How long to sand a room with an edging sander

[Flatwhitetostayin]

I need to sand a room that's about 3m x 3.5m. We can't use one of those big floor sanders, just one of the edging sanders (long story!) how long do you think it would take?

Are we talking something like a black and decker mouse or are you hiring a professional edging sander?

Also what are you sanding off varnish of just a clean up and refresh sanding?

what you're trying to take off will make a big difference. I did approx 3m x 1.2m of new wood to remove stain and bring to a smooth finish using a B&D edging sander. It took about 12 hours? ish and the vibration was really hard on my wrists. I wouldn't even think about using a edging sander to do it again, it was far harder and slower than I expected.

Days, and the dust will be horrendous

I did it a few years ago. Took about 3 days if I recall correctly. I would only do it again if I absolutely could not afford to do it any other way (which was my situation at the time).

Rather than an edging sander, could you hire or buy a belt sander? (I'd probably buy, as hiring for more than a day will be more expensive than a "basic but good enough" model).

Hiya! Thanks for your replies. It would be a professional edging sander - the type you hire with the big floor belt sanders. It says you can use them as a floor sander in confined spaces. I don't think the floorboards are in that bad a state tbh. We can't use a proper big floor sander as the joists are a bit dodgy. We have got a builder booked in for 10 months time to sort all the joists but I'm desperate to sand the floor. We have a shitty old carpet down with a big rug over it, but tbh it's really getting me down as it feels so grubby. I just want to know if it's realistic to do a 3x3 room with it!

The floorboards are untreated and unvarnished. They have been under some kind of floor covering for the past 120 years.

Not completely unnrealistic, especially as your floorboards are unvarnished/untreated... but it'll probably take you a couple of days with an edging sander (vs less than one day with a hand held belt sander, for example) if you want a good finish.

Do also bear in mind that it's not just "sanding time". The preparation and clean up will be a faff. You'll need to wear a decent dust mask and goggles for the duration (unpleasant and sweaty). Seal/unseal the door cracks (with masking tape plus sheeting if necessary) unless you want dust over the adjacent area (it goes further than you think) hoover and shower every time you've finished a session. Etc, etc... I wouldn't fancy doing that for any longer than I had to!

I speak as someone with an old house and experience sanding floorboards... I hope I never have to do it again! 🤣

Lol, yes. It's a horrible job tbh. We did it 20 years ago with our first house. Absolutely not lookig forward to it!

2-3 days.