New homebuyer -Should I buy a cheap orbital sander?

Brokenlynx

Hi all, 

Looking for opinions here: I've recently bought a new upstairs flat in London. 

It has a decent sized living room (roughly 3.5m square) with 3m high ceiling which I'll be looking to paint two and a half of the walls and all of the skirting in. 

It also has a bedroom (4m x 3m) with 3m high ceiling that I'll also be looking to paint walls and skirting in. 

Would anyone recommend investing in a motorised sander (can be wired or battery powered) to speed up the job of initially sanding the paint? I've seen some in the sub £40 range that could be useful, but just wondering if this takes enough time off the job to consider making a small purchase for a tool in that and maybe one more instance. 

Opinions and questions welcomed. 

Thanks

benson1980

I have a number of different sanders including orbital and the one I invariably end up using, whether it be walls or woodwork, is the mouse/detail sander. But yes, I'd say definitely worth investing in one and they don't break the bank.

tacpot12

I would also recommend a Mouse sander for the woodwork. You don't need to do much more than scratch the surface to 'key' the old paint so that your new paint gets a good grip on it; that and to knock down any drips of paint or bits that have got stuck in the paint. 

The paint on the walls shouldn't need anyy sanding at all, unless it picked up small bits in the paint. If the walls need sanding all over, then you will want to consider a bigger sander than a Mouse, or possibly getting in a professional. 

macman

Please don't try sanding plaster walls!

Brokenlynx

Thanks just to clarify, all of the walls are solid. 

It sounds like you're saying a mouse sander would be good for the skirting and the walls should be fine to paint on anyways, I forgot to mention I'd probably need to sand a wooden kitchen work surface before applying some lacquer but I'd assume the mouse sander should be able to do this fairly easily.

Thanks for the help.

greensalad

I love mine, loads of uses. I have used it on the walls to smooth down filler (and I had a lot of places that needed filling!) but for a skirting board it's not much use. Too big. Skirting boards only need a quick sand to be honest to get the shine off before repainting. 

benson1980

On a slight sidenote but on the subject of painting skirting boards, are they painted gloss currently? I have tended to just sand ours when redecorating, but the last room I did I also used the Zinseer 123 primer after sanding. This has given a much better and more resilient finish- so worth a look as said if you are painting over gloss.

Brokenlynx

benson1980 said:

On a slight sidenote but on the subject of painting skirting boards, are they painted gloss currently? I have tended to just sand ours when redecorating, but the last room I did I also used the Zinseer 123 primer after sanding. This has given a much better and more resilient finish- so worth a look as said if you are painting over gloss.

I don't believe they are glossed at the moment, though I'll have to check. I'll take a look into the primer myself for when I start painting them next week though.

ThisIsWeird

The general advice being given is that the detail/mouse sander will likely be very useful for smaller and shaped surfaces, say if your skirting has a profile like ogee, or you have areas like door panels to tidy up. Keep it moving on such surfaces so's it doesn't dig in.

Walls would benefit more from a larger sanding pad if you find they are bumpy or uneven. You can get 1/3 or 1/2- sheet hand held sanding blocked (with comfy handles) or even ones mounted on poles. The idea is that they gently flatten and key large 'delicate' surfaces like painted plaster, without risking digging in. If you used a mouse to remove a wee bump, you'd likely end up with a larger hollow.

For the flat surfaces of the skirting boards, you could use the mouse, but keep it moving in back and forth sweeps so that, again, its edge doesn't dig in.

For wooden worktops - again a surface you want completely flat with no dips and ridges - you'd also generally want a larger sanding pad so as to be more even. Quite possibly a mouse will do this ok - tbh, I haven't used one - but you'd need to ensure it's kept sweeping evenly again.

I 'think' a larger pad would be safer, but happy to be corrected.
Another generalisation - choose an abrasive grade to match the need. For bumpy lumpy skirtings, perhaps a 'gentle' going over with even 80 grit IF there are big bumps or changing paint layers to even out, but go gently. Then on to 120 and/or 180. Work with the grain. 
Walls, I wouldn't go more coarse than 120, and then only for bigger bumps, and go gently. 

Worktop - how bad are they? Stained? Gouged? Try, say, 120, and a flat pad, and work along the grain. Don't focus too much in one area - always widen it out to blend.

(Apols if all that is egg-sucky)

mi-key

Mouse sanders are very good, but the pads can work out pretty expensive. What I do is buy large rolls of velcro backed sandpaper from ebay, 

GDB2222

One alternative to a mouse sander is an oscillating multi tool, which includes a sanding attachment.