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Flooring sander Hire

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Flooring sander Hire

Postby HappyHacker » 18 Jan 2019, 18:21

I have about 28sqM of oak strip 3 inch wide T&G (although T&G is a poor description of the tapered arrangement) flooring to sand level after relaying it.

Has anyone experience of sander hire that can give me some tips about machines or hirers to go for/avoid, material usage and the time it takes?

Most boards are level but some are up to 2 mm different in level. I could not relay them in the same place as I had to fill in a fireplace which I removed 30 years ago :(

I have a 4" belt sander and ROS for the edges.

Many thanks

Kevin
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby RogerS » 18 Jan 2019, 18:47

Kevin, if you can hire a Sand Glider. Virtually dustless. Brilliant bit of kit. And it gets right up to the walls.

[youtube]UmPAU8UhET0[/youtube]

As you might be aware I'm doing a whole house renovation (think Forth Bridge) and I because I'm laying down an oak floor throughout, I knew that I'd keep needing to hire one. So I managed to get a good secondhand one off eBay. It meant that it could sit in the corner until I needed to do the next room. Then I'll sell it.

Don't even think about any other type.
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby StevieB » 18 Jan 2019, 19:22

Bl**dy vicious things if you are not careful, use a fine belt and watch out for pauses on the push forward/pull back as it *will* cause a divot if you are not careful. DAMHIKT!
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby HappyHacker » 18 Jan 2019, 20:58

Roger, thanks for the information. I had ruled the sandglider out as the various hire sites say it is for lighter work. While my floor is in generally good condition despite 40 years of neglect there are now areas of slightly uneven boards. If it is capable of handling the mismatches of 1 to 2 mm between boards , even if it takes a bit longer, I would prefer the sand glider as I have heard too many horror stories about the drum sanders?


Steve, thanks for the confirmation of what I have heard.


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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby RogerS » 18 Jan 2019, 22:51

Yup...just get a coarse grade to begin with...you'll be fine.
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby greeno » 19 Jan 2019, 17:13

Pretty straight forward. Cost mounts when you add up the belts. Get the edging sander, remembering these can't get right in the corners. A round radiator pipes is a bit of a PITA. Go along, across and diagonally. Don't worry too much about protruding nail heads, they sand down, never ripped a belt for me.
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby RogerS » 20 Jan 2019, 23:00

Kevin

If you do decide to hire a Sand Glider then I have some 80 and 10 grit discs.
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby HappyHacker » 21 Jan 2019, 12:56

RogerS wrote:Kevin

If you do decide to hire a Sand Glider then I have some 80 and 10 grit discs.


Roger, Thank you, I may well take you up on that as I there are a couple of places locally where I can get the sander. Not sure when I will be doing it as still trying to work out the finish to try and match old (70+years) quarter sawn oak and the new stuff I have had to use to make up for the hole in the floor from the removing a fireplace 30 years ago. But time pressure from the management means it will be soon but I have to sort out my tax return as well in the next few days :(

Did you mean 80 and 100?

Send me a PM and I will be in touch.

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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby Coley » 21 Jan 2019, 14:10

Wowsers 10 grit would be amazing to see!

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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby RogerS » 21 Jan 2019, 14:19

120 grit....bloody keyboard !
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby HappyHacker » 21 Jan 2019, 17:46

My problem is not the keyboard, I have long ago accepted my limitations and can occasionally manage up to 6 of my fingers actually touching keys often at random, it is ********* autocricket changing all my mistypes into words that beer no relationship to what I was trying to type. :(

Being quite old I learnt to type on a manual punch card machine which had 12 keys, various combinations of keys represented the alphabet and special characters. Using one hand I could achieve typing speeds which still put my pitiful efforts with a qwerty keyboard to shame.

Having full fat sausages for fingers when I get hold of a mobile phone what I aim to type and what the ******** thing decides I have typed plus the insane efforts of autocricket bear no relationship so I spend a lot of time sending cryptic messages as while trying to correct the mess I hit the send key.
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby RogerS » 21 Jan 2019, 18:50

Just re-reading your OP, Kevin, and noticed the 2mm step...that's a lot of sanding and you might be wise to think about some 60 grit. I'm wondering if you knocked any nails well below the surface that you used a power planer (very carefully) to hog off the bulk. Or even a handplane if there's not too much to do.

One question though...if it's T&G don't the tongues/grooves define how the boards lay ie flush top and no 2mm step ?
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby HappyHacker » 21 Jan 2019, 22:35

I was relaying it, having replaced the rotten joists, and could not keep the same sequence due to the need to fill in a removed fireplace so there are some discrepancies between the boards. Also I think there were some discrepancies to start with, I have lived with it for 40 years and I am not sure it has ever been completely level. Also there were rusted nail holes which did not correspond to the joists and a couple of small brass fittings in the floor which did not correspond to anything in the room so the wood may have been more than the 70 years age of the house. Attacking it with a power planer may be a good way forward, I suspect using a hand plane while on the floor would exceed my levels of fitness :( I may give it a go over a few inches for the experience.
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby RogerS » 25 Jan 2019, 08:36

Hi Kevin

The more I think about this, the more certain I am that, regardless of type of floor sander, you will need to manually spot reduce those boards that are sticking out proud. Any sander is going to rock on them and likely to dig in elsewhere as a result of the rocking. Also, if the boards are narrow then they could fall between the sanding pads ie you'll be sanding on either side but not the proud board.

Will get some discs in the post to you today.
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby RogerS » 25 Jan 2019, 08:56

Another thought. You mentioned a brown varnish...not sure what the other guys will suggest but IME varnish clogs up sanding discs quicker than you can replace them. So I'd be over-generous and get lots of 60g to hog off that varnish. The relative open 'pores' of the 60g should give you a fighting chance.
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby HappyHacker » 25 Jan 2019, 10:11

Fortunately after at least 40 years of inattention it is very thin if there at all. I tried a small area with the ROS and there was no clogging but I agree with you about varnish and sanding pads. I will probably need the 60 grade to do speed up the final levelling anyway. Trying to cut all the skirting and architrave at the moment and trying different finishes to see if I can get the new stuff to match the old but other things keep on taking priority.
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby RogerS » 27 Jan 2019, 17:58

Just been using mine in anger and a couple of more points. Keep an eye on the suction grille on the underside that it doesn't get blocked up with fluff If it does then you end up with sawdust on the floor rather than in the bag.

Almost certain that when you sand your floor you will see odd patches either of varnish or older wood that's not been sanded. That's when you need your ROS to 'point' sand in that area rather than spend years with the Sand Glider sanding down all the surrounding wood. Not to mention the consumables! Be prepared to use the ROS on other odd patches where the Sand Glider has 'missed' a bit.

Don't worry if one pad seems to wear the disks earlier than the others. I just replace that one. I think it's a slightly misaligned pad in my case. Might give Bison a call tomorrow.
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Re: Flooring sander Hire

Postby HappyHacker » 28 Jan 2019, 10:12

Thanks for the tips. I suspect I may well be using the ROS or even my belt sander for a few areas.
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