We’ve sanded floors more than I can remember in the past few years.
Our dull, grey parquet was transformed into a rich and luscious oak floor by transforming it from a laminated flooring.
Although we were not happy with the results, there were some mistakes made in the process.
There are some things that you shouldn’t and should do, but more importantly, you can do things to make the floor sanding process much easier.
We’ve seen some floor sanding errors over and over, so we want to share our tips and tricks with you. They will not only help make your life easier, but they will also help you avoid the mistakes you made.
We made the mistakes, so you don’t need to!
1. The wrong grit sandpaper.
The biggest mistake that I see is using the wrong grit of paper.
It’s important, and you won’t be doing yourself any favours if you sand your wood with too fine a paper.
The grit of the paper you use will be determined by how your floorboards look. You can start sanding them with a finer paper if they have been sanded previously and only need a refresh. In most cases, though, you will start with a coarser paper.
You should only use 24 grit if you have never sanded your floor before. It may sound extreme, but anything more coarse will not remove enough dirt and old varnish.
It will also cost you more money and cause you to use more paper.
We started by sanding our floors with 16 grit sandpaper. Our floors were wavy, and there was a thick coat of varnish covering them.
If you use the wrong grit, your sandpaper will clog up very quickly. You’ll want to avoid clogged paper as it is useless.
You’ll spend more money because you will have to replace the paper constantly. But you’ll also take longer because you need to change it.
2. Not sanding enough.
It’s hard work, and it can be physically exhausting to sand your floor.
You’ll see an almost immediate difference when you start sanding, but the progress will be much slower once you have removed the majority of varnish and dirt.
This is mainly due to the fact that the floorboards are not completely flat, which means the drum of a floor sanding tool won’t reach all the areas of the flooring in one go.
If the floorboards have a concave shape, you will often see shadows at the edge of the boards (if they are concave) or in the middle (if they are convex).
You may think that your floors are finished. But resist the urge to stop – you won’t regret it!
The most frustrating part of Floor Sanding In West Auckland is removing the last bits. Progress will appear to be almost non-existent.
Keep sanding the surface until all marks are removed, and shadows have been completely eliminated.
Even if they are going to be painted or black, you should sand them until they appear brand new. This is what makes the difference between a floor that looks amazing and professional and one that is average and amateurish.
3. Not sanding diagonally.
In our first home, we didn’t sand our floors diagonally. But we did it in our new house, and we would definitely recommend doing so.
This will make sanding floors faster, as you’ll be able to sand all of your floorboards at once and not have any difficult-to-reach areas (like the shadows I described above).
The sanded floor in our Edwardian home was not uneven, and it wasn’t. But the difference between the newly sanded flooring in our new house really surprised me.
They feel more even and flatter. It’s hard to describe in words and impossible to photograph.
4. Sanding the edges.
It’s a pain to sand the edges of a room. You’ll be hunched over the edging tool for hours.
It’s actually a good idea that you sand slightly less on the edges than on the main surface.
We recommend that you sand the main area using 120 grit but stop at 80 for the edges. You’ll save time and still get a smooth surface.
You can sand your floor with fine grit, but you may end up with scorch marks on it. This is because the friction and heat generated by the sandpaper can cause the floor to become damaged.
5. Not changing the sandpaper often enough.
We made a big mistake when we first sanded the floor. We did not change the sandpaper enough.
We realized our mistake after a few days and began to change the paper frequently. This allowed us to sand floors faster.
You may be thinking that you would rather save money, as sheets and disks can be expensive, but once you start sanding, you will want to do it as quickly as possible!
It’s a rewarding project and easy to complete.
