Published on 11 September 2012

Posted in Floor Sanding

““If I had my way, that’s what I would do to all of ‘em,” was the considered retort from my Father-in-Law, when I told him my next job was sanding a wooden floor in newly opened bar that had sprung up from a recently defunct well known High Street Bank. “Best thing for them,” he added with a sarcastic grin.

This was big old fashioned type bank, right in the centre of London, that had been extensively fitted-out with a lovely hardwood floor that covered all of the main bar area. “We are expecting a lot of foot traffic through here, “explained the bar manager, “so please make sure you use a good hardwearing floor varnish and sealant when you have finished sanding”, he added.

The wooden floor had been laid by a professional floor layer and was very flat, so my mind immediately went to a Lagler Trio floor sander a Bona edge sander and some, ever reliable, Bona Mega floor varnish. The Lagler Trio is an excellent finishing sander, but is not keen on undulations or unevenness, but as this wooden floor had been excellently put down, I was very confident that the Trio would sand the floor to a superb finish. So, in a few moments I was on to a London based floor sander hire shop, asking, “Can you get me a Lagler Trio, a Bona edging sander and 20 litres of Bona mega sealant into central London on Friday?” With an affirmative answer from the floor sander rental manager and an agreement to have floor sanding discs for both the Trio and Bona on a sale or return basis, the deal was struck for me to start work on Friday morning.

So, here I was again ready to start flooring sanding right in central London, armed with my hired- in Lagler Trio, Bona edger ready to sand this hardwood floor to a fine, smooth finish. I put the four 5-litre containers of Bona Mega wooden floor varnish in storage just outside the bar area

I was just about to plug the Lagler Trio into the mains, when an anguished shout came from around the door….. “Dust sheets! You haven’t put down any dust sheets, they’ll be dust everywhere,” the bar manager was pacing towards me looking rather ashen. “Don’t worry”, was my quick reply, “The Lagler Trio and the Bona edger are fitted with excellent dust extraction so there will be very little dust residue left when I’m finished,” I replied, as reassuringly as possible. I showed the manager how the dust collection system worked on both the floor sanding machines and he went off satisfied that I wasn’t about to deluge the bar with floor sanded dust.

With a flick of the switch I was away – sanding the wooden floor to a fine finish using 100 grit sanding discs. With a short stop for lunch, I was soon setting up the Bona edging sander with some fine grit sanding discs, ready to sand the floor edges right up to the skirting boards. The Bona is fitted with a handy ‘headlight’ which meant I could sand the edges in the dark recess of the room, particularly useful when sanding the floor right under the hot water radiators etc. When I satisfied that the floor was ready for the Bona Mega, I packed up the floor sanding tools and called the sander rental shop to come and collect the Lagler and Bona machines.

The next day I returned to start applying the Bona Mega to the freshly sanded wooden floor and with my brush in hand, I found it very easy to apply. Bona Mega is designed for quick drying, so I was content that I would be finished in time for the grand opening of the bar. I put down two coats of the floor varnish, which I deemed to be quite sufficient for this hardwood floor. Reminding myself that, Bona Mega is a waterborne floor finish that uses oxygen in the air to achieve cross linking. This gives it the performance and durability of a two part finish without addition of a hardener.

By Saturday evening the wooden floor was sanded, varnished, sealed and ready to greet the anticipated hoards of thirsty people of central London. The bar manager dashed over to me and pressed a clutch of “Grand Opening Night Free Drinks Vouchers” into my hand, saying “You’ve done a great floor sanding job here, well done.” I stuffed the vouchers into my back pocket and look back at the hardwood floor, nodding approvingly to myself that this was another professional sanding job completed successfully right in the heart of the capital.”

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