rejuvinate sanded floorboards

[colsnr]

I need a good sander to rejuvinate the appearance of my ground floor sanded floorboards.
I am thinking of buying the ROTEX RO 125, would this do the job?
I also need advise of which sanding disks to use with this machine to key the sealed surface finish that is present at the moment.
Also which sanding disks could I use to eliminate some deep scratches is several places around the floor?

Thanks.

 

[mouppe]

Hi and  [welcome]

What is the square footage of the area you wish to sand? You may take quite a while with the RO 125. The RO 150 has a 60% (or thereabouts) larger coverage area.

For dust extraction the Rotex is hard to beat, so some previous posters on the FOG have said it is too slow for doing floors compared to a floor sander.

As for eliminating deep scratches, I would use cristal 60 grit to remove them, and then work my way up through Rubin 100, 150 (you can skip 120) and perhaps 180. Then you'll be ready for a finish.

There have been several previous thread on this forum about floor sanding with a rotex. If you do a search you should come across them.

Richard.

 

[colsnr]

Thanks Richard,

I have about 60 Square meters to do.
The floor is already sanded and sealed, I want to key the surface and reapply a seal as it has dulled with traffic.
Are you saying start with rubin 100 then 150 then 180 for this? will that shift the current seal.

It has been suggested I do this every couple of years with a good orbital sander.
Also do you know if the Rotex would couple up to my Henry Vacuum?

Cheers

 

[tbellemare]

Rubin clogs when used with finishes. It's better to use Br2.

That's a lot of area to do with such a small sander.

Tom

 

[mouppe]

60 square metres is about 1 1/2 times the size of my workshop. I have a Rotex 125. I really can't imagine doing what you are considering in a space that large unless you have unlimited free time and know a very good chiropractor. 

Leaving aside the advantages of a Rotex, I would hire a floor sander from HSS or somebody like that. You'll be done in a couple of hours or less.

I would sand down to bare wood and apply a finish. I think this is always easier than trying to lay a sealer on top of another finish coat because you will inevitably end up sanding some areas more than others if you try to just remove scuff marks in the finish.

You could for sure get an adapter to attach your rotex to a vacuum, but I don't know the specifics of your Henry vacuum.

Richard.

 

[jmbfestool]

Large area!! I would go with a floor sander but if your just doing it for n excuse to buy a festool sander  [unsure] I would go with the 150  not 125 it's to big for small jobs and two small for larger job your better getting the 150 and maybe later on when u found out how good the rotex is you will get the 90.  Having the 90 and 150 covers you for small jobs and larger jobs but your floor might be abit to large lol.

I sanded a floor I laid it needed filler in the many knots it had so needed a good sand all over the floor was about 40 square meters I sanded it twice with 80 grit then 120 grit took me about just under half a day I think. So i sanded 80square meters. Well if you sand your area twice it would be 120square meters so it would take you a full day to sand the floor in theory so not to bad lol [unsure]

Jmb

 

[passnthru]

Colsnr,

Help me to understand your situation so I can give you the right advice.
I think I understand correctly that you have a floor that has been sanded and sealed and finished previous that you just want to touch up the dull shine with another coat or two. Or are you wanting to completely re-sand, seal and finish the whole space?
I do this for a living and I may be able to steer you right if I understand best what you are wanting to do. If you are going the route of refreshing a Urethane finish with a couple of new coats of finish you could certainly use a RO to do the task. I'd suggest for the sake of your back and knees you rent an 16" floor polisher and a use couple strips of 180 to 200 grit paper on a red or maroon pad and do a light scuffing instead.
But if you are doing a penetrating oil or something like a Rubio Monocoat or a OSMO refresh things will be different. Could you let us know what type of finishes you are dealing with and I will advise from there.
JP

 

[Edmac41]

It's a long time ago but can I jump in on this post? Our floor was professionally sanded and varnished a few years ago and looked beautiful. But after a couple of years the chairs round the dining table began to wear through the varnish (I suspect he only used one or at most two coats). I don't want to sand the whole floor again, or even the worn patch because I suspect it'll stand out as different from the original area, at least for some months.
When I analysed the state of the worn areas, it seemed to me that the varnish has worn away and so the exposed boards have just collected dust and dirt. I thought sanding might be the wrong approach, and what's needed is to find an effective way to deep clean the exposed timber and then just revarnish it. Am I talking nonsense?
I don't know if this site allows contact details but in case it does, and hoping you're still around and willing to help, my email is ed.fredenburgh[member=6422]Mac[/member].com
Many thanks in advance.

