Best Way to Sand Floor

A finished polished floor really does look the bee’s knees, but getting to that stage is not always as simple as it seems! I will endeavour to explain how, and give you a few tips on what to do and what not to do! But I must tell you about my first experience with sanding wooden floors.

The whole ground floor of our present house is laid in wooden block flooring, made from Douglas Fir, in a herring bone pattern with straight borders. It was covered in manky old carpets when we first looked at the house. I sneaked a peak underneath and saw the floor. Well, that swung it for me; we just had to buy the house.

A friend of my father’s, a local school caretaker named Vince, told me he used to sand and seal the floors for the school on a regular basis, so I enlisted him for the job. I cleared the ground floor of furniture completely and hired a drum floor sander. Vince started sanding and I went off to buy the lacquer. I was only gone for an hour, but when I returned, I couldn’t find Vince for the dust. I followed the sound of the sander and found him! He was completely covered in dust. I asked why he hadn’t emptied the dust bag on the machine to avoid all the mess. Bless him! The sweat was pumping out of him and he said, ‘I couldn’t turn the damned thing off!’ When the dust had settled a bit, I was able to inspect what he’d done. I ate the head off him! He had started sanding with a coarse paper, and because he couldn’t stop, he had cut into the block floor over half an inch deep! Vince said, ‘It was like using a lawn mower!’. I replied, ‘With the tramlines you’ve cut into it, it looks just like Wembley!’

Vince, bless him, decided that he would stain the wood down a bit to match the panelling, before he lacquered the floor. Golden Oak was the color he chose without consulting us. When I returned, it looked like the black hole of Calcutta and I had to sand the whole floor down again myself!

Needless to say, Vince was last seen running towards the Emerald Isle being chased by an angry housewife wielding a large kitchen knife!

After the initial shock, my wife and I were able to see the funny side and every time we look at the floor in that room we have a good laugh.

Wooden flooring has steadily increased in popularity – both solid and laminate-type floors. Normal laminate floors cannot be sanded down, because the surface is only a few millimeters thick of formica, and below that is the sub-strata of MDF or chipboard. Sanding and lacquering the old original floorboards is particularly popular. It’s noisy, dusty, messy and hard work, but it can be very rewarding.

The first job is to inspect the condition of the floorboards. Tap down the floorboard fixing nails with a suitable nail punch and remove any other nails or screws. All this will help to avoid tearing the sanding belts.

If woodworm has attacked the floor, lift the boards carefully, treat the joists and the back and front of the contaminated boards, and then re-fix. To sand and lacquer over the woodworm gives the floor ‘character1. If the woodworm is too severe or a board is damaged, cut it down in length or scarf in a repair using wood glue and pins or a clamp. Any repairs or replacements should be done using the same boards! Replacements can be taken from elsewhere in the house or from a reclamation yard. New boards just will not match (and look terrible into the bargain!).

Lay the floor drum sander on its back (unplugged); undo the retaining bar and fix the sanding belt; screw it down tightly to avoid the belt coming loose. There are three grades of sandpaper – coarse, medium and fine. Unless the boards are very rough, you may only need the medium and fine.

If the boards have cupped (curled), this can be tackled by running the belt sander across the room at 45°and again at 45° from the other angle. When the floor is perfectly flat, use a fine belt and sand along the board length and grain.

Hire an edging sander to sand the edges where the drum sander is unable to reach. The pads are fitted to the machine by a central bolt on the underside. Avoid overrunning this machine on the floor, otherwise you may make swirl scratches. Use the hook scraper for difficult tight areas or corners.

Dust the area thoroughly. Now wipe the floor over with a cloth and white spirit, ready for the lacquer. You will need at least two coats of lacquer, but for a better finish apply more coats. Always apply lacquer with the grain of the wood – never across it.