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The mess/dust can be fairly easily contained to the room you're working on. Open the windows and stuff towels round the door etc. So I reckon you could do it a room at a time if you wanted to. I would do the hallway last if it were me as that will obviously see most traffic and can't easily be blocked off for sanding/finishing. Rent the machine for two days with the idea of doing one room. You might get it done in day, but at least you'll have the option of taking it slower and working out how best to use the machine. Then when you do the others, you'll have the experience to just get it for one day to do one room, or a weekend to do two.
Those boards look fine to me. The stain is already scratching off, so the 40 grit belt you start with will rip it off no problem. Be sure to go around knocking any nail heads down below the level that will be sanded to. The belts will chew through them no problem, but the sparks + wood dust are a bit terrifying when it happens and you are essentially creating sharpened metal blades if you just sand through them.
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Nothing wrong with doing it yourself to see what it's like, that's also what we did and now getting Zen to do the other rooms.
Floorboards look fine and in much better state than ours were. I'd say don't underestimate the amount of time it take to punch all of the nails in far enough and to put in the slivers if needed to close bigger gaps etc ...
Regarding dust, I was super impressed by how little dust the machines actually generated when we did it. So much so that for the next rooms I'm happy to paint the walls before doing the sanding.
Finally, don't underestimate how much the primer and lacquers cost if you go for the good stuff like Bona etc
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On the dust: You just need to be fastidious about sealing spaces. Use plastic dust sheets in pairs to create airlock type systems. If you've got >1 floor put dust sheet doors at the top and bottom of the stairs.
On the time line: You've pretty much nailed it. Remember to factor in time to hoover and wipe the floors. We sanded ours in the day, varnished at night, then varnished another coat in the morning and went out for the day.
I'd definitely have a go your self. It's not like you're making garage doors.
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It looks to me as if our floorboards have had some rather hideous orangey stain/treatment at some point. Presumably this will sand off?
It will. It looks like its failing so it should come off fairly easily, but there is a risk that it will gum up the sanding paper. If so you can strip it with paint stripper and a scraper. Horrible job though.
The floorboards look a bit ropey to me compared to some of the examples I can find but I assume it's still reasonable wood, can anyone see any reason not to sand them back?
Plan to re-fill the gaps when you finish them.
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stevo_com
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@owl
Sanding wooden floors. I know a number of people have done this recently with enviable results, so I was hoping to tap into that knowledge. I have a couple of questions - pics of my floor below.
Cheers!
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