Sanding

To sand a wooden floor you’ll need, a push along drum sander, an edging sander, and a hand held orbital sander. These can be easily hired from your local tool hire shop along with the 60, 100 and 120 grit sand papers required for the sanders.

Once you have the tools on site, you’ll need to clear the room of all furniture and soft furnishings. Once the floor can be viewed, it should be checked over for any proud staples or nails as well as carrying out any subfloor preparation e.g. fixing loose floor boards, filling any cracks, knots and holes. Once you are happy with this preparation the floor is now ready for sanding.

Tip before sanding , seal the gaps under the doors by placing rags underneath, this will stop dust spreading into other rooms and save you cleaning up time later (which is when you least feel like it)

The first process of sanding is to use the push along drum sander with the 60 grit paper. It is important that the machine is kept moving at all times to avoid course sanding marks. The drum sander is similar in style to a push along lawn mower and operates in the same up and down in rows pattern. This procedure is repeated using the 100 grit paper followed by the 120 grit paper to finish.

Next the edges of the room and the areas where the drum sander cannot get to need to be sanded with the edging sander. It is important that this sander is used lightly and carefully as this sander can easily mark the wood with big divots or gouge marks.

Following the use of the first 2 sanders, it is now time to use the hand held orbital sander. This sander is used to tidy up any sanding marks that may have occurred during the first 2 processes and is also especially good for sanding any low points that may have been missed by the previous sanders. Again, remembering to go through the 3 different grades of sanding paper and running the orbital with the grain of the wood.
It is important that at this stage, that the sanding is done thoroughly as any sanding marks left are magnified when the sealant is applied. Therefore it is well worth spending time and effort on this stage.

Once you are happy with the finish of the wooden floor, the floor has to be vacuumed thoroughly at least 2 or 3 times. This is important as if the wood is still dusty; it will stain the seal (when applied) and show in the finish of the floor.

Sealing

When sealing a wooden floor you generally have 2 choices of finish a lacquer varnish finish or a wax oil finish. The tools required are a lambswool and “T” bar (approx 300mm wide) applicator with a matching bucket. Usually it is quicker and easier to attach a broom handle to the “T” bar.

1) A lacquer finish
Shake the bottle of lacquer slowly and pour into the bucket. Using a 100mm paint brush paint all the room edges and places where the “T” bar is too big to be practical (do not allow the sealer to dry as this will show in the final finish) Dipping the T bar into the bucket and applying to the floor in rows, trying to keep the strokes nice and even (making sure not to allow the sealer to pool anywhere). Allow the sealer to dry. When dry lightly sand the floor by hand with a 150 grit sand paper. This should be done very lightly, just smoothing off any wood grain rising. I would estimate a 20m Sq room should not take any more than 10 minutes to hand sand.
The room now needs to be vacuumed carefully again and the sealing process repeated 2 more times

2) A wax oil finish.
A wax oil finish is applied using the same method but it is important not to over apply the oil, generally it is better to apply the oil as thinly as possible.

Both floors require at least 24 to 48 hours (the longer the better) for the sealers to cure.
TIP - A quick test to see if your floor has enough sealer on is to drop some water droplets onto the floor and leave for 10 minutes. If when it is wiped away and damp ring is left, the floor requires some more sealer.

Following these instructions carefully will give you a great looking floor.