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how do you sand a hardwood floor with a drum sander

by Madie Stiedemann Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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How to use a Drum sander?

  • Step 1: Preparation Prepare your stage before you start sanding. Means gather all the equipment. ...
  • Step 2:Choose the sandpaper Don’t just start with any grit. Decide what grit you are going to use depending on the state of your floor. ...
  • Step 3:Put on the sandpaper Some sanders have screws on the sanding pad. ...
  • Step 4:Start Sanding Now start the sander. ...
  • Step 5: Finish

Part of a video titled Sand a Floor with a Drum Sander and Edger - YouTube
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Lower your drum. So the to never crash. They meet slowly and gradually. So that you can neverMoreLower your drum. So the to never crash. They meet slowly and gradually. So that you can never exactly tell where the initial touch was made.

Full Answer

How do you sand hardwood floors?

To sand hardwood floors, start by renting a drum sander and installing a coarse grit sandpaper onto the sander, which will remove any noticeable damage or old finish from your floors. Then, sand the entire area at the same angle, moving constantly as you work.

Is a drum sander good for hardwood floors?

If you are sanding hardwood floors, a drum sander is an excellent tool to do the job. A drum sander is a large power tool with detachable sanding belts that will finish wood using abrasion.

How do you use a drum sander on drywall?

Tilt the drum sander before you switch it on so that the abrasive belt isn't in contact with the floor. Sand at 45° to the direction of the boards until you reach the adjacent wall and tilt the sander when you get to the wall before turning 180° and continuing with the next pass in the opposite direction next to the previous pass.

What is the best tool for sanding hardwood floors?

Hammer and nails. If you are sanding hardwood floors, a drum sander is an excellent tool to do the job. A drum sander is a large power tool with detachable sanding belts that will finish wood using abrasion. The abrasive sheets can be quickly replaced.

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How do you use a drum sander for hardwood floors?

1:595:05Heavy-Duty Drum Sander Rental | The Home Depot Rental - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipWhen starting your sanding pass you always sand in the direction of the grain of the wood. StartMoreWhen starting your sanding pass you always sand in the direction of the grain of the wood. Start moving the sander forward while gently lowering the drum to the floor. As.

How long does it take to sand a floor with a drum sander?

How long will it take? Three sanding passes with both the drum sander and the edger in one room of 140sqft takes the average customer, working alone, five hours.

What is the best way to sand a wood floor?

Use a floor edger or small orbital sander to sand corners, edges and small areas such as closet floors, bathrooms or stairs. An edger can be difficult to control, so practice your technique on scrap wood first. As with the drum sander, start with course-grit paper and then move to finer grades.

Do you push or pull a floor sander?

Drum Floor Sander It's similar in size to a small lawnmower. Like a mower, you push and pull it using a handle.

Should I mop floor after sanding?

Sanded wood floors that do not have a protective coat of polyurethane should not be cleaned with water, unless you want to risk unsightly water rings. Yet, a more thorough way of cleaning the fine dust particles from a sanded wood floor left behind after vacuuming or dust mopping.

What grit is best for sanding hardwood floors?

Start with 36-grit sandpaper for a floor that hasn't been sanded in a long time or that has a lot of heavy finish on it. Floors that have been painted may even require you to go tougher and use 24 or 16-grit paper. Maple floors are so hard that they often require 36-grit sandpaper as well.

How many sandpaper do you need to sand a floor?

What is this? If your floorboards are 'just' dirty or have a thin coat of paint on them, starting to sand with 24 grit sandpaper should be sufficient. If your floorboards are really uneven or painted in a thick coat of paint, you will probably be best starting to sand your floors with 16 grit paper.

Which is better orbital or drum sander?

Orbital sanders are much easier to control. They can sand both the field or 'body' of the floor and the edges, which a drum sander cannot. Once you work up to the finer grits, orbital sanders produce a much smoother, less scratchy surface. They are cheap.

What to Do After sanding the floor?

After sanding, once the dust has settled , vacuum everywhere, then wipe the floor with white spirit and leave to dry completely. Apply varnish to seal the wood; you can do this using a floor pad. Varnish floor pads come in a plastic container with the varnish.

Can you go back and forth with drum sander?

1:5120:39Sand a Floor with a Drum Sander and Edger - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipWith this handle you cause the sanding to happen. So really the only two positions there's there'sMoreWith this handle you cause the sanding to happen. So really the only two positions there's there's not sanding. And sanding. You think that it would be a pretty easy machine to operate.

Can you pull a drum sander backwards?

Now, you will pull the tool backward along the same path to complete the sanding pass over the same section of floor. As you begin to walk backward, lower the moving drum onto the floor. Again, lift the drum as you reach spot where you started.

When sanding a floor do you go with the grain?

