Refinishing wood floors with floor sanders - who has done this?

[fiddlercricket]

We have roughly 300 square feet of wood floor, divided among three rooms.

Looking online, a drum sander appears to be the easier way(tm) to do this, but the floor in the kitchen is less than 6' wide, with the floor running crosswise.  There's no way of sanding that room with a drum sander and following the grain.  The only way we can figure doing that floor is with a random orbital sander.

Since we are doing that room with an orbital sander, should I do the living room and bedroom as well with the same equipment?

With two people, and the furniture moved out, what sort of time period are we looking at for equipment rental?  Two days?  More?  Less?  The square footage is pretty low, but we'll have about 1,000 feet of edging to do.

[Greg]

Drum sanders are pretty old-school, I used one once on a deck and it was very difficult to keep it from making gouges.  I would instead recommend a 4-disc random orbit floor sander with vacuum bag, they're really nice to use.  Use at least a couple of grits, one fairly rough to get the old finish and grooves out, and something like 180-220 for a final sanding.  Depending on your finish, you may want to use it between coats.

For the edges, pull the baseboard or base shoe, sand as far as you can to the edge (the 4-disc sander is good at this) and replace the trim or shoe, or, install new shoe next to base that you leave in place.  This way the only place you need to hand sand is the inside corners.

[Daleth]

We have roughly 300 square feet of wood floor, divided among three rooms.

Looking online, a drum sander appears to be the easier way(tm) to do this, but the floor in the kitchen is less than 6' wide, with the floor running crosswise.  There's no way of sanding that room with a drum sander and following the grain.  The only way we can figure doing that floor is with a random orbital sander.

Since we are doing that room with an orbital sander, should I do the living room and bedroom as well with the same equipment?

With two people, and the furniture moved out, what sort of time period are we looking at for equipment rental?  Two days?  More?  Less?  The square footage is pretty low, but we'll have about 1,000 feet of edging to do.

What kind of finish are you going to put on the floor? Stain and poly, or just poly? Water-based poly, or oil (I vote for water-based--very durable but much easier and less toxic, i.e. you don't need as much safety equipment and it stops stinking after a week or so rather than needing months)? How many coats? If one or more of the rooms is high-traffic you'll want three coats of poly, and in any case you'll need at least two because under-doing the poly just sets you up to need to refinish again sooner. You can't estimate how long this will take without knowing your finish plans, because each finish and each coat has drying time you have to factor in (plus possible sanding time between coats).

[fiddlercricket]

What kind of finish are you going to put on the floor? Stain and poly, or just poly? Water-based poly, or oil (I vote for water-based--very durable but much easier and less toxic, i.e. you don't need as much safety equipment and it stops stinking after a week or so rather than needing months)? How many coats? If one or more of the rooms is high-traffic you'll want three coats of poly, and in any case you'll need at least two because under-doing the poly just sets you up to need to refinish again sooner. You can't estimate how long this will take without knowing your finish plans, because each finish and each coat has drying time you have to factor in (plus possible sanding time between coats).

Just poly.  Probably three coats, because poly is cheap compared to redoing the floors.  ;)

What we're trying to do is figure out the budget for this project, and the big unknown is how long it'll take if one of us uses an orbital sander and the other one edges.  The rental costs for the edger and sander looks to be nearly $100/day.

Obviously we'll do all the prep work before renting the equipment, but we're wondering if it'll be possible to sand everything in a long day.

[Primm]

We have a house about the size of yours. We paid $2,000 for a complete refinish by a professional floor sanding company. We move the furniture out, 2 days later they're done. Rough sand, fine sand, 2 coats of 2 pack.

We have hoop pine floors, and I was scared of stuffing it up irreparably. The cost to us to hire the equipment (for way longer than he took) and buy all the stuff was not very much less than the amount we gave to the floor sanding guy. And the reduction in hassle factor was priceless.

I'd get some quotes and compare what you can do it for with what they charge, then ask yourself if it's really worth it.

Obviously we'll do all the prep work before renting the equipment, but we're wondering if it'll be possible to sand everything in a long day.

