For restoration jobs I use a 8" belt sander. I find a drum sander too aggressive and dusty for most jobs. You've done a good job on your flooring and with engineered boards in particular they won't need too much off esp judging from your pics. I use a rotex 150 to finish off over all solid wood fooring afterwards. The ets ec 150/3 has been used for smaller jobs and suggested it coz you need a sander for your other projects too.
A little help with sander choice please
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SafetyThird
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Quotes are coming in around £925-£950.
I can rent the big drum sander and a big orbital sander for £225 for a week. Even if I buy a 150/3 for final finishing, I'm still not much more than half the cost of having someone come in and do it, and I get the festool sander to keep.
Guess which option I'm going with
I'll be going through those youtube videos carefully in the next couple of days.
I can rent the big drum sander and a big orbital sander for £225 for a week. Even if I buy a 150/3 for final finishing, I'm still not much more than half the cost of having someone come in and do it, and I get the festool sander to keep.
Guess which option I'm going with
I'll be going through those youtube videos carefully in the next couple of days.
Just a question since I don't have any experience with sanding floors . . . Isn't a floor too large a surface for a Rotex or ETS sander? It would seem unlikely that the resulting surface would be completely flat and would likely have some "waves" in it. I wouldn't even think of using even a 6" sander for a surface that large with that many possible uneven joints.
Holmz
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grbmds said:
Bingo, even a large belt sander with a frame that makes it wider and longer is on the small side. But the spatial frequency is directly related to the size so bigger base has no chance for high frequency (close together) waves.
Once it is waxed up and shiny is when the flatness become apparent.
Its no renovation project the guys doing. Its tongue and groove engineered or solid. He doesn't need the walking belt/drum sander, screeder or edger he's just trying to level a few boards. Its hard work finishing with a driven orbital but that's what we do esp if staining and you want a good finished job without the expensive tool hire cost.
drax said:
I still don't believe a 6" random orbit sander will do a great job leveling out boards. I used my ETS150 on my deck to sand down some high spot and take off some flaking paint, but that's different as it isn't really important that the surface be flat without any waves. It's an outside deck (in this case covered) and it's not fine wood; just treated barely surfaced lumber.
I would think that, even with a Festool hard pad on the sander, there are likely to be highs and lows even if you keep moving. Plus, talking about a hard job. Being on your hands and knees for hours trying to sand with a 150 mm sander isn't easy (although maybe doable for the very young). I sanded my deck with knee pads for about an hour at a time and finally just gave up on the those spots which weren't too bad.
Good luck anyway. I'd like to hear what the result is with a 150 sander regardless of which one bought.
SafetyThird
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I'm going to hire one of the big drum sanders that you walk with, looks like an upright vacuum cleaner. Then follow that with a similar style of orbital sander. That should take me down to a flat, level floor fairly quickly.
The boards are new, solid machined oak, so this is only to level out small inconsistencies between the boards so you don't catch your feet, not to do a full resurface job.
The boards are new, solid machined oak, so this is only to level out small inconsistencies between the boards so you don't catch your feet, not to do a full resurface job.
A new floor is going to require more material removal than an "average" floor refinishing, since it has never been sanded flat in the first place. When you are done you are going to have a lot of sanding dust.SafetyThird said:
As I said in a previous post I own an RO150 and it is not going to work fast enough. I broke my RO150 out for a few minutes and promptly put it away and never used it again. An ETS 150 would be even more useless. You will need a rental edger. The edger is 7" which is a HUGE gain in surface area. The very tight corners will require a scraper and a delta sander of some kind. So a multi-tool with a delta pad, a Festool RO90 with a delta pad (The small rotex can get in pretty close to the corners before switching to the delta pad), or a Festool DTS 400 will clean up the corners. Of course a block of wood with sandpaper, and some arm power...oh never mind.
A large buffer is the final step before finishing, and in between coats. The rental yard will have one available. You will need screens and buffing pads. Watch a bunch of videos on using a buffer as it is kinda unwieldy at first.
There are other tools that will be needed like a trowel for spreading the filler in. A small flexible blade for spot applying filler. If you have transitions where the end grain doesn't line up perfectly you can sand just the top portion of the boards by double sticking sandpaper to a trowel. If you live far from the rental yard get way more consumables than you imagine you are going to need. They only charge you for what you use, at least here in the USA. You will also need a decent vacuum, plus a micro-fiber mop to run over the floor after vacuuming. I would recommend at least three mop heads, at one per room, and wash them between uses/coats. Many people do not use the micro-fiber mops, but they do get up a lot more residual dust after the vacuum. Plus once the floor is completed the mop works great for cleaning the floor.
Watch any video and you will see how the "Pro's" do it, using an industrial floor sander, edger, and buffer. Anything else will not produce the same results.
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