Floor Installation

Be sure to check out how to use a belt or drum floor sander so you don’t make common mistakes when using a floor sanding machine. Using the edger with the initial grit sandpaper

Pics Review What Grit Sandpaper For Refinishing Wood

Out of these three, sanding requires the most patience and dedication.

Sanding hardwood floors grit. You need to clean this before you can finish the. So it is only right that i do an article about sanding wood floors with hand sanders. Sanding levels the edges of the floorboards, which can vary from one another by as much as 1/4 inch.

It takes out the scratches that the initial grit sandpaper makes. Papers will go in sequence starting at 36 or 40, then to 60 grit, 80 grit, 100 grit, and 120 grit. These are some basic steps involved:

We opted to rent the sander for a week, which costs $256. Each pass also requires a step to a finer sandpaper. Keep in mind also that sandpaper your typical belt/angle/orbital sander doesn’t get much coarser than 40 grit.

Before you start sanding, remove everything from the room and vacuum the floor. Use the edger (using the same grit you just used on the drum) to sand all the areas that the drum couldn’t reach. You want to start with a more abrasive grit and then use successively finer grits.

This will buff the floor to remove small sanding marks and give a smooth finish. First, let me explain a little about different grits of sandpaper, then the different types of machines that are used and finish with a sanding scenario. Then, sand the entire area at the same angle, moving constantly as you work.

Once the second round of sanding is complete, move onto the finest grit of sandpaper, and then sand the floor a third time. Prefinished hardwood has baked in polyurethane that is incredibly hard to damage. On older floors, the first step when sanding is to choose an aggressive grit (like 24 grit per square inch) to level the boards one to another and remove imperfections if possible.

And 40 grit is just too gentle a starting point for many abused floors. Use the drum sander to sand all the part it can reach on your floor with the initial sandpaper grit you determined to use for sanding hardwood floors. Sand paper for sanding hardwood floors comes in different grits:

If your floorboards are really uneven or painted in a thick coat of paint, you will probably be best starting to sand your floors with 16 grit paper. 12, 16, 20, 24 are called “open coat”. To sand hardwood floors, start by renting a drum sander and installing a coarse grit sandpaper onto the sander, which will remove any noticeable damage or old finish from your floors.

We rented a drum floor sander from home depot, who btw confirmed it was the right tool for the job thanks home depot! The 13 steps to sanding your floors: If your floorboards are ‘just’ dirty or have a thin coat of paint on them, starting to sand with 24 grit sandpaper should be sufficient.

Along with the sander we also got a variety of sand paper in 120, 100, 80, and 60 grit. It's important to know that you'll need to make about four passes with the sander and edger in order to ensure that your hardwood floor is perfectly sanded. Sanding hardwood floors versus soft wood hardwood floors.

And it is dead wrong! Don’t be afraid to use new belts, and more than one. We routinely start at 24 grit on older hardwood, and we have 16 grit and 12 grit ready just for gummy, shellac floors.

These grits are used for sanding off of old wax or varnish. You can go up to 180 or 220, but before you do that, i'd think about hand sanding 2 sample pieces and putting some oil on. Situations differ, but you may not be able to refinish your hardwood floor more than 10 times.

P.s there is a video on youtube about “how to refinish a hardwood floor” and it has over 300,000 views. When you're through with this pass, your floor should look like new wood. As i have said many times before sanding hardwood floors by hand can be a lot of hard work.

You'll use 24 or 36 grit for your initial pass, then 60 grit the second time around, 80 grit on the third and finally 100 grit to finish up. If you skip more than one grit in the sanding sequence, you end up with the first cut leaving deep scratches into the wood, and the second cut having too fine of a grit to take out the first scratch. They do this because the polyurethane will wear down even a 36 grit sandpaper fast.

The first grit is meant to take off any finish, the next is to smooth out the pattern of the first grit, and the final grit is meant to smooth out any remaining sander marks and provide the finishing touches. It will use up most of your time while refinishing a hardwood floor and also can go wrong very easily. Sanding a hardwood floor is a difficult task.

Hard work that can be alleviated with the use of a floor sander. These are some basic steps involved: Once again, work back and forth, overlapping each pass.

You’ll also need a drum sander (rental), an edger (rental) and a buffer (rental). Sweep or vacuum all sanded rooms. If you can really tell the difference between a 120 and 180 then go for it.

Sand all main field areas with the drum sander on the first grit of your determined sequence. With that said, i have now spoken to way too many people that will be sanding their floors by hand no matter what. Flooring experts estimate that hardwood floors can be sanded for refinishing up to 10 times, depending on the thoroughness of the sanding and the level of wear and tear on the floor.

He recommends using a finishing machine. Sanding the floor will kick up a lot of dust, so protect light fixtures and tape over electrical outlets. When it comes to sanding a hardwood floor, grit sequence is everything.

Required tools for this how to sand hardwood floors project. I’ve spoken with hardwood professionals who say they roughly double the budget for sanding pads on these types of floors. Remove shoe moulding, the wood trim where the wall meets the floor.

The last grit to take out all the microscopic scratches this is the final grit for most american hardwood floors. You’ll need to sand the entire floor, not just one section. Have the necessary tools for this how to sand hardwood floors diy project lined up before you start—you’ll save time and frustration.

You may need to sand the floor a fourth time to achieve the best results.