Alternative to sanding

A

ABYR

Guest
Does anyone know if any product that can be used as an alternative to sanding my floorboards. New house and the floorboards are in great nick apart from the usual, pain splashes etc....Is there a type of cleaner that we can buy to wipe the floors with, to remove the marks...other than having to sand them, prior to varnishing.
 
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Not aware of any. Unsealed wood will absorb stains, so to get it out, you have to take off the layers of wood that contain the stain...
 
There are some links within about sanding such as www.kevinboone.com/sanding.html or [broken link removed] which if you have a root around might give some info.

You might find something on [broken link removed] or you may find something else here [broken link removed]
 
The replies are much appreciated.
Can anyone recommend anyone in the greater Dublin area to have floors professionally sanded and stained?
I was thinking of spending around 400 euro for 4 bedrooms.
 
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4 bedrooms is 2/3 days work. You'll be doing well to get it done for that price.
i base the 2/3 days work estimate on having the 4 bedrooms ni my house, and they were also new boards as it was a new house. I didn't have any serious stains....I had mostly slight paint splashes....if, for example someone has chucked a tea bag in the corner and it has soaked into the wood its a disaster to remove. Stains like that soak right into the wood like varnish itself...
 
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I think you should live with the tea stain. You can use a fine grain paper when sanding so as to level the bumps, remove paint from the top (as distinct from seeping uinto the wood), stain and varnish with a goos brand, i.e., Rustins epoxy (not nice to apply but great stuff). Once normal wear & tear sets in, it will probably look fine ( I know I have not seen it ). Just be carefull about trying to sand all this stuff away.
 
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We are going to try to do at least one room anyway ourselves. main bedroom as we need to get our bed into it. There are only pain splashes on it, so sanding those off, the boards are in perfect knick as its a brand new house.
 
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If the boards are in good nick do NOT get a drum sander...get a finishing sander.
The drum sander is literally a big drum that rotates with a sheet of sand paper on it. It actually cuts away the top layer of wood to a notable depth. it is quite hard to use to be honest and you will 99.99% end up with groves where you managed to let the sander cut deeper on onw pass than the other. You can spend your whole day goign round and round tryign to flatten it out.
make sure you get a finishing sander, the ones I have used were square. A vibrating plate rests on a pad that has a sheet of paer under it. This is literally like a mechanical way of hand sanding..takes off far less of the wood, but in my case, which sounds like your case thats all you need. I did 3 passes on every floor. Grade 60, 80, 100. You also need to do the last inch near the skirting boards by hand....no way roundn that. i myself used a small hand held electric sander. You can also hire edging sanders if you like.
Hiring a sander to do only one room will work out quite expensive. I hired mine on a Fri evening, it was Oct bank holiday weekened...brought it back on the Tues and only had to pay i days hire.
Also, the sheets and the pads will double the cost. 4 quid a sheet ,4 quid a pad. Both wear out so you will need multiples fo each.

You also then need to sand very lightly between coats with around 250+ grade paper....and the biggest mistake you can make is to varnish with dust in the air, because the dust will settle, stick and your floor will feel rough rough!!!

I would also suggest using water based varnish...wasn't a believer in it myself....always thought it wasn't as good as the oil ones but it is.

We used 3 coats of water based Ronseal Diamond Coat of the Light Oak colour and a fourth coat of clear bvarnish over it. The advantage, (very important at this damp time of year) is the drying time, and hance recoating time. Waiting an hour to recoat is a lot lot better than waiting 12 hours.

Also, the guy next to me stained his boards first by hand, with the cloth and dye method. He told me he was gutted he went that way. Found it really tough to get consistent colour and foudn it incredibly tiring. Bear in mind that with varnish you can use a roller...

Any specific questions about my experiences...just ask!
 
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