Anyone on here a floor sander?

[abaddonxi]

Getting quotes for floor sanding for the new house before we move in.

I've got a few questions.

Cheers
Simon

[Narangga]

Not a trained professional but have done a couple - some years ago.

[Blknight.aus]

and what would those questions be?

my answers are....

an air chisel with a pin point makes driving the heads of the nails down much better.

it makes a lot of dust close and seal with tape the doors to any room that your not sanding.

wiping the walls down with sugar soap and water on a squeegy mop is the easiest way to clean up.

the floor sanders from bunnings are ok but remember to overlap your sanding runs by a couple of inches and watch the pressure on the drum.

use a screwdriver and a vacuum cleaner to get the waste material out from between the boards.

if you can get one an industrail fan in one door and leaving another open helps keep the dust down

wear a dust mask, one of the gas masks with the replaceable filters is a better solution.. if you have a decent compressor and can get a suited inline filter I have a positive pressure version you can borrow.

[Narangga]

and what would those questions be?

my answers are....

an air chisel with a pin point makes driving the heads of the nails down much better.

it makes a lot of dust close and seal with tape the doors to any room that your not sanding.

wiping the walls down with sugar soap and water on a squeegy mop is the easiest way to clean up.

the floor sanders from bunnings are ok but remember to overlap your sanding runs by a couple of inches and watch the pressure on the drum.

use a screwdriver and a vacuum cleaner to get the waste material out from between the boards.

if you can get one an industrail fan in one door and leaving another open helps keep the dust down

wear a dust mask, one of the gas masks with the replaceable filters is a better solution.. if you have a decent compressor and can get a suited inline filter I have a positive pressure version you can borrow.

All I can add is do not do it in the build up to the wet season due humidity!

[slug_burner]

No floor sanders here but my wife used to punch and putty for her dad for a dollar an hour.

Punch with a nail punch and hammer it is not that arduous. Although if you have to do a whole sports hall with multiple basketball courts the air chisel idea sounds good.

Use Agnew's water putty to fill the nail holes once you have punched them. Any crack or split boards can also be filled. You can colour the putty with water based colours if you feel you need to.

Drum sander along the boards/grain with 60 grit, use a garden sprayer with turps to spray on where you are about to sand to do the heavy work. Follow that up with an oscillator/floor buffer sitting on a pad/something else to provide a softer ride with a 120 grit for the final couple of passes.

Vacuum your dust, use a lambswool applicator to spread your coats. And unlike painting a wall you will probably have to think about how you are going to get out of the room, don't paint yourself into a corner.

If you want to know about what sort of coatings to use (two pack or orther one pack varnish) let me know and I will give my brother-in-law a call. He has kept the business going now that FIL has passed.

[Blknight.aus]

agreed on the not in the build up thing.

dont agree with the floor putty thing....

well ok I do but I do the puttying after the initial sand, I found that the lap join on the sandpaper tended to tear the putty out and up. Once the putty was in it was easy enough to give it a quick go with a fine grit hand sander. But that might have had something to do with the shape of the hole that the air chisel left behind.

[abaddonxi]

Thanks for the responses.

I've had a go at doing the sanding myself before and don't want to do it again, thanks.

One of the blokes I have quoting on the job convinced me that I should get them to do the staples and setting, too. That bit's all good, he convinced me that he's OCD enough for the job that I want.

I was more hoping that someone could give me an idea of psm costs to quote so that I can check that I'm not getting gouged more than I should.

Also, I'm planning on coating with Tung Oil, that'd be the pure oil or oil/wax blend, not an oil/urethane coating, and I'm looking for coating advice.

That bit I'll be doing myself.

Ta
Simon

[abaddonxi]

<snip>
remember I only have a 50% husband :p:p:p and I ain't doing it :p:p:p

But he has the strength of ten, so that'd make him equivalent to five men!

:p

[dazzzler]

There are floor sanders on this forum;

Renovate Forums (http://www.renovateforum.com/index.php)

a search or post should reveal what you need!

[abaddonxi]

There are floor sanders on this forum;

Renovate Forums (http://www.renovateforum.com/index.php)

a search or post should reveal what you need!

Ta.

