Sanding & Finishing Timber floor

[Paul]

I have recently bought a house that needs the floors sanded and finished. Some areas are raw floor boards others have been sanded and stained but need re doing.

I planned on doing it myself but I seek some advice on the correct procedure and also on the best way to finish the boards, I have beed told that Tung oil is probably the best, if so how is this applied ?

[Shane Watson]

This will be a wonderful journey for you
An experience you shell remember well..

hehehe..

I am by means no expert on floor finishing, but having done this for my sister not all that long ago, I can pass on what I learnt...

You will need to hire the sanders unless you know someone that can lend them to you, but if thats the case then talk them into doing it for you

The place you hire the floor sanders from will give you a fairly good run down on how to handle the machines ( theres the floor sander and the edge sander ) and I have heard that some hire companies even supply a video with instructions.. Check that out at your local hire place...

I'm not really sure on the correct proceedure on sanding but it takes a while. I sanded againts the grain first to level the boards etc then sanded with the grain to sand out the sanding marks etc. Went over again with a finer grit and that was me happy

I have heard that going diagonal is advised as well, but I didn't and still came up good..

As for finish, I opted for a semi-gloss polyurethane. Applied by a 3mm fine mohair roller. I first applied a sanding sealer. Don't know the brand names as I just went to my lacquer supplier and told him to give me what the professional floor guys use. But anyways, I sanded inbetween coats using a festo orbital with 400g discs. Yes that was the long way, but the floors weren't to big an area.... Well they didn't look it to start

As for the finished product. Was not to bad. Quite impressed myself. But I am sure I will do better if I ever fool myself into doing floors again..

HTH

Cheers
Shane!!

[macka]

Hi Paul. My advice is have the floor sanded by a professional if money is not a major part of the project.I have seen many sanding jobs and can honestly say that these professionals are licenced for a reason.They know what to do!!
A poor sanding job on a floor looks a thousand times worse under down lights if you have them.
If you are serious about doing the job yourself,get someone to look at it for you that can advise if you need to start with 24 grit or 60,80, 100 etc whether you need to sand at 45 degrees or with the grain.
As for finishes Tung Oil is very good if you are concerned about edge bonding or its a new floor subject to movement due to the environment(humidity, subfloor ventilation etc) as tung oil does require a lot of maintenance ie. metalised polish on a regular basis.Maybe you are better off talking to a flooring supplier about moisture cure polyurethanes or 2- pack polys which provide better wear and less maintenance.
Hope I hanen`t confused the issue.
Cheers
Macka