I am debating refinishing my own 800 sqft of hardwood floors (oak). It consists of 2 bedrooms with small closets, 1 office, 1 hallway and a living room. Floors are original to house, 1950. It was carpeted some 20-30 years ago with a lovely shag. I have removed the carpet and every last staple. Those swiffer pads are amazing at finding missed staples. The floors appear to have never been refinished. So there is still some good thickness left in them for sanding.

My father-in-law did his kitchen in his old house 15 years ago with a drum sander. He is a perfectionist and he was pleased with the results. He is fairly confident he can do my floors and has offered, but I am hesitant to accept. Partially because I don't like to ask for help.

I have debated tackling the project myself. I would feel much more comfortable doing the floors with a usand device. Much harder to screw it up. My problem is I have a very demanding job and have concerns that 800sqft with a usand will take more than a week to get done. Also concerned it might cost as much as hiring a pro with rental fee and sand paper.

Throwing down several grand to a reputable contractor is an option, however, I finding one is an undertaking in its own. I am located in the South Western Connecticut area. 50 miles east of NYC. I am concerned I may find the wrong guy and get poor results. Can anyone make any recommendations or give me good questions to ask?

Contact Paul at Advanced Wood Floors.

He is in Milford Ct and is a member here.

His site is addwoodfloors.com

Well I bit the bullet and sanded the floors with my fatherinlaw. While it's fresh in my head I thought I would share my thoughts and discuss.

I must say using a drum sander is not that bad at all. After a few passes you get the hang of it. It did not wear down the floor as fast as I thought it would. The edger on the other hand is very physically demanding and extremely loud. I had to put ear plugs + headphones on.

It took two days but we went through all the grits 36 > 60 >100. Only 1 major mishap, I had the wife hold the power cord for the drum sander to keep it out of my way. Apparently she was taking a photo of me at the same time I handed it to her and her grip slipped and the power cord went right under the drum. Chewed through some of the hot conductor. Had to to lop off 6 feet of cord.

The home depot guy over-sold us on paper, thankfully they are returnable. We got 7 of each grit for both machines. They were Diablo brand paper, which I've used for my random orbit and they seem like a quality paper. I guess its a good thing to have too many, we burned through the edger discs far faster than the drum sander belts. Only used three 36 grit belts for ~800 sqft. You can tell after awhile the belts stop taking off material as fast. Based on the 36 grit wear we used 3 belts each for the 60 and 100 grit.

The 36 grit edger discs gummed up very fast. We had to make an emergency run to the store and get 24 grit edger discs. I think my fatherinlaw was being very aggressive with the edger and heating up the pads causing it to gum up. We got a little extra life out of the edger discs by knocking the gummed up edger discs with hammer. Managed to get the hardened "gum" off, but the 24 was definitely the way to go.
I did closets and about 4 feet of hallway entirely with the edger. It was a workout. Had to take a break every 15 minutes. It's nice to have a second person to trade roles. Working the drum sander is a nice relief after using the edger for a half hour.

For the area's the edger could not get to I used a nice sharp chisel + a mouse sander. Under radiators, corners, door jambs and places that would not be covered by quarter round trim.

When we were on the 36 grit with the drum sander the dust collection was getting clogged. Needed to empty the dust bag pretty regularly. The issue was the dust was so fibrous. I did not have any clogging issues with the 60 or 100. In total I believe we filled three 36 gallon trash bags with saw dust, not including whatever is inside my shop vac right now.

Overall it was not nearly as dusty as I thought it would be. I had a fan in one room sucking air out a window while I had other windows in each room cracked to let fresh air in. Granted, everything has a nice fine layer of dust on it that needs to be cleaned up. I put plastics over all my belongings in the basement, but I don't think this step was necessary.

Some other minor issues: Tripped 15amp breaker twice. Edger+ drum sander = more than 15 amps! Need to keep track of where the edger is plugged in! Found a few staples that we missed and had to set a few nails.

We can see chatter from the drum sander and swirl marks from the edger. I am blaming the chatter on the rental equipment. It was a Clarke brand sander from home depot. We rubbed some mineral spirits on the floor to get an idea what it would look like with a coat of poly and its not too bad. From 3+ feet away you can't see them. Only a pro would see the marks.

We put a coat of poly in a closet which was completely done with the edger and the swirl marks are not noticeable. I have considered renting one of those 3 (or 4) pad random orbit sanders, but I don't think it will be necessary. I bet it would eliminate the marks, but I don't think its worth the extra expense for a marginal improvement.

I'll be spending the next day touching up some spots by hand and prepping for poly. There are some black areas caused by water damage that cannot be sanded away. We are going to try bleaching those spots.

That's all I got for now. I'll report back with the end results and some photos when all is said and done.

DIY'rs are always so happy with the stuff they do to floors. Even though if they paid someone to do it they would have a conniption fit with the swirl marks.