Sanding a floor, Any advice?

[Skyliner001]

Hello all,

We are intending to start sanding one of the floors in our house very soon, we are a bit anxious about undertaking this, as it's the first time we've done it. Does anybody have any advice about it? Or how long it takes? We are planning to tackle it over the full weekend, it's a fairly large room.

Keep the doors shut while you're doing it and it's a good idea to have a change of clothes/shoes at the door to swap into so you don't traipse the dust all over the house. There will be a lot of dust regardless, but these helped DH a little bit

We had someone in to do two floors for us. It took him 2 days as you need to go over the floor twice then either wax, varnish or oil it. We went for osmo oil. It's not as hard wearing as varnish but maintenance wise it's easier to sand out marks then re oil the patch than do the whole thing again which you would need to do with varnish.
The chap had a huge industrial sander. I think you can hire them.

We had ours done professionally. They sand it seven times, with varying degrees of sanding till it’s smooth, and in different directions, then varnish it with four thin coats. I’d strongly recommend getting someone in.

Thank you so so much for all this advice. Massively appreciated!

@Skyliner001 my best advice is pay someone else to do it. We do a lot of DIY ourselves and it's definitely the worst job we've done. We've done it three times and every time I say never again!

If you do want to do it yourself then:

• Spend time preparing first. Knock down any nails / screws as they shred the sandpaper. Screw down lose boards.
• Hire an upright sander for the main floor plus circular sander for the edges. You'll also need a small hand sander for the corners.
• Buy 3 grades of sandpaper for each sander. Start with the roughest, then medium, then fine to get the best finish. Buy double the amount you think you'll need. Most hire places will buy back any you don't use.
• Keep the sander moving, if you keep it in one place or press too hard you can scorch the wood.
• The sanders pull away from you so you need strength to keep them controlled. Don't do it if you have a bad back.
• Remove everything from the room, seal the door and open all windows. Wear overalls (don't wear anything that has to be taken off over your face) and cover your hair.
• Have the best face mask you can find. My dad helped me the last time (DH refused to do it again!) and ended up with a chest infection after all the crap he'd breathed in!
• Keep back some of the dust. If you have large gaps between the floor boards you can fill them with twine then mix up a paste of sawdust and water to keep in place.
• As a pp said, keep a bag of clothes near the door to get changed in. Even better, climb out the window if you can!
• Did I say, pay someone else!