Sanding wooden floor boards - how long?

[LittleMilla]

Hello,

We want to sand the original floorboards in our (newly purchased) victorian house. Sitting room is 15ft4 x 15ft 2 - or roughly 4.5 sqm.

DH has been talking to someone at work who's said it takes AGES! I was hoping we might be able to nail it this weekend.

Any ideas? Thanks

[Number44]

We did 4 rooms in a weekend. You need to tap
All the nails in first and if they've got gungy black stuff around the perimeter it's horrid to get off and will use £50 worth of sandpaper

[workshy]

room the same size took a day to sand -it's really important to bang in the nails first which is the most time consuming bit

don't underestimate how much dust it creates though, even with the extraction bag on the machine it was terrible!

[LittleMilla]

Handy, thanks Number44.

Got a handyman in tomorrow and Friday who is going to swap any new boards with old ones from a room that is carpeted, so I can ask him to make sure it's ready for sanding. He's obviously doing other stuff too!

Did you just hire a bog standard one from HSS? Looks like it's £30 for the weekend, but should we then factor in £50 on sandpaper?

[Thistledew]

You can easily do it in a weekend. DP and I have done all four rooms in our house now. Our rooms are a little smaller - only about 9ft and 10 ft square, but in terms of sanding time it took us about half a day per room.

You do have to allow quite a bit of time for taking up the floor surface you have, then making sure that every spare nail is removed, and every essential one knocked a couple of mm below the surface of the boards. This is the most time consuming part. You will also have to seal up anything where you don't want dust to get, as it will get through the smallest of gaps, and end up everywhere. You will need to wash the whole room down after leaving the dust to settle for a couple of hours- this includes all the walls and every small ledge where dust can settle.

It is a hugely dusty and tiring job though, and you will find that your arms are shaking for a day or so afterwards from using the machines! HSS do offer a good price for hiring the sanders.

[mirry2]

Are you going to seal the floorboards with varnish afterwards?

[LittleMilla]

workshy thank you.

Said handyman (see above) is also unscrewing the windows (yup, what the f*ck!?!) so we can open and ventilate the room. We're due to be moving in next Wed and so keen to get this nasty job done beofre all our stuff is in!

[Thistledew]

You will spend at least £50 on sandpaper - more if you miss a nail and the sandpaper explodes into tiny pieces as you go over it!

[LittleMilla]

Was going to ask about varnishing/waxing. What's the best thing?

Thanks all.

[Thistledew]

We have stained the floor with liquid floor stain and then used Ronseal Floor Oil. Really impressed with the results even in high traffic areas 18 months later.

[Number44]

You MUST use osmo polyx hardwax oil

It's the best

It's so natural you can eat it (if you wish) is hardwearning, gives a fab colour and finish and is dead easy to use, no odour and dries quickly

Dp not use varnish. It'll go yellow and nasty and scratch and br difficult to touch up, should you need to

[lottiegb]

Get a face mask and goggles, or you'll be breathing dust for days.

Easily in a weekend yes, we sanded and varnished three rooms and the hall in one. Long, noisy weekend but got it done.