If this is the first sanding you can get by with a small random to remove the mill marks.
What grit first sanding felt hardwood floor.
You need to sand the floor at least four times using a finer level of sandpaper each time for getting a smoothly nice hardwood floor.
We are using rubio monocoat as the floor finish.
Although we are sanding the entire first floor so far we have only sanded 1 2 of it.
Sanding a wood floor is a multi step process.
Floors that have been painted may even require you to go tougher and use 24 or 16 grit paper.
If this is the first or second drum sanding then feel free to lay down hard on those floors with a coarser grit provided the floor has imperfections that warrant this.
Don t be afraid to use new belts and more than one.
For refinishing a hardwood floor you will have to sand over that floor multiple times.
That is why we can sand and stop where we did and refinish in two phases the way we have planned.
So the first step to take is to determine the sequence of the grit of the sandpaper.
The finishers only smoothed the edges so the floor is not perfectly flat to prevent splinters.
It is a unique finish that does not create lap marks.
In our 1906 house the floors have never been sanded with a machine.
We call this process rough cutting.
None of it is rocket science but it will help you to read through all the sanding pages including first things first working with sanders and edgers and the sanding faq before you begin.
Start with 36 grit sandpaper for a floor that hasn t been sanded in a long time or that has a lot of heavy finish on it.
An edger can be difficult to control so practice your technique on scrap wood first.
Use an edger sander or small orbital sander to sand corners edges and small areas such as closet floors bathrooms or stairs.
Sanding hardwood floors our process.
The result is a fresh new looking wood floor.
80 grit should be ok for a natural finish poly with a random orbit sander.
On older floors the first step when sanding is to choose an aggressive grit like 24 grit per square inch to level the boards one to another and remove imperfections if possible.
As with the drum sander start with course grit paper and then move to finer grades.
When it comes to sanding a hardwood floor grit sequence is everything.
Not only would i advise against sanding i would advise you to lay down all new floors.
Just abide by all the sanding rules to avoid destroying your floors.
You want to start with a more abrasive grit and then use successively finer grits.