Sanding wood floor - DIY or pay?

I'm gonna be ripping up the carpet in my hallway this weekend. Been sharpening my crowbar all week.

Is it necessary to rent a big drum sander or can I get away with just using a handheld orbital sander?

I'm not looking for perfection, just need to get it in good enough nick to live with until we do it properly.

The boards look good but just have some old paint crusts in some spots.

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I’m defo no expert but I did this once and bought a cheap belt sander (they are cheap). Can’t imagine an orbital one will do the job.

Trying to plan out the exact same process. Watches with interest.

You'll be there all week with an orbital. Hire every time, I have sanded a room the size of a ballroom in a day. Pro tip: never let it stand still for a millisecond at the end of each run or it'll dig a trench.

I know a bunch of people have done this in different ways in the Home and DIY threads.

If there are patches, you probably could sand them back with an RO, but then, it will be glaringly obvious you have done this. I'd be inclined to either leave it as is if it's passable, or hire a floor sander and buckle up and do it properly.

Hire a big sander, take pictures of yourself looking macho

I sanded our bathroom floor with an angle grinder with a sand plate. Took forever and made so so so much mess.

Looks like orbital is out the window then. Agree may as well do the job properly with a serious sander. Hopefully they're OK as they are for a bit. Have only lifted a couple of patches, so will see what lurks beneath on Saturday...

Ignore the floor, spend the money on a nice rug instead.

if you do it yourself, be prepared for dust, a lot of dust. It gets everywhere, unless you manage to hire/buy some of the really high end machines. The usual machines catch a fair bit of it but plenty of it gets away and it squeezes through all your doorframes etc.

if you do it yourself, be prepared for dust, a lot of dust. It gets everywhere

+1

Make sure that all the nails in the floor are below the surface, if you don't want to keep having to replace sanding belts.

Plastic sheet taped over all doorways/stairwells and wear all the PPEs.

Hooked Stanley knife blades are the best way to cut up carpet.

I sanded a 1x1.5m parquet entrance hall with an orbital (not RO) sander and it took me a whole afternoon with it in pretty good condition to start. There were a few discolorations and I needed sawdust for gap filling.

Rip it up, decide whether you can live with it as is, if not rent.

if you do it yourself, be prepared for dust, a lot of dust.

And it's nasty stuff.

You can mitigate the dust a bit if you get a sander with a vacuum cleaner attachment

I remember when me and Mrs Jangle bought our first house (in the dim and distant past).

We hired one of the big sanders to do the floors. One of the most miserable experiences of my life.

I rented one from Sydenham last year and all the precautionary plastic sealing proved a total waste of time. Very little dust if any.

Plus one for banging down nails, they'll screw you on the belts - could end up more than the hire of the machine, not to mention the faff

Agreed. It's easy to do if you hire one of those big sanders but dusty, noisy and frustrating. I've done it twice in a whole house. First time DIY, second I got someone in. For the price at the time it was well worth paying for - this was a while ago mind

How did this go

Realise this is a month old, but I have experience now of both methods. Two rooms done with a hired sander, one small box room with a handheld belt and an RO sander. I did the box room by hand as the hired sander is so big I just wouldn't have been able to turn it around and get enough of the floor done without going at weird angles. Still, doing it by hand was fucking miserable. It is easier if the board are unfinished.

If the boards run the length of that hallway, then the amount of time actually using the big sander, even with a few passes/different grits, would be less than an hour. You'd probably spend more time changing belts than actually sanding. The time consuming/miserable part is the edges. There's no avoiding getting on your knees and swearing for that. You can rent an edging sander, which is a big circular pad beast. Using that has a definite learning curve. They are fucking powerful compared to using an RO. And as they just spin, it WILL want to fuck off from you sharpish if you are not prepared for it. Just as with the big drum sander, it HAS to keep moving, or it will gouge the wood and/or leave burn marks which need more sanding to get out. But, if you get it right, it does the job very well.

For getting right into corners, you can use an RO as it will have a smaller radius than the edging sander, then you can use a scraper or a detail sander to get RIGHT into the angle.

For dust collection, most hired sanders will have paper bags that you attach to a spout with a rubber ring. This catches about 80% of the big stuff. But as has been said, the fine stuff will get EVERYWHERE. Even when I have Dextered the place up, the rest of the house would still need a going over a day or so later when it all settles. I've not tried the fancy ones with vacuum systems, but that feels like another hose/cord to manage for what is already a fairly high stress job (if you're not used to it).

Another tip, when you hire they make you buy the belts/discs and dust bags. Get more than you think. Belts can sometimes just decide they've had enough and disintegrate. You'll be grateful of spares. Or, whatever is on the boards can be particularly gummy and clog them up quickly. If you have any left over, see if the hire place will do sale or return. Or just keep them as spares for the next sanding task. It's beefy sandpaper. Same with the dust bags. If you end up having to take more off than expected, they'll fill/clog up quick and the dust extraction will suffer. Or, like me you'll snag them on something, rip a big hole and dump all of the dust they've collected out into the room anyway and the exhaust from the motor will turn it into a carcinogenic snow globe.

I sill have ms_com's office in the loft eaves to do. Boards there have some horrible 90's varnish on them so handheld is out of the question. But the sloping roof fills my 40 year old back with dread for maneuvering the lump of a sander.

That's another thing. Moving the big sander. While it does have carrying handles, it is essentially like carrying a 40kg upright hoover, so bear that in mind.

And NEVER start any sander up while it is on the floor. Elevate the sanding bit, get it up to speed then be prepared to being moving across the floor before it even touches down. And again, they will want to fuck off on you.

All that being said, it is DEFINITELY a DIY-able job. Just depending on confidence and appetite for risk of not ending up with a glassy finish.

ABSOLUTE MUST - good dust mask and ear plugs/defenders. Those things be loud. Even an RO sander for an extended period of time when you're crouched down next to it.

the rest of the house would still need a going over a day or so later when it all settles.

This….this is not good

No, it is not

Would be tempted to pull all the boards up and do it outside!

Especially if there was some finish on them steady. I’d imagine the dust is toxic as fuck

Might be too late but I did 3 floors in our house with one of these

Powerful enough to get stuff done, easy enough to use to not fuck stuff up. A belt sander is scary if you compare them.

Finally committed to doing the bedroom and hallway with a belt and edge sander last weekend. Absolutely beastly thing the belt sander. Was going to give up after sparks were flying around the room from the nails that were still only just protruding out. 6 hours later and the job was done. Never again. And fuck me it's evil on the back.

On the dust - I went to Sydenham Floor Sanders rather than HSS Hire, as they were much nicer and their machines more professional. The vacuum was so powerful there was absolutely minimal dust I was gobsmacked. The dustiest bit is emptying the dust into a bin bag when it gets too full.

So anyone looking to do this themselves, highly recommend Sydenham Floor Sanders.

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