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It appears I will be staying on floor refinishing for the next couple weeks. Such is life

Well crap. I don't think she likes your car very much.

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Wade Williams
Master Ferrari Tech
Restoration Tech
Engine Machinist
Fabricator
Racecar Driver

Ferrari is the f word in this house. Lana works very hard to come up with ways to keep me out of the shop because odd charge card expenses follow...imagine her "surprise" when the gasket bill arrived even though I hadn't been in the shop for months

I started with the drum sander yesterday and its going pretty well. Hopefully the floor will be done and drying y the end of the holiday weekend. Some painting will no doubt follow as it did on side 1 so maybe through the following weekend before I'm free and maybe running in August?

I did most of our house's floors with a drum sander. Upside: They're *fast*! Downside: They're harder to keep under control so you don't divot and they can remove more material than necessary, which limits the number of future refinishings. This is particularly true of softer woods (most of our floors are Douglas Fir).

I tried one of the 2-pad orbital floor sanders for the last couple of rooms. A bit slower but *much* easier to control and removes less material unless you're really, really good with a drum sander or you have hardwood floors and don't get too aggressive with sandpaper grades.

If you're doing great with the drum sander, carry on! If on the other hand you're a mere mortal like me, consider renting the orbital one.

Yes to all the sander thoughs. What I have is prefinished oak...red oak to be specific which is important later. The finish on refinished contains aluminum oxide, so it's really hard. And even though our boards are "square 4 sides", not beveled, the long sides they put fair large radius so it's hard to see, but the edges sit low by at least 20 thou which means quite a bit of sanding. So what I did on side 1 and am repeating but doing better on side 2 is start with the drum 36 grit to get the finished of and grooves out, then 60 grit.


Then rent the edger and same 36, 60 where the drum couldn't get.


Next they have a 3 pad orbital, I'll do 60 and 100 with that and same along the edges with a 5" orbital.. I know pros will do the finish with the drum and edger, but I'm no pro and as you say the orbitals are much more user friendly.

Then a defect inspection...fill anything that needs it, blend out any dings. Then 2 applications of a 2 step product (so 4 coats) called red out that gets rid of the red from the red oak. Dry 24 hours but that is a water base that raise gain so next a VERY light sand by with the 5" and 150 grit taking care not to get back into the red. Then a sealer that prevents the poly from getting into the wood and bringing up it's colors, then 2 layers of a catalyzed commercial poly (which is basically 4 coats of normal poly) with a 150 grit sand between coats and it's a "natural" floor that is anything but natural.