Floor sanding is the method of furnishing the floor for giving it a smoother look. It can be done either by hands or by electrically driven sanding machines. These machines are mostly available from rental agencies and some paint stores which also supply the sandpaper. Some handwork may need to be done in less accessible places.

When beginning with the sanding procedure, the floor should be carefully sweet of all dirt, dust and other debris. "Set" all nails which may be protruding either in the floor or baseboard so that the sanding machine will not be damaged. Sometimes two sanding cuts are needed on a new hardwood floor. The first cuts should be done with coarse or medium abrasive, always ending with a fine abrasive. A smoother finish results if the final sanding is done with the floor polisher or disk sander. Of course, the more the number of passes with finer paper, smoother will be the finish.

All about a floor sander

When sanding a floor, one needs a floor sander. If many steps are involved, one will need an edge sander in addition to a floor sander. The careful use of both will produce good results. Simply put, a floor sander is a more powerful version of a drum sander. In a floor sander, a cylindrical piece of sandpaper fits over the drum and a lever drops the drum to make contact with the floor. The machine should be in motion when contact is made. Dropping the drum on the floor when the machine is stationary can cause the drum to cut divots in the floor.

Working with a floor sander

Sand wood floors need a floor sander to finish them. A floor sander may be used to finish new or existing wood floors. The use large sanding machines are done. These sand several square feet of floor at once. Using hand scrapers and small sanders, the floor edges are scraped and sanded in other areas that the large sanding machine cannot reach. Next, the machine operators attach sandpaper to the roller of the floor sander and it is guided over the surface of the floor until it is smooth. It must be made sure that the floor is sanded evenly and that sanding marks do not show.

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