How To Sand A Hardwood Floor With A Hand Sander

How to sand a hardwood floor by hand.

How to sand a hardwood floor with a hand sander.

Use a handheld orbital sander ideally with a gear driven setting. The exact same way you would with floor sanding machines but with a lot more elbow grease. You ll need to sand the entire floor not just one section. The groove overlap is typically about 1 4 inch thick.

Start with a low grit like 40 climb to 60 80 then 100. Solid hardwood boards are 3 4 inches thick and each has a groove milled in its side that overlaps the tongue of the adjacent board. Remove shoe moulding the wood trim where the wall meets the floor. Sanding a solid hardwood floor can also be risky if the floor has been sanded before.

Then sand the entire area at the same angle moving constantly as you work. Sanding removes on average about 1 16 inch of material and sometimes more so you can safely sand a solid hardwood floor two or three times but no more. Sand the floor starting with the board in the corner of the room. Inspect the floor for any loose boards and nail them back into the joists.

You don t want the sander to hit and damage this and you also want to be able to get underneath it. 2 get the sanding equipment. To get the best bang for your buck you should get a random orbital sander or a large sheet sander. Sanding the floor will kick up a lot of dust so protect light fixtures and tape over electrical outlets.

Once you have sanded the board move the block half way over the adjacent board and sand again.