Ok I'm going to Home Depot sometime this week to rent a sander, to get the dining room floor done. It's in rough shape, after 3 boys, several dozen dogs doing their business through the rug (found lots of black spots on the wood), so I need to bite the bullet and get it done. Any advice on models of sanders to rent, last time in I noticed they had several to choose from. Any tips on staining and sealing? All you home remodelers please step forward. Don't suppose anyone wants to just come do it for me? Gladly throw in a GLB841M custom built a few years back and 3500 Baitrunner, money is out of the question I've got a septic system to do next :(.

Home improvement Hell :)

Bob, those black spots may be harder to remove than you anticipate. You may have to fume them with ammonia. The black usually goes down deep into the wood :(

Have you ever sanded a floor before? It isn't for everyone, one slip up and you can do some serious damage. just warning you.

I've done 1 floor to many. GEt the mid. size or small stand up sander, for a small room, start with 80grit, if its that bad then onto 100grit. DON'T lift on the handles hard, let the sander do the work. Go with the grain of the wood as well. the edger works well with 100grit. here again don't push down on it, let it slide along the floor. Your going to go through alot of paper, don't try to make it last you'll only make the job take longer and melt the old finish and gum everything up making more of a mess. Those black stains, I dought they will come out.....paint the floor:D

O ! use only oil finish...............screw the laytex junk.

I've tore up hardwood floors, but never refinished them, here's a how to link: http://doityourself.com/woodfloors/

For your septic, I went thru Alan Dias a few years ago, I think he's out of Bryantville, I was happy with his work (toilets haven't backed up yet). It does look like a whale was buried in my backyard though, title V is tough, the bottom of the septic has to be 6 feet above water table.

Bob,

I too am a do-it-yourselfer,but this is one thing that you might just want to have someone come and do yourself. I paid $1000 bucks to have a guy come and do my living room, hallway, and two bedrooms. About 700 square feet. They came out beautiful.

No mess to clean, no dust to deal with, no machines to rent.

Renting the machines was about $100 bucks a day, and you have to rent two machines, sander and edger, TWICE.

So there goes $400 bucks, plus paper & poly.

The most important cost is YOUR time.

After you start to add things up, you might want to re-think doing it yourself.

when using the stand up sander, one very important thing. DO NOT STOP MOVING THE SANDER TILL THE SANDER ITSELF STOPS! it will eat a hole into the floor in a heartbeat. i did 2 large floors maybe 10 years ago and used polyurethene. floors came out beautiful and held up to kids and dogs. prep is everything. took awhile for the smell to clear. you will also need a small sander for the corners and edges. good luck

easy 1000 dollars you might do whole house looks beautiful clean and adds to the price of home

Bob,

Several years ago I sanded two rooms, a foyer, and some stairs. Changing the paper on the drum sander is a pain, doing the edges can be tough on the back. Next time, this is one home improvement project that I would let pros handle. Did any one mention wavey floors.

Good luck!

Bob-

I did some fairly serious damage to my sinuses and lungs by not wearing the proper particulate mask by re-sanding a floor a few years back.

If you're going to do it, anticipate that it will kick up a lot of nasty dust - get a respirator and do be careful of what you inhale.

Accccck.

-WW