heaving on it. Too much pressure? Have tried heaving on it but with little success Not changing the sandpaper frequently enough? Am using the paper till it wears out at the edges, should I be changing it when it loses its bite? Will a Random Orbital Sander make all the difference? Can I get away with just an Orbital if there are still no Random Orbitals in stock tomorrow?

and most important - Banks's or Jennings?

Just get the RO Sander tomorrow mate. Honestly, It'll remove a lot more material than the B&D one you have. You need one which has a round spinning head as well for proper material removal.

Don't say I didn't tell you.

Price has gone up to £250 now. 🙂

You did, and I listened to your expert advice and went to get one, but they had none left at the hire place. Tomorrow, I'll get one. if they have one in stock. If not, might have to look at buying one - £16 per day I think at the hire place, or £35 to buy one from B&Q

And how often [i]should[/i] I change the sanding sheets - when they fall apart, or when they lose their bite?

Don't under any circumstances invite burlesque dancers around to celebrate your sanding achievement........ You'll have to sand again to get ride of the millions of pin heel holes the dancers will leave behind

HSS will have one, no? Or isn't there one near? The one for £35 is a green bosch one? Tbh, it's ok for the odd job, but for actual material removal, you'll need the Makita or DeWalt or Blue Bosch one they give you. The metabo one I use is around £175 to buy, but in fairness, it gets used all the time. You'll notice the difference so my advice would be to hire one.

Edit: change the discs when they stop removing material. NOT when they fall apart.