Do I need to hire a sander?

[T4tomo]

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.

Yes agree with this. I have used a hire standup sander, BUT I was getting 70+ year old original boards plus some reclaimed once to a standard where they could be the floor surface, rather than being hidden under carpet. If not careful you could take far too much off with one.

 

[MontyVeda]

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

technique. Lift it toward the end of each run. And yes, you need something else to get right up to the edges and into the corners.

I did a whole ground floor once with a tradesman who knew what he was doing. It took a week; one day prep, i.e. knocking all the nails a good 10mm into the boards and removing all the staples and stuff, otherwise they'll just rip the sanding sheets. A couple of days sanding; him on the big drum (diagonally) and me doing the edges. Two days vacuuming and dusting; despite sealing the stairs with dust sheets, it still managed to get up to the attic. I think all in all a quarter of an inch was ground off the boards. He did check the thickness of the boards first. Over the y6ears they've gotten thinner which limits what can be removed.

 

[swee'pea99]

Again, many thanks for all comments. Really helpful!

Bit of an update: I had a go in an obscure corner with white spirit+wire wool - it sort of worked, but it was hard going and didn't end up with bare wood. Looked like being pretty hard work too, given the areas I'm looking at. I ended up sending an email to Fiddes, who make the waxoil that was originally used and is now the issue, in the reddish areas, and got a swift response from their Chief Technical Officer asking for my number. (Excellent customer service, Grommet!) Over the course of a chat he persuaded me that waxoil being as tough as it is, removing it entirely would indeed require more than wire wool. So. I think I'm for some sanding.

Various comments upthread have only reinforced my gut instinct that a full-on hire sander would be OTT/overly-aggressive for my needs, and likely to be more trouble than it's worth. Also bearing in mind that this is indeed engineered timber, albeit with a 7mm top layer, so I don't want to go taking mm's off willy-nilly. Also, instinct tells me hire-shop jobbies are great for doing large unrestricted areas, and mightn't be at their best in situations like mine, where almost everywhere I want to sand is an edge/otherwise fiddly. I'm thinking my usual B&D hand sander (non-rotary) with medium/fine sheets.

The ultimate finish, incidentally, is slightly up in the air. Personally I'm minded to take it back to bare timber and seal it. Period, as they say. I actually like the natural greyness. If you've got oak, let it be oak, what? 'Er indores prefers a stained finish - if she had her druthers it would be reapply the mahogany, or whatever it was we used. We've been prevaricating for years on this sticking point, but I think I've finally worn down her resistance and she'd go with pretty much anything so long as it gets done.

Anyway, thanks again for thoughts - very helpful. I'll post back when I get round to doing it.