The Best Ways to Sand Wood Floors

Take Care of Cracks

• Before you begin, inspect your wood floor carefully and find any cracks or gaps. Fill in these gaps with grout designed for wood or wood-based filler. Some gaps are allowable, especially those small cracks between planks that allow the boards to expand in humid months, but any crack larger than a dime is a problem. You should always fill in cracks at the ends of the boards.

Use the Right Equipment

• Do not consider sanding by hand--rent an orbital or palm sander from a local hardware store for a day or two. Remember all your personal equipment as well, including goggles, a dust mask, gloves and earplugs. Be prepared to use an edge sander for hard-to-reach areas, pliers to pull staples, hammers to sink nails, and a variety of sponges and brushes to help clean and prepare the floor.

Make Several Passes

• Sanding is a several stage process. If you want a well-sanded floor, begin with coarse grit sandpaper and make only one pass. Switch to a finer sandpaper, then a finer one, until by the fourth or fifth pass, you are using an extremely fine sandpaper that will give the floor a smooth, level finish. Use the orbital sander before the edging sander.

Clean, Clean and Clean

• Cleaning is vital to properly sanding a floor. You should clean the floor before you begin sanding to properly prepare the floor and remove any oils or grit that may cause problems with the sander or make notches in your floor. After you finish sanding, you will need to clean the entire room in several stages, including using a vacuum cleaner, a broom and dry cloths. Do not use any type of wet cleaner on the freshly sanded floor, since the moisture will ruin the new wood.