Sanding with the grain produces a smoother surface because it doesn't effect the micro-structure of the wood the way sanding across the grain does. Sanding across the grain really tears the fibres of the wood and helps to remove the worn surface very quickly.

Can you sand a floor in a day?

4. So how long does it take to sand a floor? If you're using both the electric sander and the edger in 140 square-foot floor space, it will take you roughly 5 hours to do three sanding passes. Another thing you must take into account is how old your house is.

How long would it take to sand a floor?

How long does it take to sand a floor? It can take 1-5 days for a professional and 2-15 days for a DIY enthusiast, depending on the size and condition of the floor. For planning purposes, it would take 1-day per room for a professional and 2 days per room for a homeowner doing DIY.

How long does it take to sand and finish a floor?

Hiring a Professional. If you hire a professional to sand your hardwood floor, it's likely that you'll also hire them to refinish it. It will typically take between 2-5 days to refinish hardwood floors.

How long does it take to sand 1000 square feet?

three daysFor a natural (no stain) sanding job with our Economy Option Oil-Based Finish System, the minimum amount of time needed to complete a job of 1000 square feet is three days. We recommend at least three coats of oil based polyurethane, including a sealer coat as a minimum for hardwood flooring.

How to keep a drum sander tilted?

In this position, you can wrap the sandpaper belt around the drum. Plug in the electrical cord to a power outlet. Turn the sander on to check if it works or not.

What do drum sanders need to do their job?

An important thing drum sanders require to do their job is sandpaper. The drum has a loop of sandpaper attached to it, and it continually moves to rip down the wood.

Do drum sanders damage hearing?

Check to make sure you have safety goggles, ear protectors, and a dust mask. Drum sanders release a lot of dust during their operation, which can be very harmful, so a dust mask and safety goggles are necessary. They are also very noisy, and using them frequently can damage your hearing.

Can you sand hardwood floors with a drum sander?

After reading this, you should have a good idea of how to sand a hardwood floor with a drum sander. While the process is easy, you should be very careful when using a drum sander and take the necessary safety precautions.

Can a drum sander leave marks on the floor?

The problem with using a drum sander is that it’s powerful enough to leave unwanted grooves or marks on the floor if kept stationary. So it’s recommended you have your route planned out, so you avoid standing in one place for too long.

How to sand floorboards with drum sander?

Tilt the drum sander before you switch it on so that the abrasive belt isn't in contact with the floor. Lower the sander and sand along the length of the floorboards from one wall to the opposite end of the room. When you reach the wall tilt the sander up to avoid damaging the floor. Follow this process for the whole floor area by moving over for every successive pass making sure that each pass overlaps the previous one to prevent misses. Use a small sander to complete any missed areas.

What is the best tool to sand hardwood floors?

If you need to sand a hardwood floor, a drum sander is the tool of choice to do the job. A drum sander is a large power tool with detachable sanding belts that will remove a layer of the floor surface by abrasion. The abrasive sheets can be quickly replaced. Since you will probably not do such jobs on a regular basis, you may want to just rent a drum sander, usually available for around $40 a day.

What grit to use for varnish?

If your floor requires removing a layer of varnish, you should start with a coarse grit between 40OC and 80OC grit —OC standing for open coat abrasive. This will prevent the belt from clogging too quickly. For a bare wood floor or after the floor is sanded down to the bare wood and is in reasonably good condition, you'll then need to use sandpaper with a finer grade abrasive at around 120 grits in order to smoothen out the wood surface and to remove the deeper scratches from the coarser sandpaper.

What is Drum Sander?

Drum Sanders are giant abrasive covered sanders that are normally used for sanding & refinishing floors or deck. It flattens the floor & makes your floor looks clean.

Where to Rent a Drum Sander?

It doesn’t make any sense to buy such a highly-priced machine for random uses. You can rent it from your nearby woodworking shop.

How to fit a paper belt around a drum?

But, just remember that it must fit tightly around the drum. That is, you should not be able to revolve it freely around the drum even if you try to. Other than that, make sure that it is centered. Once the belt is attached, close the door that covers the belt and moves to the next step.

What is the purpose of the drum maneuver?

The purpose of this maneuver is to make sure that at no point the drum touches the floor when it is standing still. The drum must touch the floor only when it is rolling forward.

Can a drum sander resurface hardwood floors?

But the problem is that, when it comes to using a drum sander to resurface a hardwood floor, many things may go wrong if things are done improperly. After all, although a drum sander is a pretty simple tool, it is still a very powerful machine, capable of doing as much harm as good.

How to sand a floor with a sander?

Install coarse grit sandpaper onto the sander. Load the coarse sandpaper around the drum so it is perfectly aligned, securing the trailing end of the paper, then the leading end. Some sanders secure this with screws, while others have a snap bar and may require sandpaper shims. For most floors, 36-grit sandpaper is a good place to start. If your floor does not have serious damage and only has a thin layer of finish, you may be able to skip this step and start with 60-grit sandpaper instead.