 

[leakyroof]

It's a long time ago but can I jump in on this post? Our floor was professionally sanded and varnished a few years ago and looked beautiful. But after a couple of years the chairs round the dining table began to wear through the varnish (I suspect he only used one or at most two coats). I don't want to sand the whole floor again, or even the worn patch because I suspect it'll stand out as different from the original area, at least for some months.
When I analysed the state of the worn areas, it seemed to me that the varnish has worn away and so the exposed boards have just collected dust and dirt. I thought sanding might be the wrong approach, and what's needed is to find an effective way to deep clean the exposed timber and then just revarnish it. Am I talking nonsense?
I don't know if this site allows contact details but in case it does, and hoping you're still around and willing to help, my email is ed.fredenburgh[member=6422]Mac[/member].com
Many thanks in advance.

. If the stain is worn along with the varnish finish, a repair can be harder to hide once you’re down to bare wood.
Also, do you know the brand or type of finish that was used on the floors and stain if one was used.
A more hidden repair or touch up is easier with the same finish since there can often be subtle hues or amber tones among oil based finishes.
Water based for me anyway tends to be more clear.

 

[Cheese]

For professionally finished floors, 2 top coats are the norm.

If the chair legs wore the finish away, a felt pad on each leg will do wonders.

 

[Holzhacker]

Go to a rental place and rent one of this rotary buffers you see guys using in the lobbies of office buildings. Big round rotary buffer, high handle, guy walks behind it swirling it around. The pads come in different grits. You'll probably want a fine pad.
I've done it multiple times on rehabs when the the floors needed sprucing up but weren't worn enough to fully sand. Even picked up a buffer at the flea market. Don't know what ever happened to that thing. My flooring guy also uses it as a good option. Just make sure you vacuum well before applying new varnish.
As someone mentioned, if the stain is worn and color faded, buff & coat is not a good option.
On a related note, for you newbies, if a floor sanding proposal doesn't specify how many coats and what the product is, throw it out. Its a garbage proposal that isn't giving you the relevant information you need to know.
Also way too big of an area to do with a Rotex. I guess you could but not a good choice.

 

[Who2u]

Tried it cheap - belt sander, rotary sander, and carbide scraper on a 120 square feet room. Took over 3 weeks to do and I needed a new back. And it still looked sh[member=71857]T[/member]!
I also tried a citrus chemical peel on another room - Not quite as back-breaking as using hand sanders, but time-consuming and took 3 days. And despite full ventilation, the house smelled like sh[member=71857]T[/member] for days! Now that's just to remove the old sealers and finishes! Luckily I had a gas mask.
In the 3rd room, I used an American Sanders 07162A RS-16DC 16" Rotary Sander with Dust Control (Rent one for about $80 a day) and added an American Hydrasand head ($600). Got the next room done in a day. My Festool Mini vacuum did a wonderful job of keeping dust at bay - but not good enough. So wear a proper 3M respirator mask. I also used this sander to level the previous 2 rooms, all in a matter of hours! [cool] They look professionally done! I plan on using the RO 90 for edging when that arrives. A square buff floor sander will also be rented ($60 /day) when the time comes for finishing.
I plan on using Bona Classic seal and Bona Traffic HD finish. All the professional floorers rave about how it flows so well and self-levels so that you can even feather old Bona Traffic HD with the new. BUT it has to be Bona Traffic HD as it doesn't play well with other finishes or seals.
So the moral of the story is you can kinda do spot fixes, but you need to know what your original finish was.
Hope that helps potential cheapskates realize that there is no cheap solution. The whole house project will set me back $2000 (including new Festool toys) [big grin]. Or I can pay $5-7000 to get professionals in to do the job. [eek]