Sanding floors - hiring someone VS doing it yourself

Tia_24

Afternoon

My partner and I have bought a house that has floor boards on the ground floor that appear to be in good condition i.e. most floor board nails are still intact, no broken boards etc.

I've had a look online and the cost of hiring someone and their machinery to come and sand the floor and the cost of hiring the machinery and doing it ourselves differ massively!! Being a MSE'er I want to save as much money as possible and would like to do it ourselves but how difficult is it? The DIY guides I've read on the topic make it sound easy but I'm not convinced, has anyone done this themselves? Can anyone give me any tips or suggestions about the best things to do or avoid?

Thanks in advance.

suisidevw

Have you moved into the house yet Tia?!

suisidevw

A good pal and myself did this before we moved into our house as the dust even though you get the bags etc is pretty great!

We hired a large drum sander and a floor edging sander and used a little hand held one for the corners which the edging sander didn't get into. We did two reception rooms and a hallway and understairs etc. We used Coarse, medium and fine sanding paper and it took a couple of days to do, but the quotes to get down was around £1k. THe equipment was less than £100 and we used Osmo Polyx Matt Oil which was £50, so £150 all in max!

Any questions, just ask, so in summary, definitely worth doing, it's hard work, dusty and machines are heavy, and it would help a great deal if you haven't moved in yet, (IF NOT, make sure you tape up and stick a wet dust sheet to every door!)

See pics below

ormus

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/floorsanding.htm

this article says it all really. not hard if youre ok at DIY.
make sure all the nails are punched in. you will need to hire two sanders.
use a belt sander if possible. much easier to use.

beware, its a very dusty job!

MichH

I used to work at a floor sanding company that did both the sanding for you and hired out the sanders so appreciate the cost difference. I would second Ormus' recommendation - go for a belt sander, they may cost a bit more to hire but you will get a much better finish.

I would also like to add you need to be quite physically fit to do the sanding, be prepared for aching muscles and tiredness! But you will have the satisfaction of knowing you've done it yourself.

Suisidevw - love your floors, wish mine were like that (I have straight wood flooring, awaiting sanding).

Edited to add: nearly forgot - you can hire 'dust free' floor sanders, these are belt sanders. They aren't 100% dust free, maybe 95%.

suisidevw

Cheers, as you say fitnesss is necessary and we're both pretty fit so that helped! That and the spur on of the price companies would charge!

WestonDave

Seriously thinking about doing this in our hall. Hidden under some pretty rank carpet is a parquet floor installed in the 1950's which we think might be a more practical solution (if properly sealed/finished) for us with two small boys who love being out in the wet etc, than replacing it with what would probably end up being a fairly pale carpet (even if we went for something like a seagrass or coir type carpet).

Does this sound like a sensible way to proceed?

Following Ormus' link gets me to a link to a sander hire company - what is the view of the trio sanders they hire out for parquet floors - are they better for the job or just a more expensive gimmick?

latecomer

We did ours a while back and I have to say I was really quite pleased with the result. The one thing to be very careful of is stopping moving the sander before lifting the drum. We managed to get a couple of barrel shaped divots out of the floors along one wall.

Tia_24

Thanks everyone!

Yes suisidevw we have moved in already so I'll guess we'll have to deal with the dust! Both of us are 25 and fairly fit (or I like to think we are) so we can cope with some aching muscles! Thanks for the tip of a wet dust sheet as well, I hadnt thought of wetting it down! And your floors are beautiful, ours are just straight planks but they will look lovely in the end.

Ormus, thanks for the link, I will have a read through, thankfully my other half is quite good at DIY.

MichH, thanks for the tip on getting a belt sander.

suisidevw

Weston Dave, you'll be able to get what you need from most hire shops! I think that the link Ormus shipped was expensive when we looked at it.

Latecomer speaks wise words, keep it off the floor unless you are moving!

Great Tia, we are both 25 too and it was fine. Let us know how you get on!

keith969

I wrote something about floor sanding a while back, may be useful:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=26852429&postcount=10