Have you ever peeled back a carpet in an old house to both marvel and despair simultaneously at the old pine floor boards that lie beneath? Maybe you're at that stage right now and googling to try figure out;
a) how hard it is, and
b) whether its worth it
I mean, you've probably seen all the catalogue-worthy pinterest pics and considered it right, but not known where to start. After all most advice on google recommends getting at least professional hire equipment, if not an actual professional to do it for you.
Well I'm here to tell you that even as a complete novice it is possible even having never used a sander in my entire life! Before we get into the 'how is it done', here are a few helpful tips I discovered whilst sanding my floorboards that might help you make the decision of whether to go ahead.
1) Prepare for some aching muscles!
It is HARD work! Hard as in physically strenuous...you will ache alot. And it takes a long time too depending on the condition of the floorboards. Mine were covered in decades old varnish and adhesive that was honestly the worst thing in the world to get off! I'll go into detail about this later though.
2) Don't attempt to sand too many rooms at once!
Because it is so time consuming, you're best not setting yourself too high a goal and just doing one room at a time. You wouldn't believe the amount of dust it creates (although I have a helpful hack to avoid all dust!) and moving the furniture around whilst trying to sand, and then seal, several rooms at once is horrendous - especially as the sealing can take a whole day to put on the number of coats required, plus at least 72 hours of drying time after the last coat before you can put the furniture back on it.
3) It's noisy!
Sanding is a very noisy affair, as well as dusty. Best to wear ear defenders or you will have ringing in your ears for hours afterwards. You might also want to be considerate of your neighbours too if you're sanding in a room right next to an adjoining wall. Face masks for the dust are also necessary.
4) Professional hire equipment is helpful, but not necessary
I've sanded several floors now so I'm becoming rather seasoned at it, and whilst I have hired an edging sander once to get right up to the skirting boards, I will say that professional equipment is not required to achieve an equally beautiful finish. I have achieved gorgeous sanded floor boards using a cheap belt sander (£40 for the 900W Titan belt sander from Jewsons) and a 400W orbital sander (£40). Whilst the outlay is about the same as a days hire of professional equipment (drum sander and edging sander) from Jewsons (~£100 per day), the deposit is hefty if you break it and then you're limited with how much sanding you can achieve in just one day. If you only have one room to do, hiring is a no brainer - but I had 3 rooms and 1 hallway including stairs! And I had no intention of sanding all my floors at once, so buying the equipment worked out so much cheaper! After taking into account buying the equipment, sanding belts, discs and the floor varnish, it probably averaged ~£50 per room. Plus since the sanders are still going strong, I can still use them for more DIY projects (ie upcycling furniture!).
5) You don't need professional help!
As I've said before, I'm no DIY expert and I certainly wasn't when I decided to undertake this challenge. However you don't need any professional help to achieve the floorboards of your dreams! In fact you don't really need any help full stop. I've managed to sand several all on my own! Sure it takes a while - prepare for at least 1-2 days hard graft depending on the size of your room but anyone can do it!
6) The end results are absolutely worth it!
Yes, if you decide to undertake the challenge you will probably hate your life for an entire day at least, but that feeling when you've applied your last coat of sealant and the finished boards are there gleaming at you in all their sanded glory cannot be beaten! Plus, sanded boards just look amazing don't they?! I mean, you wouldn't be reading this if you disagreed?!
So anyway, there's a few helpful bits of advice to consider and I hope I haven't dissuaded you from having a go. Now let's get on with the 'how to'...
Prior to sanding
Before you even get the sander out it's a good idea to take a look at the floor and see what you have to deal with. You'll see from the image below that my stairs were a good example of a nightmare sanding challenge. Large hire equipment won't do you any favours at all with stairs since drum sanders are too large and edge sanders aren't much smaller.
If you have large amounts of sticky adhesive stuff around the edges of the rooms then it's a good idea to remove as much of this as you can before sanding. You can see this in the image above with the strange grey coloured adhesive that was used to glue down the underlay. I personally found that using a hairdryer to heat it up and then a stripping knife worked well for removing stubborn areas. I also found that the Harris Heavy Duty Tungsten Carbide wood scraper (for scraping some of the thicker varnished areas) and a good old fashioned chisel (for getting out the stubborn carpet grippers) helped too. You'll probably find that it's almost impossible to avoid pulling off chunks of wood when removing carpet grips, but don't panic as these can be rectified easily after sanding.
Here's some before pictures of what to expect...
Time to do some shopping!
Once you've got the carpet grips removed and the worst of the adhesive off, its time get your sanding equipment ready!
Sanders: So I used the Titan 900W belt sander (£40 from Screwfix) with 75x533mm sanding belts which you can get really cheap from Toolstation (£3 for a pack of 5), and they also offer free next day delivery over £10! I then also the Screwfix Erbauer (400W) Random Orbital Sander (£40). Both of these pack a sufficient punch to get the job done! I also had a little black and decker mouse sander (~£20) too, which is useful for doing corners of room that the other sanders cannot reach, but this isn't necessary as you can easily do corners by hand.
