Sanding an engineered wood floor

[campanella_45]

Hi all,

I have an engineered oak floor (3.6mm wood layer I think) which has been down for 6 years and is now scratched all over, fairly badly in places.

I've sanded proper old oak floorboards before and have got on well with the drum sander but I'm not sure about using one of those on this thin layer of wood. I found something on a hire website described as a 're-finish sander, ideal for thin veneered overlays' which sounds perfect but I just wondered if anyone had experience with these? (it's an orbital sander, weights 43kg and looks quite hefty).

Does anyone have any recommendations for sanding engineered wood floors? My brother-in-law is a carpenter and his only advice was 'don't' :)

Many thanks, Marc

[dom]

Sounds like you're describing the HSS refinish sander. I hired one last week to finish a new pine t&g floor prior to varnishing. It was ok. Nowhere near as fierce as the drum floor sanders, but wasn't the ideal tool for my needs. I expected a really big version of my Metabo orbital sander (a brilliant tool), but it wasn't. More like a big, heavy and clumsy version of a half sheet sander. Still, it helped remove or blend minor height discrepancies - but I wouldn't hire it again. If I was only doing 1 average sized room, I'd use my Metabo. Can't tell you what results you'll get on engineered wood. PS If you do hire one, buy a roll of hook and loop paper from Screwfix and cut out the cost of the hire shop's cut sheets.

[meow2222]

you dont have enough wood there to sand out heavy scratches and still leave a decent layer. So as already said, don't. If you do, you'll need to be as minimal about the sanding as possible. One misjudgement and its ruined. and the end result would only have a very thin wood layer left, so I dont know if it would be durable enough for normal use.Since no-one sells 1mm veneer flooring, I would expect it wouldnt be. You bought cheap stuff, and this is why people buy better.

NT

[adder1969]

Some of kahrs stuff has only a 0.5mm veneer. You'd have to go pretty wrong to sand through 3.6 mm in a single stroke.