Floor sanding question

Hi,

I have just had a professional floor sander in to sand the floors in two rooms and a hallway. The boards run continuously through these areas and they have been laid in such a way that in the hallway they run across the width of the hall. What the chap has done in the hallway is to sand along the grain of the wood where he could, doorways permitting, and across the grain where there wasn't enough room to run the sander. He did warn me he'd have to do this but I didn't realise I'd end up with some scratching where the sanding was done across the grain.

My question is: is there anything that could have been done to avoid this? Maybe he could have done the whole hall with the edger but would this have given a different finish thus looking odd given the fact that the boards run continuously through the house? I suppose it would have taken a long time as well.

It's too bad at all and is only really noticeable in one small spot when the hall light is switched on. No-one else has noticed it yet - I am too fussy! I doubt I'll complain to him as the rest of the job is excellent but I'd just like to know if anything else could have been done.

Cheers, Grant

Reply to
Grant Fitzgerald
Loading thread data ...

IMO, heavy duty floor sanders can only be justified when near perfection is required. Even then, it's rarely achieved, as you've already noticed. Sometimes when near perfection is achieved the floor owner can be disappointed because it gives the floor an artificial appearance.

I've found that in none-extreme circumstances a good, soapy scrub followed by a light sanding is sufficient to provide a base for wax, oil or varnish that's easy to achieve and inexpensive in terms of the machinery required. Best of all it usually produces a floor with a pleasing visual character. Sometimes where the "Do It" part of D-I-Y is concerned, not to can be more effective. B&Q wouldn't agree I'm sure. :)

-- Regards, Mike Halmarack

Drop the EGG to email me.

Reply to
Mike Halmarack

Hi Grant

He could have perhaps used the edger for parts of the hall but if he was using the normal orbital sander that is normally used as an edger then you would have run an equal risk of disc marks on the floor.

Interested to hear what others say.

Regards Jaz

Reply to
jjavanda

He did tellyou, after all! It *might* have been possible to have scraped the boards, or to have carefully used a small belt sander, or even hand- sanded, but it would all have been extra work/money. You could buy a new lamp-shade for your hall.

Reply to
Chris Bacon

Yes, the previous owners have left me with an attractive fluorescent strip light on the hall wall, hung at quite a jaunty angle. New lighting will be installed shortly!

Cheers, Grant

Reply to
Grant Fitzgerald

Go across the boards all the way down the hall, wet them before the extra sandings, then take extra care with the fine grits. A careful job done across the grain is quite acceptable, and consistency of doing this all the way across looks better than a half-and-half.

A lot depends on the quality of the timber. Pre-1900 harder pines will take this quite well, 1930s won't.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Nope, no other/better solution. The edge sander would indeed have give a very different look (and perhaps even more marks - circles). Did he sand the floor once, twice or three times and with differen grits (40 - 80 - 100 or 120 or 140)

-- WoodYouLike

Reply to
WoodYouLike

He could run over it with a random orbital sander with 120 grit discs. By definition it doesn't sand along the grain yet I have achieved a visually scratchless appearance using one. The only problems I had was where I used a plain orbital detail sander in the corners, and in a few places when I stained the boards I saw the dreaded whirlygig patterns, caused when a bit of dirt gets trapped under the sander plate. I simply cleaned the area around these scratches and used the detail sander again to carefully erase the scratches. An indispensible bit of equipment when using these sorts of hand held sanders is knee protectors btw!

Andy.

Reply to
andrewpreece

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.