Published on 8 July 2010

Posted in Floor Sander Hire

So, after a highly successful and enjoyable floor sanding exercise, I became fascinated about the art of sanding floors, so I decided to delve deep into the science behind floor sanding.

When I went into my local floor sanding hire shop, the very helpful hire assistant handed me a variety of floor sanding sheets in different grit sizes, telling me to start sanding with the coarse grit sheets first, gradually working my way to the fine grit size for a smooth finish. Sensible advice from the expert in floor sanding hire services, but my natural curiosity led me to find our more about the use of sanding sheets and edge sanding discs.

Firstly, I discovered that although I had initially used a 40 grit sanding sheet on my sanded floor, there are even coarser sanding sheets! For heavy floor sanding or the levelling of wood floors in a rough condition, you can pick up 16 grit and 24 grit sanding sheets. 16 grit and 24 grit floor sheets or edge sanding discs are deemed to be extra coarse sanding sheets and they will remove hardened wax, varnish deposits and even tackle ingrained dirt.

My continuing investigations went on to unveil that 30 grit to 50 grit floor coarse sanding sheets and edge discs are just right for general floor sanding and they will flatten most wooden floors even if the floor is in a poor condition. These grit sizes are the most commonly used on normal wooden floors.

Medium wooden floor sanding sheets are labelled as 60 to 80 grit and these are ideally suited to carry out light sanding duties and the stripping of wooden floors in good and average condition. You can also use these sheets to re-sand floors that have been previously sanded and in need of some tender wooden floor renovation.

Fine floor sanding sheets and edge sanding discs come in 100-grit to 120 grit sizes. They are used to sand a wooden floor already in good condition, perhaps just looking for a little maintenance. Fine sheets are the natural progression from coarse and medium grit floor sanding sheets giving your softwood floor that nice smooth finish, ready to seal or varnish.

So to conclude, my probing into the use of floor sanding sheets confirmed that you should firstly assess the condition of the floor to ascertain which grit size you should start with and then continue to use the sheets in sequence, starting with the coarser grit sanding sheets first and progressing onto the finer sanding sheets and discs until you get a smooth sanded wooden floor. Most specialist floor sanding rental shops will offer you a selection of sanding sheets on a sale or return basis, meaning you can take a good amount back with you and then only get charged for the sheets or discs you actually use.

And there you have it, a little insight into the correct use of floor sanding sheets and edge sanding discs, of course your local floor sander hire shop will also offer you advice on how to fit them and get good use from the sanding sheets – so, as always, if in doubt ask!

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