If you've never done it before, and using only an orbital sander? I doubt it.

[usmarine1975]

I have sanded floors that were rough. In our current home we have 1/4 inch oak with inlays. We paid someone to sand two rooms it was around $1600.  He used around 6 different sanders and used three coats of finish. It took him just over a week.  Wouldn't have wanted to try it myself.

[jordand1986]

I refinished about 600 sq feet of oak flooring in my house earlier this year. If your floors are in rough shape (dings, gouges, deep scratches) or the existing finish is especially tough, the drum sander is the way to go. That is what I used, as long as you focus and remember to never stop moving while the drum is in contact with the floor you'll do fine. I relied heavily on the recommendations and instructions from this great website:

http://www.peteshardwoodfloors.com/Wood-Floor-Techniques-101/sanding-your-floors.html

[deborah]

I did some floors, and had someone do others. The drum sander did a very good job, and the floors were smooth when I finished. However, painting the floors was a hassle, especially with the curing time needed for the stuff I got, working out how move around in a house with wet sticky floors, and sleeping with the pong of the stuff drying. It was much easier moving out for a couple of days and getting the professionals to do it. Especially if you are doing the kitchen!

[DecD]

We refinished about 900 sqft of oak floors.  We used a random orbital sander, it worked very well. 

My tip:be very very sure that no water or dampness touches the floors between sanding and poly.  We had a shoe print on the floors from a damp foot stepping on the floor after sanding but before poly! 

[Spork]

I did some floors, and had someone do others. The drum sander did a very good job, and the floors were smooth when I finished. However, painting the floors was a hassle, especially with the curing time needed for the stuff I got, working out how move around in a house with wet sticky floors, and sleeping with the pong of the stuff drying. It was much easier moving out for a couple of days and getting the professionals to do it. Especially if you are doing the kitchen!

If you're not dead set on the smooth, glassy, shiny look of a polyurethane floor, you might consider Rubio Monocoat.  It is one coat for color and protection.  It is DIY friendly.  It is 0 VOC.  AND... you can feather in repairs that don't show.   It dries to the touch in a few hours and is totally set in 3 days.  It is a much more flat (non-shiny) finish ... if that bothers you.  And you can actually see the wood texture.

Full disclosure: I've mocked up several samples (working out the right color)... but have not actually done my whole floor.  So I'm somewhat speaking out of my derrière.  But reviews (including Pete's Hardwoods) seem really positive. 

[Mr. Frugalwoods]

What kind of sander you need depends on how much sanding needs to be done :-)

I've used a drum sander on some floor that was in terrible condition.  Big gouges, huge stains, probably 40 years of ground in dirt.  Damn drum sander ate that stuff like it was maple brown sugar oatmeal.  It's terrifying how quickly you can remove material, but sometimes that's what you need.

The random orbit sanders are great for floors with less material to remove.  If you need to hog out wood though, they are going to take forever and cost a fortune in pads.  Drum paper is much cheaper.

[Silverwood]

So I'm not a professional and I'm sure if one came in they'd see obvious errors. To myself and my mom and grandma my floors look great. Any  messes clean up easily now and don't stain the floor.

I used a small random orbital sander. The floors in this house are maple and so harder to sand and stain. I've done both bedrooms and will be doing the hallway and living room next. The first bedroom I finished with oil based as that's supposed to be better for floors. It was smelly and I didn't like that you couldn't just wash it off. The second bedroom I switched back to water based and while slightly different is much easier to use.

Doing this myself takes me a long time but I live by myself and am only doing it in the evenings and weekends. I can live with the imperfections and I'm saving a ton of money.  I've had to re sand a few spots where I had water drops. This was also my first time staining and didn't let it dry enough before using the oil poly so had to re sand.  I made sure to sand from 60 thru 220 and clean everything really well. I also used a wood conditioner but you won't have to if you're not staining. Just make sure the poly won't yellow if your floors are light. 