How to sand a floor at a slight angle?

Sand at a slight angle to the grain. For the first stage of sanding, you can move at a 7 to 15 degree angle to the direction of the boards. This will help level slight variations in the floor. It also minimizes the chance of "dish out" or "waves," when a loose or uneven floor gets sanded more in some spots than others.

How to use drum sander on a closet?

Choose a closet floor, or a spot that's normally covered by furniture. Lift the drum sander off the floor, and run it until it reaches full speed before lowering it. It will move immediately, so be prepared to start walking. Move at a steady pace, then lift the sander before you turn it off. Get the hang of this before you move to the rest of the floor. Turning the machine off or on while it is on the floor will leave a mark on your floor.

When to empty dust bags on a sander?

Empty the sander's dust bags when they get half full.

Can you use a standing orbital sander on flat floors?

Blow out any dust from the machine before adding sandpaper. If your floor is flat with no noticeable warp, you may use a standing orbital sander instead (not a handheld one). This is easier to use without damaging the floor, but it tends to take longer. ...

When did lead stop being used in flooring?

Consider the chance of lead. Many older homes contain lead in the floor finishes. This practice ended in 1978 in the US, the 1990s in Canada and Australia, and the 1920s or earlier for most other Western countries. If your house was built before the ban in your country, consider hiring a floor finisher with lead certification to test your floor and refinish it safely. If you do decide to sand an old floor yourself, take these precautions:

Can you sand hardwood floors before installing new flooring?

Hardwood floors can be sanded many times, but if they're in an old house, they may have been sanded many times before. At that point you may need to install new hardwood flooring.

How much does a drum sander weigh?

It usually weighs in excess of 50kg and has a large spinning drum which holds the sandpaper.

What do you use to remove old wood from a floor?

In most cases, it is necessary to start with a drum sander to remove the old finish and the top layer of wood.

What is an orbital sander?

An orbital sander is a small handheld device sander that oscillates. This means that rather than the whole disk spinning on its centre access, it oscillates in the pattern illustrated below. This makes it a lot easier to control as a spinning disk can kick out in every direction. An orbital sander will create a scratch pattern of little swirls.

How long does it take to remove 1mm of wood from a floor?

What are the benefits of using a drum sander? A drum sander can remove 1mm of wood from the surface of the floor over 200sf in approximately 30 mins. This can vary due to different types of woods and different finishes on the surface as well as types of abrasive. An orbital sander might achieve this in a day.

Do you have to rock the drum back or lean it down?

The drum is always in contact with the floor, but in order to change the belt or turn the machine on, you have to rock it back or ‘lean it down’. As you can probably tell, English was my weak suit at school.

Who owns HowToSandAFloor?

Ben Osborne is the owner of HowToSandAFloor.com. He is a professional wood floor refinishing specialist with 15 years of experience. Ben is responsible for almost all the content on this website. He also owns a floor sanding and restoration company.

Can you sand with a drum sander?

You can’t (or should n’t) finish sand the floor with a drum sander. This means the last pass of sanding before you vacuum and start putting stain or lacquer down. A long time ago when I was taught the wrong way to sand floors, we finished floors with the drum sander. Just sand the floor with 120, do the last pass with the edger, then start lacquering or even staining. I am very embarrassed to say this. We never could figure out why it always looked terrible. This is probably how most DIY’ers will sand their floors, especially those who haven’t found this website. The linear scratch pattern will be visible in the finish. Whereas random orbitals are great for doing fine smooth sanding.

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What Is Drum Sander?

  • Drum Sanders are giant abrasive covered sanders that are normally used for sanding & refinishing floors or deck. It flattens the floor & makes your floor looks clean. These sanders spin at very high speed & gives a smooth finish to the floors. It removes the upper layers of the floor and
See more on sanderspoint.com

How to Use A Drum Sander?

  • As mentioned above, drum sanders are comparatively difficult to use, they need some practice & skillset to be properly used. If you are completely new to sanding, then make sure if you can do it without damaging your floor.
See more on sanderspoint.com

Where to Rent A Drum Sander?

  • If you are a home user who sometimes needs a drum sander to sand the floor, then renting the sander is the best option for you. It doesn’t make any sense to buy such a highly-priced machine for random uses. You can rent it from your nearby woodworking shop.
See more on sanderspoint.com

Conclusion

  • Although the drum sander is not the most favorite tool among the users. But if used properly, it will get your job done quickly & perfectly. So, if you are new to sanding, you can hire a professional woodworker to get your job done. But if you follow the steps properly, you also can use the drum sander properly.
See more on sanderspoint.com

1.Videos of How Do You Sand a Hardwood Floor with a Drum Sander

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