Thought I'd type in my username, etc., just in case.

I'm a member.

Magic of the internets.

:D

[Maggot4x4]

We had ours done last year.

About 120sqm were done. We went with the Hi gloss in the old stuff (Not the new 2pac) and it cost us $3200 including taking up the old carpet and removal.

Hope this helps.

[rick130]

Simon, we used tung oil here and were very happy with the results.
IIRC it was a Wattyl Tung oil product which used 'normal' solvents, I really wanted to use the straight Tung, all natural, etc, etc, but i just couldn't swing the $

Most of the floors are 8" cyprus pine slabs (and half the walls 10-12" ones) so I just punched the nail heads and gave everything a rough sand (actually SWMBO did a lot) to preserve the original pattina of the saw marks etc in the old wood.

BTW, sanding sucks, big time.

[abaddonxi]

<snip>

BTW, sanding sucks, big time.

Yep. Don't want to do that again, thanks.

The guy that I think is going to do it told me 150 grit wasn't fine enough for oil - I thought I was being picky - had to go to 300, and he goes over it with a headtorch to pick up any fine scratches.

Feeling mildly sorry for the baby while he's learning to walk, it's going to be like glass.

:D:D

[rick130]

Yep. Don't want to do that again, thanks.

The guy that I think is going to do it told me 150 grit wasn't fine enough for oil - I thought I was being picky - had to go to 300, and he goes over it with a headtorch to pick up any fine scratches.

Feeling mildly sorry for the baby while he's learning to walk, it's going to be like glass.

:D:D

If you want to see someone go right around the twist, bring that bloke up to our place, he won't need a head torch or loupe to find a scratch or three :lol2:

[slug_burner]

Costs, what Maggot4x4 said is about right. BIL said $28/sqm when he last did a domestic job 5 years ago. I don't know what it costs to put the floors down. A couple of calls should give you an idea of what the going rate is.

Oil does not give you as hard a finish so the glassy look will not last long. As far as oil goes BIL only sanded the floors for people who wanted to put oil down themselves. His comment was "they make a mess of it around the edges as they don't work fast enough" keep that in mind.

The grade of paper used also depends on the wood hardness.

BIL has the cypress slabs down on his floor, actually not many rounds as many slabs are 600 mm or greater so a lot of curves and irregular shapes due to the butressing towards the base of the trees, a great great look. Doing end grain is a lot more work and you go through a lot more sand paperand, the costs will be higher.

[spudboy]

...
Also, I'm planning on coating with Tung Oil, that'd be the pure oil or oil/wax blend, not an oil/urethane coating, and I'm looking for coating advice.

That bit I'll be doing myself.

Ta
Simon

I like the Tung Oil finish a lot. Much flatter than the urethanes.

I sanded/oiled our place 12 years ago and the Tung oil is still looking pretty good apart from the heavy traffic areas around the kitchen door, so it is due a touch up. It is easy to apply we just used a r.e.a.l.l.y wide paint brush (12" wide maybe) and added a bit of tint to darken the light boards.

We did 3 coats of Tung oil.

Find somewhere else to stay on the night of application! It is pretty aromatic :eek:

[abaddonxi]

Getting there.

Took out the carpets on Friday. Took out the staples on Sunday, oh am I sore.

Sanders turned up this morning and reckon they'll be done by tomorrow at the latest - he turned up with five blokes.

Already looks great.

Now I'm waiting on the Tung Oil to arrive, and biting my nails that no one touches the floor while it is raw. I wouldn't let my SIL come to look, and she's moving in, sight unseen, in ten days.

Tung Oil from here -
http://www.howardproducts.com.au/products/orange_tung_oil.htm

Simon

[loanrangie]

I used a water based sealer when i did our floors, easy to clean up dried quickly and best of all no toxic smells. Sanding is a bstard of a job and looks like i'll being doing our loungeroom soon as the carpet is stained to buggery (thanks to the kids) and we decided against using carpet again.

[abaddonxi]

The whole house smells citrussy fresh.

Don't think I'll ever drink orange juice again.

So much for the OCD floorsander.

Very disappointed. So much so that I almost had it done in 2 pack to cover up the scratches.

:(

Simon