How To Sand Floors Using an Edging Sander, Floor Sander or SquareBuff Finishing Sander

Our floor sanders are suitable for use on all types of wooden floors including parquet, pre-finished and laminate floors.

Wooden Floor Preparation For Sanding

Make sure you have enough time to complete the project. We estimate that for a solid hard wood floor of 6m x 6m it could take about 3 days to sand to a good condition.

Other tools you may need include

• Hammer
• Nail punch
• Masking tape
• Carpenters pencil
• Paint tray or bucket

We also recommend the use of personal protection equipment such as dust respirator, eye protection and gloves.

Before Using A Floor Sander the room or hallway needs to be prepared

Furnishings and drapes should be removed, as well as loose nails, staples, screws and any unwanted fittings.  Cupboards and doors should be sealed to protect against dust.

Fill any holes and fix or replace any loose floorboards. Punch down any exposed nails as sanding exposed nails can produce sparks during the sanding process which could damage the sander.

Heavy wax , grease and dirt should be removed and sweep the floor to remove dust and debris.

Using A Floor Sander

We have 3 floor sanders available for hire

1. Edging Sander
2. Drum Floor Sander
3. Orbital floor sander

Edging Sander

Load the abrasive disc making sure the retaining bolt is tight. Start the sander with the disc off the floor then lower the disc as you move the edger to one side. Sand the floor in the direction of the grain along the walls, moving the sander from side to side. The end sanding strokes should be semi-circular.

Drum Floor Sander

Load the sander with the abrasive sheet, making sure that it is skin tight around the drum as loose sheets will tear. Place the sander on the right hand wall with about two thirds of the floor in front of you. Start the sander with the drum off the floor then walk forward at an even pace and ease the drum to the floor. As you near the end of the pass, gradually raise the sander off the floor.  Cover the same path you made on the forward cut by pulling the machine backwards.  Ease the drum to the floor as you begin the backward pass until you reach the original starting point, then lift the drum off the floor. Move the sander to the left and overlap the first cut by about 7cm. Repeat while moving progressively to the left as you complete each forward and backward pass. When two thirds of the floor is sanded, turn the floor sander around and sand the remaining third in the same way. Overlap the one-third area by 0.6m to 0.9m with the first two-third area to blend the two areas together.

Squarbuff Floor Sander

Load the abrasive pad and sheet. Start the sander, move immediately and sand in the direction of the grain using the same technique as the drum floor sander. For difficult to reach areas, use the disc floor sander with a fine grit abrasive sheet or sand by hand.