Best Way to Sand a Hardwood Floor

The hardwood floor is a luxurious part of the house. It increases the beauty and longevity of the floor. In fact, it is susceptible to use and maintain in simple ways. Sanding is the best idea for newly installed or old hardwood floors.

There are several ways to sand a hardwood floor. Handheld sander, drum sander, etc. are the best ideas among them. Each sander uses special grit sandpaper or sanding pieces to smooth out the surface. Grit is the unit of how much coarse a paper will be. Usually, the grit starts from 40 and up to 100.

Things to do before:

As you are going to sand old or new hardwood floors, you must keep the surface neat and clean first. Remove any nails, stickers, papers from the surface. Look for any sticky things attached to it. Clean the whole floor first. Then, move to the next steps.

However, we are here to help you by sharing the best way to sand hardwood floors.

Using a Delta Sander:

Delta sander is a handheld portable wander. When you can’t reach the nooks and crannies of the floor, you can use this. It may not provide you considerable finish, though.

If your budget is short, you can choose the delta wander. It would help if you sanded hardwood floors by rubbing it with your hands.

Use of Orbital Sander:

Orbital handheld sander also performs the job. It can give you a neat and clean finish on the floor (small areas). The random orbital sander spins slowly to provide you a smooth finish.

This kind of sander can abolish a large number of things like wood particles to make the surface smooth. A 40 grit sandpaper would be better for tiny spaces.

Use of Palm Sander

A palm sander also falls in the same category, a portable wander for hardwood floors. A sander plate is set straight in the palm sander. You can sand the areas we’ll near the straight line of the floors close to the wall.

A palm sander is a great tool to work with hands. Yet it fails to cut the mustard depending on sander power and aggressiveness.

Use of Belt Sander

A belt sander is a very much popular form of sanders all over the world. You can find both handheld and benchtop belt sanders. But the handheld one is good for working on floors.

It has the power to work on old hardwood floors. Even it can bring you the finest surface on the newly installed hardwood floors.

You can control the speed of the belt (sandpaper rolled upon belt). You need to turn on the device running with electricity. Then, slowly move the sander to forward. Sometimes, you may need to change the paper after using the same paper twice or thrice times.

The best idea to get a satisfying result is to move the device from side to side, fronts, and backs following a circular motion.

You should remember one thing in your mind. You can pressure the sander to opt-out the result faster but remove more woods from the surface. Unlike above sanders, a belt sander isn’t a good choice to finish up the edges. If you try to do so, you may go against the grain that leads to average finish. In that sense, other portable sanders would complete the project.

Using a Drum Sander:

Many experts suggest using drum sanders to get a comprehensive sanding of floors. A drum sander has all the qualities to cover up any small and large areas.

When you want to use a drum sander, you must be sure of the sandpaper’s grit. This means you need to discern the grit sequence. Many people think If it’s a new surface, using single grit sandpaper would do the job well. But you may need it to do repetitively, from the coarse grit to fine grit.

If the old hardwood floor has too many damages, the write will be coarser. It means it will fill up the stubborn stains, nail gaps, and other damages.

16 grit sandpaper would be good for working on paints, and heavy shellac finished floors. If the old finishes gave with through to the wood, 24 grit would be acceptable. For a newly installed hardwood floor, 36 grit drum sanders may give you a perfect finish.

You shouldn’t start sending with 60 grit sandpaper. It would be harsh for the surface. 80 grit is good for American hardwoods, 100 grit is suitable for birch and maple floors.

When you start sanding the floor, do it in a small area first using specific grit of sandpaper. If everything goes right, complete the whole floor.

Remember, you should always drum sand the floor following the grain of the wood. It helps to boost the speed of the project and to level an old, damaged floor. If you try to sand at different angles, it may remove more particles than you need. The whole project would be messy.

You should change the grit systematically from lower grit to fine grit at a sequence. If you Samsung two-storied house, first do the upper floor, then move to the ground floor.

Once you use the drum sander, you can use an edger to reach the edges and tough to reach areas. It would be finishing the task for the job. But you should use the same grit as you have used in the drum sander. Otherwise, the result would be funny and pathetic to you.

Once you sand the hardwood floors, you should sweep or vacuum them.

Read the different types of sander that is helpful for you.

Conclusion:

Never forget to protect your face, eyes, ears, and hands before sanding a hardwood floor. You can use a mask, protective goggles, hand gloves during the application.

Sanding with handheld devices may seem boring or slower. But they are inexpensive, easy to control and move into the toughest corners.

Drum or belt sanders are good for heavy-duty tasks. They give you the exact thing you need. But you may need edger or handheld sander to do the rest of the work.

Now, you have learned the magic of the best way to sand a hardwood floor.