Sanding belts: To use with the belt sander, you're going to need a lot of 40, 80 and 120 grit sanding belts...I generally used ~25-30 40 grit sanding belts for rooms of ~16m2 - but as seen by the earlier photos my floors were in a bad state and the varnish quickly clogs up the belts! It's always better to order too many and then return the ones you don't use. For the 80 grit, I generally use 1 belt for every m2 (~3 packs for my rooms) of floor space and a similar number again for the 120 grit. Whilst the 40 grit belts do the hard work in sanding down to beautiful coloured pine boards, the 80 and 120 grit belts are necessary to achieve a lovely smooth finish that doesn't give you splinters whenever you walk on it. The sanding discs for the orbital sander are also really cheap from Toolstation as well - £1.30 for a pack of 10.
Sealant: Make sure you buy your sealant before you sand the floors as once sanded, they are very susceptible to getting dirty so need protecting as quickly as possible, ideally within a couple of days. You don't want to undo all your hard work! After trying a couple of different ones, my favourite is the Bona Mega Varnish and I use the 'matt' finish, although you can opt for higher shine (silk matt or gloss) or even softer shine (extra matt). I personally found the matt finish perfect. It just has a subtle soft sheen to it which enhances the natural beauty of the wood. You'll also need a paintbrush to apply it and ideally an old jam jar or similar so you're not having to try apply it straight from the tub it comes it.
Let's get sanding!
Once you've got your kit together, there's no point delaying it anymore...it's time to get started. I found the first time I attempted sanding I was so stressed about doing it wrong, or breaking the belt sander and was even scared of the noise the belt sander made, and the fact that it often has a mind of it's own! As with all things, practice makes perfect. You quickly get the hang of it.
I'd probably start with sanding the edges using the less powerful orbital sander - it gets you used to them a little. Start with the 40 grit papers (or 60 grit if you can't get 40 grit for the orbital sander) and do the entire edge...you're aim is to sand away all the dirt and varnish, but you will still have imperfections - small dark holes and notches from wood worm in the past etc. But don't worry about them, they all add to the character of the floor and honestly when it's finished you don't even notice them. Sanding can be extremely messy, but one useful thing I found to stop any dust release is to attach a good old Henry hoover (or similar) to the end of the sander (where the dust bag normally sits). Use standard insulation tape to securely attach it and away you go. The hoover will likely get pretty warm but mine managed just fine! Failing that, use a good dust mask and goggles and prepare for dust everywhere - yes even on the walls !!!!
Once you've done the edges with the lowest grit, use the belt sander and go across the boards (in line with the grain) using the 40 grit belts. Again, you will never remove all the imperfections and trying too hard to get rid of them will cause you to make scratches or worse, ridges, in your floor. The belt sander is powerful and holding for too long in one area will cause it to create a ridge. Keep it moving at all times. Keeping it moving also reduces the amount of varnish that gets stuck to the belts so they can be used for longer - heat caused by sanding the same spot for too long melts the varnish which then clogs the belts making them unusable real fast!
The pictures below show what you should be aiming for once you've finished this sand. It's the worst bit of the entire process and once it's over you will probably be aching all over. But take comfort in that the rest of the sanding is much less painful and much faster.
Once you've sanded your floor to a similar condition as shown in the images above, you can proceed with the 80 grit belts and discs. It doesn't matter whether you use the belt sander or orbital sander first, your aim with this step is to smooth out any scratches or slight ridges you put into the floor. You have to go over every inch of the floor though as it makes a big difference to the feel of the floor afterwards! It should feel much smoother once its done.
Once you've done the 80 grit, do the whole thing again with the 120 grit. You'll find both these processes should be much faster as you're no longer removing dirt/varnish, you're just smoothing and finishing. It also means you will probably use a lot less belts/discs than with the 40 grit.
Filling any holes
Before sealing, you'll want to fill in any big holes from either ripping out carpet grips or ones that were there anyway. I used a liberon antique pine wood filler to fill in any holes in the boards, as you can see below.
You may find that some holes are so bad that even wood filler won't improve them. I had this problem with the stairs on the risers, as removing the carpet grips damaged them beyond repair. So instead what I did was fill them with a standard white filler and smooth down. Then paint them. You'll need a primer and then the paint colour of your choice. I chose a nice bright white colour which complemented the pine well.
It's worth noting that the painting is worth doing AFTER you've sealed the floor as any small paint splashes can then be easily wiped away so feel free to go to the next step before coming back to the painting.
Sealing
Now the hard works over, it's time to tidy up and get the floors sealed. Make sure to hoover the floor really well as any dirt will get sealed in once you apply the varnish.
Apple the varnish as per the manufacturers guidelines - normally for Bona Mega I find it dries a lot quicker than it states on the guidance - normally you can walk on it after an hour and re-coat after two hours. Aim for at least 2 coats, but ideally 3 for good protection. You'll see from the pics below, it goes darker after varnishing but this is temporary. It says to give the boards a light sand in between coats, but I find that this isn't necessary provided you don't leave the coats to dry for longer than 10 hours in between coats.
Time for wine!
With the last of the coats done, all you have to do is wait for it to completely dry. You can walk on it after a couple of hours, but probably not heavy traffic. And wait 72 hours at least before putting furniture back in the room as it won't have fully hardened before this. Once you set how great the colour looks after a couple of days though you'll be in love and want to do the whole thing again with another room! Until then though, treat yourself to a nice glass of wine ...you deserve it!!
And now here's some pics of the finished thing!
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