Replies

1. 
   mrles | Nov 11, 2002 09:09am | #1

   Jay

   About 7 years ago I rented a large orbital sander 12" X 18"  pad (I think) from Lowes and used my 5" Porter Cable for the places I couldn't reach with the large one. I think the grit on the large machine was 80  and I used 150 on my 5". I didn't experience any problem and if I had any "swirlies" I didn't see any. Actually I did very little of the refinishing job. I had a couple of young fellows working for me I got them started about 9:00 AM and I returned the sander before 5:00 PM that day. This is a 3 bedroom, hallway, living room, and dining room. The house was empty and we had already taken off the quarter round and made a few minor repairs. They vacuumed the floor real good but didn't wipe it down like you did, so possibly I could have had some "swirlies" too. O yeah they had moped on the first coat of finish in that same time frame. That was where my big mistake came in. I used a water based finish, three coats, dry overnight, no odor, no sand between coats. no stay on floor either. It probably didn't last in high traffic areas 2 years.

   Are you refinishing floors or is this new wood also what kind of wood is it?

   Good Luck

   les 

1. 
   3puttjay | Nov 11, 2002 10:35pm | #3

   I am using a water based poly as well. The floor is hard rock maple. I sanded with 120 grit again, and I have noticed the marks are slowly disappearing.

2. 
   IanDG | Nov 11, 2002 12:09pm | #2

   If you are finishing with 150 grit then the polyurethane varnish will fill any remaining scratches and they won't be noticeable.
   Here is DIY guide to floor refinishing that Splintie and I prepared (I was dragged over from Europe to work on the hardwood floors in her remodel -- a sort of white-oak slave!) which may be of help.

1. 
   3puttjay | Nov 11, 2002 10:37pm | #4

   Thanks Ian,

   I have checked out this thread before, and I found it to be useful. It's a shame that you won't fly to Ohio to show me the ropes. I was wondering if you had any experience with Basic Coatings Street shoe water-based polyurethane.

1. 
   IanDG | Nov 12, 2002 03:11am | #5

   Jay,I have used waterborne coatings a lot because of their definite advantages but I haven't used that one. A very good resource is the Floormasters site and I'm sure they'll give you a professional heads-up on the Street Shoe.The floor sanding isn't at all difficult, believe me -- you'll soon get the knack of the drum sander and that's the only difficult piece of equipment to use. If you really are dubious, you can use the pad-sander to do the whole thing but it's much, much slower.

1. 
   mrles | Nov 12, 2002 07:09am | #6

   Ian

   I've never used a drum sander and was a little concerned about sanding the floors in my house. I had heard a drum sander in unskilled hands could be disastrous however when I tried to rent one no one had one to rent. The only thing available was the pad sanders. I paid my $20.00 deposit on their video and took it home. The gentleman on the opening of the video was standing in an empty room, His opening statement was " well the hard part is over, you've got the room empty". We found this to be true even in unskilled hands it was foolproof. I don't think you could hurt your floors with these machines. The house is 3BR, LR, DR, and hall solid oak floors. We started at 9:00 am finished before 5:00 pm and had moped on the first coat of finish. I don't see how you could do this any faster with a drum sander.

   The best compliment I've had  when I had vinyl put down in the kitchen one of the installers ask who had done my floors. He had his floors redone because He didn't feel comfortable using a drum sander. When I told him about the pad sander he was amazed. I've had a couple of friends do the same thing I did and were satisfied with the results.

   Good Luck with your efforts

   les