Sanding Maple Floors
When it hits a nail you ll hear it.
Sanding maple floors. That way you ll get a heads up on and hopefully the knowledge to avoid some of the problems you might encounter and some of the mistakes beginners make. When fine sanding maple floors always reduce drum pressure to its lowest setting and slow the drum speed if your machine allows for it. Many times on these old maple floors there is a type of coating that tends to gum up the sandpaper. You are most likely going to refinish one maple floor every few years so you will not get that many chances to practice.
Resand the floor edges. Use when there is a good deal of flattening of the floor needed. Use as the starting grit for floors with shellac finishes single layers of paint or some very hard floors like maple. So countersink all nails by at least 1 8 in.
Use a powered palm sander with fine grit sandpaper 200 to 300 to smooth the edges of. To detect nails drag a metal snow shovel across the floor upside down. Sanding a wood floor is a multi step process. If your floor had stain on it previously or you have a history of respiratory issues wear a face mask and safety glasses while sanding the floor.
Depending on the finish being applied anything finer than 100 grit may be too smooth always consult the finish manufacturer s directions. It had every imperfection you can think of. Sanding a maple floor is not like sanding oak. Avoid sanding maple too smooth.
A step by step video for a home owner on how to use various wood floor sanders and how to apply the finish. Sand with the grain moving the sander in a straight line from one end of the room to the other. Here are a few things i ve found that will help you in your sanding process if you find yourself having to sand one of these old maple floors. You can keep sawdust from getting into other rooms by covering entrances with plastic sheeting and masking tape.
Refinishing your hardwood floors is a task many homeowners prefer to do themselves but deciding on the necessary tools can be puzzling. I recently was asked to look at a maple floor to fix. When you re sanding nail heads will rip the sanding belt which costs you money or gouge the sanding drum which costs you more money. Sand the floor down to bare wood with medium grit sandpaper in the floor sander.
1 don t use too low of a grit. You will remove a lot of wood stock even when sanding the hardest of wood floor species. Drum sanding for hardwood floors.