Anybody sand their own floors?

[toolmiser]

We are redoing a room in the house and are going to install unfinished hardwood.  I've installed it before but have always' had it "professionally sanded" and finished.  I would maybe like to do it myself this time.  Room is about 13' x 16'.  We don't have a lot of options for rentals here.  I see Ace hardware has a big pad sander.

I've heard they are extremely slow.  But will they eventually get the job done?  I'm a little gunshy of trying a belt or drum sander, afraid of beginners mistakes.

Please tell me your experiences, good or bad.

Also might as well take finish recommendations also.  Room is a home office, not a high traffic area, but will have office chairs.  Other floors in house are probably 10 years old and more and in very good shape.  Living room was an epoxy.  I don't think we will do that myself.

Thanks for all the comments.

[K. L. McReynolds]

USand. Rentals. Home Depot and many rental shops have them. Has 4 rotary discs and dust collection. Pretty darn good DC to boot. Only thing left was tiny balls big enough to not get airborne.  I installed hard maple unfinished flooring in our current house. About 900 sq. ft. It is a lot slower than a drum sander, but almost impossible to make a mistake. I spent about 12 hours(on two days) doing these floors. Started with 80 grit, , then 100, then 120, and finally 150.

[Cooler]

USand. Rentals. Home Depot and many rental shops have them. Has 4 rotary discs and dust collection. Pretty darn good DC to boot. Only thing left was tiny balls big enough to not get airborne.  I installed hard maple unfinished flooring in our current house. About 900 sq. ft. It is a lot slower than a drum sander, but almost impossible to make a mistake. I spent about 12 hours(on two days) doing these floors. Started with 80 grit, , then 100, then 120, and finally 150.

I have rented that machine.  I was under the impression that the four discs were oscillating and rotating.  In any event it is far less likely to damage your floors and works reasonably fast.

There is a version that has a single large vibrating pad, and that type works painfully slowly.  I would not use it again.

An advantage of the four disc machine is that you will not need a edge sander.  Only a very small amount of flooring will remain unsanded and can be addressed with a random oscillating palm sander. 

The instructions I read was to start with a light pass with a medium grit, then switch to a coarse grit (I think 35 or 40 grit) and progress to medium and fine grits. 

I found it very easy to use (but watch the power cord, if you run over it you will cut right through the cord and Home Depot will hit you for a charge).  I hit my rental with my leaf blower before returning it and the rental clerk greatly appreciated that. 

If you decide to become a professional floor finisher you would want to master the the drum sander.  I understand that they made the sander lighter to make it easier for home owners to transport it.  I suspect that would decrease the efficiency of the unit.  The original probably weighed in at 60 or more pounds.

I would use it again if I had to re-finish a floor.  I used a tung oil finish (Waterlox) for the guest room.  It looks great, and since it is lightly used I don't know about the durability.  But it took 10 days to cure before I could put the furniture back in. 

Future jobs would be in a waterborne product for quicker cure times.

If pet smells are an issue, a quick coat with SealCoat will help address that.  It dries in about 20 minutes so by the time you have finished applying the finish the starting point will be ready to coat. (If you have large room to work on.)  The SealCoat does smell and you do want windows open for that part at least.  SealCoat will allow a quicker coating build and may save one coat on the final finish.

[jteneyck]

Bona Traffic HD

John

[lift mechanic]

A couple years ago I installed a circular sawn douglas fir floor. I rented a single 20" sander. I did not have to sand very much as we wanted the saw marks to show. Applied a oil stain then waited a few days and applied the Bona finish. I applied 3 coats of Bona Mega satin the 2 coats of Bona Traffic HD satin. This finish is real easy to apply and drys fast and water clean up.

[Phil Thien]

Those four pad ROS models came out after I was done with all the sanding I was ever going to do. They sure look like they make it nearly foolproof.

[brewmaster]

Last time I priced our rentals and consumable, it was nearly a wash with paying a contractor to do it...

[toolmiser]

Don't have the sanding figured out yet, but started laying the flooring. I knew we had some left overs from previous floors and I had purchased enough walnut to "picture frame the whole thing. Started pulling the wood out of my "stash" and found a bundle of Mahogany, and about 9 bundles of cherry. I really don't remember getting either at probably a garage sale. Anyway we are using the cherry in the center and then picture framing it with mahogany and walnut. Got started with the center after supper. Using a pneumatic nailer I purchased from harbor freight, and that is working good.

Two previous times I've laid flooring I borrowed a manual nailer. It takes a "brute" to use one of those nailers, especially for very long.

Our local Home Depot doesn't rent floor sanders.

[EricU]

I rented both a ROS and drum sander.  They also had a big hand held ROS that I rented for one room.  I didn't find the drum sander to be too bad, but you do have to get the edges somehow.  That was mostly a problem in the room that had been previously sanded by an person, but I think it looked good when I was done. The multi-head ROS would be good for a floor that doesn't need much sanding.  Maybe that describes a new floor, dunno.

I remember my mom had someone sand with a drum sander once and it looked horrible.  Like an art installation.  That filled me with trepidation, but I was desperate and it turned out that it wasn't that hard to do. YMMV.

[aquaticjim]

I installed 2000 square feet of rough Brazilian Cherry on two floors.  Brazilian Cherry is twice as hard as Oak.  I was afraid of the drum sander so I rented the three disk sander from Menards.  It took a lot of disks and an entire week of sanding to get it all even.  The three disks rotate on a circular plate.  There is also a 4 disk version that just vibrates.  The three disk rotating sander uses a courser grip sandpaper.  

Once the floor was even, I rented the large square vibrating sander from Home Depot.  This uses a finer grit and leaves a smooth finish.  I also used this same sander between coats of polyurethane.  
I know I could have sanded the entire floor with a drum sander in half a day.  I was afraid I would end up with a damaged floor.