Do I need to hire a sander?

[swee'pea99]

Laid about 12 years ago, our kitchen floor's looking a bit tired and in need of a pick me up:

The reddish hard wax used when it was laid has worn away other than at the edges, and the rest is basically bare wood.

My thinking is to use my trusty Black & Decker hand sander to remove the last of the hard wax, give the whole thing a good scrub with an old-skool hard bristle brush and some kind of cleaner - soda maybe? - rinse and leave to dry, then seal with new (uncoloured) hard wax.

My nearest & dearest are agreed that I am an idiot, and a full on standup hire shop sander will be required.

My question is: why? Sanding is to make things smooth, yes? Well, the floor is wonderfully smooth already.

So why take material off? Yes, Jens hired one, but Jens was reviving a hundred year old pine floor; this one is oak, and barely north of a decade. It's totally unflawed - no nicks or scratches - so why sand it?

So, am I an idiot?

Any thoughts/experiences/handy hints & tips much appreciated.

 

[MontyVeda]

a big floor sander is for sanding floorboards flat, but they're also a lot quicker than a small hand sander if you just want to remove the finish, but you'll still need a small hand sander for the edges.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Isn't there a solvent you could use to lift the wax off. A lot less dusty going that way (and easier). Just a thought.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Osmo-3029-...hvtargid=pla-2281435178338&psc=1&gad_source=1

 

[Marchrider]

try some white spirit with a scouring pad or wire wool (rub with the grain), and give the white spirit time to work, because if it is wax that is probably all you need (obviously try a small area in a dark corner first)

 

[PaulSB]

Why? There's nothing wrong with the floor. You'll have to do a great deal of very hard work to improve it.

I'd save my time and money.

 

[swee'pea99]

First off, many thanks - lots of food for thought! First off, It Must Be Done.

Second, the white spirit/steel wool sounds a good first punt. In a dark corner, as you say. Or maybe that solvent. Either way, it sounds right to me, and a better first choice than even my hand-sander. Why remove wood - there's nothing wrong with the wood. Least invasive that does the job, I would've thought.

Any other thoughts more than welcome, but in the meantime, thanks again for the help - much appreciated.

 

[Kingfisher101]

Looks alright as it is. I'd just give it a brush, a wipe down and polish. No point faffing about, things get character with wear as long as its not rotten or falling apart or a trip hazard its fine.

 

[CXRAndy]

I presume the wood flooring is engineered with a layer of hardwood glued on top? For small areas I would use a orbital/oscillator type sander. Big upright sanders are very powerful will do the job in minutes for a small area-BUT they can remove lots of material very quickly and you will likely have on 4-6mm of veneer hardwood. They can also create lips in the surface if not careful and finally, I've yet to come across a rental floor sander that has a perfectly sealed bag collection. They will fill the whole room in dust, you will spend ages cleaning up
Wear a respiratory whilst doing the job whether big or small sander

 

[Profpointy]

Given it looks in basically good condition and flat, and above all seems to some kind of "engineered flooring" where presumably the pretty top layer is quite thin, I doubt you want to us a great big floor sander on it as there's a lot of risk of ruining it. These pro floor sanders are really for flattening old floorboards and stripping 100 years' worth of paint and varnish off same.

Maybe a portable sized sander with a fine sheet or perhaps fitted with a pan-scourer type nylon pad just to key the surface, the re-oil with one of the hard wax oils like Osma. Maybe don't sand at all, but check any new finish is compatible with the old before going the full hog

 

[Marchrider]

I presume the wood flooring is engineered with a layer of hardwood glued on top? For small areas I would use a orbital/oscillator type sander. Big upright sanders are very powerful will do the job in minutes for a small area-BUT they can remove lots of material very quickly and you will likely have on 4-6mm of veneer hardwood. They can also create lips in the surface if not careful and finally, I've yet to come across a rental floor sander that has a perfectly sealed bag collection. They will fill the whole room in dust, you will spend ages cleaning up
Wear a respiratory whilst doing the job whether big or small sander

it could be, but those shrinkage cracks make me think this is the real thing

what is the intended final finish ? I'm guessing a bit, but the original is likely to have been some sort of carnauba wax, (bees wax could be too soft for a floor) and carnauba wax needs to be applied with a powered buffing wheel to create the heat for a good finish, easy to apply before the wood is laid, more difficult I guess when it in situ

 

[CXRAndy]

Our old house had engineered oak flooring throughout over 200sq metres. We used Osmo floor oil. Brilliant product, easy to apply (needs several days to achieve full product). Come renovation, sand back worn area re apply, no edges, it just blends old with new oil.

https://osmouk.com/

 

[Profpointy]

Our old house had engineered oak flooring throughout over 200sq metres. We used Osmo floor oil. Brilliant product, easy to apply (needs several days to achieve full product). Come renovation, sand back worn area re apply, no edges, it just blends old with new oil.

https://osmouk.com/

Osmo is bloody good stuff. Indeed it should be at the price but it is superb

 

[Psamathe]

If it's wax they you might find yourself getting through a lot of sanding belts of disks as likely to clog frequently requiring more belts/disks.

I've always found the walk behind drum floor sanders difficult to do a good job in that they readily sand out a hollow at the end of each run ie walking along the floor boards is good and even but at the end stopping and starting to pull back and drum has sanded a small depression.

I'd explore chemical options to remove it as others suggested (though I have no idea which chemicals would be appropriate. Or I'd maybe try a cabinet scraper see it that removed it and is practical.

Ian

 

[Psamathe]

Nb whenever I've used floor drum sanders (hire ones) they never get to the edge properly so you (OP) would have to do something to get right up to the edge. I believe you can hire floor orbital sanders but never seen one so no idea about them (availability, costs, use, etc.).

Also you may end-up having to sand the entire floor as the sanded edges will expose underlying timber which may be a different colour from the main area where gbe wax has all worn away - hence ending up sanding the entire floor (perhaps).