From: manes@magpie.nycenet.edu (Steve Manes)
Subject: Re: Advice on re-finishing wood floors
Organization: Manes and Associates, NYC
Distribution: misc
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 19:18:50 GMT
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]

Sarir Khamsi (khamsi@ll.mit.edu) wrote:
: Yo,

Yo, yose'f.

: I am moving onto a house that has hard wood floors and would like to
: know how much work it may be for a first-time kind of guy (me) to sand
: and coat the wood floors. Is it worth doing yourself, having some
: experience wood-working? Thanks in advance.

Sanding floors is one of my least-favorite things because it's about the
dirtiest DYI job I can think of.  Sawdust will manage to find itself
everywhere despite your best efforts to seal off the room(s) under
construction.  In the summer, sweat and sawdust merge to form a kind
of orange crud that leaves your skin itching for days.  Even with a
mask you'll find sawdust caked in your nostrils.  The noise from the
big sander practically guarantees a migraine.

Basically, you will need (available from most tool rental outfits):

	a large drum or belt floor sander
	a handheld belt sander
	an edging sander

You will also need:
	
	a hand scraper (for corners)
	ventilated goggles
	lots of disposable masks
	ear plugs

Finally, you will need lots and lots of sandpaper.  Sandpaper for the
big floor sander ain't cheap either.  If your floors are level and
you just want to strip the finish you might get away using just fine
sandpaper. Most of the time you'll use a medium carborundum grit
followed by fine.  If your floors are in real bad shape with lots of
uneveness and they're >hardwood< plank floors you may need to start
with a heavy grit but don't do this unless you really have to.  The
scratches made by the heavy grit floor sandpaper are very tough to
remove later and may be invisible until you add the sealer.  I made
the mistake of using heavy grit on badly-damaged yellow pine floor
once and managed to do even more damage.

Start off by sealing off the room(s) with plastic dropclothes, taped
around the perimeter.  If possible, use a window for egress until the
sanding is finished.  Dry mop the floor and carefully countersink any
protruding nail heads.  If the big sander hits one of them it will
usually shred the sandpaper and you will be out a couple of bucks.
Plus it's a scarey noise.  Incidentally, if the floor needs any kind
of major patching that should be done well beforehand and allowed
to dry.  Smaller blemishes can be filled later using a mixture of
carpenter's glue and sawdust (which you'll have lots of).

Sanding is a mechanical process.  Start with the sanding drum off the
floor and your back to a wall and slowly walk forward, easing the drum
down.  Try to avoid laying it down in the same place. It's a
powerful motor and will want to run away from you.  Keep your
progress steady.  Don't let the drum rest in one place for even a
millisecond or you'll dig a little trench in the wood.  As you
approach the opposite wall, slowly lift the drum, back up and
repeat.  I did mention that you only sand with the grain, right?
I've never sanded parquet floors before but I guess you would need
to use only fine grit to avoid tearing up the cross grain.

Don't skimp on the fine sanding even though it's the dirtiest part
of the job.  It's the most important step in getting an even finish.
Use the belt sander, edging sander and scraper to get areas
inaccessible to the big drum sander, like around wall perimeters,
pillars, etc.  Don't get lazy here either.  With carpets and lighting
this may be the most visible part of the room later.  You need to
pay particular care to smoothing out any trenches left by the drum
sander.  If possible, remove molding around the floor to sand closer
to the wall.

After sanding is complete, sweep and vaccuum the room thoroughly
(including the walls), close the windows and let it sit overnight
to allow the dust to settle.  Next morning, vaccuum again and
run over the floor with a tack rag.  Now you're ready to finish the
floor.  Since there are so many available finishes, follow the
manufacturer's directions.  I prefer a high-quality gloss floor
urethane like Benjamin Moore's for maintenance and durability
reasons.  Three coats with the first coat thinned with 1/3 spirits.

In cold weather you will most likely want to sleep somewhere else
while each coat dries.  If not, at least shut off any open flames,
including pilot lights, to reduce the threat of monoxide poisoning
from the fumes (which will be intense).  Finally, let the final coat
dry at least 48 hours before putting any heavy furniture on it.
-- 
Stephen Manes					   manes@magpie.nycenet.edu
Manes and Associates/Commontech-NoHo		   New York, NY, USA  =o&>o