Floor Sanding

[SuckingDieselFella]

Has anybody done this recently? How much dust was there? We have Victorian floorboards that would look lovely sanded but I'm frightened of the mess!

"We" did it recently. Hired the a sander from a bloke who had a sander that collects all the dust. He let us hire it while he wasn't booked to use it. No dust but you do need lots of sandpaper.

I got it done professionally and there was very little dust.
The Victorian floorboards do look lovely so it's worth it.

Great news that there isn't much dust. I did it years ago in another property and I had an allergic reaction to the dust. I guess they use better machines now, though. Goodbye carpets!

We got it done professionally and they had something attached to the sander to catch most of the dust. Was totally fine and done in 3 days :)

We’ve done this 3 times in 2 different houses, first time we hired sanders and did ourselves and said never again, 2nd time we’d moved & we had someone do it, 3rd time was redoing 2nd times effort albeit a few years later, much better job doing ourselves but maybe I’m a perfectionist! It’s a pig of a job but worth it when done well!

All sounds good. Can anybody remember what they paid?

I had ours done 2 weeks ago.....very little dust but really disappointed that the finished look is a bit orangey , even though it's just got a colourless sealant on it

I've just done mine.. the sander does have an attachment so catches a lot of dust but it is still fairly dusty. It is very hard work however! (I used a hand plane sander) then put 3 coats of oak stain on.. really pleased with it. This room took a day to do.

It a quite cheap. £35 for weekend or so, but you might need an edge saver too as the big ones can't get into all the corners.

We hired one
It was ok
Well actually it went through loads of pads and it did break but my partner managed to fix it at the time (with black tape)
It did leave some strange marks and the colour is abit too orangy/yellow like a pp said
But we are doing another room soon so will hopefully be better at the technique and also going to use a stain afterwards (if they come up yellowy again)

I would say do a room that's not so important to practice haha

Oh and dust was fine
My partner has bad asthma but he was ok with a mask
X

This household is a DIY free zone! The plan was to pay somebody if it isn't too expensive.

We've just paid a company £3000 to sand the entire downstairs, two large sitting rooms, bedroom, kitchen and hallway. The first sitting room looks fabulous. Went out yesterday and the two different sanding guys have utterly destroyed our front sitting room and bedroom by over sanding so all you can see is a mass of knotty pine. I am so angry I can't speak. DH has rang them to come back but it was DH who paid him when I was out, somewhat implying he was happy with it I feel.

About three years ago I had quotes for around £500 per room ( small rooms 12x14). I decided to do it myself and, wi5 some help with the big machine did three rooms and a hallway in a weekend. It was the most horrendous job I've ever done, dust every where for weeks afterwards and utterly exhausting. I then used a liquid wax and did three coats. It looks as good as neighbours who had a company do theirs and I prefer my wax finish.

I think we paid £70 to hire the machine - did 2 rooms. Paper etc we bought ourselves.

I think I paid between £700 and £800 a few years ago for a large room (20x17ft) for sanding, staining and varnishing.

Where there had originally been a carpet was fine but the surround had been painted, I don't know what with, and took a lot of time and effort to shift.

Hi Denman - your floor looks fantastic. I did my son's bedroom a year ago and vowed afterwards "never again", but like childbirth, I'm thinking of doing it all over again in some downstairs rooms. I'd love to know what stain you used, and is that wax or varnish on top?

@DENMAN03 yours look amazing! I hired a company to do mine, it was about £500 per room for sanding, fixing wobbly boards, varnishing and drilling out two former fireplaces that had been filled with concrete.

Thank you, I used an antique pine varnish.. Ronseal. It did need three coats. It was hard work but I spent under £75 and that included the sander!

Very definitely recommend getting the professionals in. Cost me about £35 per sq m for sanding / filling of any large cracks / stain / varnish but whole ground floor was done in two days and practically dust free. They suggested decorating the room first, apart from the top coat on the skirting board which might get scuffed or marked by the machine. I couldn't quite believe this, but they were right.

If you can afford it then get the professionals in, but it really is a lot cheaper to do it yourself. We did the downstairs (two rooms and hallway) and 2 bedrooms in about 5 very long days.

My husband managed to overfill the bag - don't do this. I've never seen a dust explosion like it!

We were really unlucky and were given a faulty sander to start with, eventually the company replaced it and it then worked. Not sure I'd do it again though.