[nawhite]

I did about 300 sq feet about a year ago. Used a random orbital because we had parquet floors (which are stupid difficult to refinish and look good). My advice:

1) http://www.peteshardwoodfloors.com/ best information source on the internet for this task.
2) For that small area a random orbital is the only one that will work but, take whatever grit anyone recommends and go one step coarser. The recommendations are based on using a drum sander which works much faster than an orbital. I wish I had started with 16 grit. 24 would be the finest I would ever think of starting with again for a random orbital.
3) I used Waterlox as my finish and will recommend it to everyone. Pros: looks WAY nicer than poly. My floors done by myself have a nicer finish than any poly floors I've every seen. Can be spot treated unlike poly (with poly, you need to completely refinish everything if you get a scratch). This makes it easier when you have some high traffic areas and other low traffic areas or a dog. Cons: takes 24 hours per coat to dry and you need at least 3 coats.

[fxsts12]

The most time is waiting for poly to dry. Cut the first by 50% and the second by 20%. The third coat can be straight poly or cut 10%. This lets the poly penetrate and dry. You need to wait 12 to 24 hours between coats. Light sand and tack cloth the dust. Use the shiny poly since that is the only thing people notice, how shiny the floor is.

[Greystache]

I have done literally acres of wood floors. I used to work on a crew that refinished gym floors.  Hated that job. Anyway, to answer your question, you should go with the orbital sander for as small 300 sq. ft job in a confined space.  The drum sander is faster, but it is difficult to handle in a tight space if you are not experienced. You should be able to knock out the sanding in a day or two if you have one person sanding and another edging. Give yourself plenty of time for the edging. It is a back braking, tedious job.  Also, if you have inside corners that are not covered by shoe molding, you will need a scraper.  For finishing, I think you will find water based poly easier to work with. It sets up faster than oil based, but for such a small area, you should not have any trouble keeping a wet edge. Good luck.

[EJL]

Once, while I was in grad school (and avoiding all school work), I refinished a wood floor using a sanding block and then an orbital hand sander. In a rented apartment...without telling the landlord.

It turned out beautifully and the landlord was very taken aback when he saw it (but happy).

Can't really recommend this method though: 20 years later, I think I can still feel the vibrations from that little sander.

[fiddlercricket]

I did about 300 sq feet about a year ago. Used a random orbital because we had parquet floors (which are stupid difficult to refinish and look good). My advice:

1) http://www.peteshardwoodfloors.com/ best information source on the internet for this task.

It's funny that you mention them, since that's where we are going to rent from.  They also sell salvaged hardwood flooring, which being local, should be a match for the few pieces that we need to replace.

[Seeking the Brass Ring]

I've done about 1000 sq feet of floor between my rental and my own house.  The easiest floor finish I've found is shellac.  It's non toxic (they coat candy with the stuff), pretty cheap, and you can flood on coats really fast.  The key is to use a really thin coat for the first couple.  It's easy to repair and leaves a really nice finish.  Don't use it on stairs though cause it's really slick, especially on wool socks.

[TrulyStashin]

I did 1,500 sq. feet of wood floor about a month ago.  Chronicled here:  http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/what-i-did-this-past-weekend-refinished-my-wood-floors!/msg362332/#msg362332

I saved $1,500 and the floors look absolutely amazing.  I used an orbital sander and would not even consider using a drum sander.  But I'm repeating myself... the link above has the details.

[fiddlercricket]

I did 1,500 sq. feet of wood floor about a month ago.  Chronicled here:  http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/what-i-did-this-past-weekend-refinished-my-wood-floors!/msg362332/#msg362332

I saved $1,500 and the floors look absolutely amazing.  I used an orbital sander and would not even consider using a drum sander.  But I'm repeating myself... the link above has the details.

Thanks for the link.  We're using a drum sander, but these are old hardwood floors - they are tough.

I think I could have sanded through a pine 2x4 by now - and we haven't even leveled out all the minor variations that we didn't know existed before we started sanding.

[fiddlercricket]

The floors look great.  We moved everything back a little over a week ago and everything has been holding up well.

[Primm]

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