Five Days of Floor Sanding

On Monday afternoon I finished a tough 5 days of floor sanding with an industrial sander that I rented from Belmont Hire. 

Well protected for the sanding

I had told Paul that I thought it best to postpone the sanding until after the Christmas holidays because I didn't want to feel rushed and under pressure.  As usual he allowed his enthusiasm to cloud his judgement and he told me that I would be able the job in 2 days.  Allowing for the PO factor (Paul's Optimism) I concluded that I had a shot at completing the job - including the veranda - in 3 days.  (Hardy Har Har!)

I picked up the sander on late Wednesday evening along with 8 each of coarse, medium, and light sanding pads.  Paul had a look and told me that I should try starting off with the medium pads, in order to avoid having to go through all 3 grades in the floors. 

Sawing window frame on carton of my favorite beer

Kango ready to take on last layer of bricks

Messy hob job finished

All this was fine had it been an untreated pine floor, but the reality was that I would have to cut through two layers of super hard (lasted 35 years) 2-pack Estapol (http://www.wattylindustrial.com.au/documents/industrial/tds/timber/Estapol%207008%20%20v2.pdf) before reaching the super hard jarrah planks.  Then there was the problem of the floor boards not being exactly even, although they looked perfectly flat to the eye.  This meant that an extra few millimeters of sanding would be required.

After the 5 days of work and 2 trips to Belmont Hire for more coarse pads (I used a total of 17) the first stage of rough sanding was completed in the 6 rooms and hallway of the house.  I will keep the boards bare until Paul has completed the internal work of new walls and ceilings, followed up by my painting.  I will then take to the floors with a belt sander, working along the edges, corners, and remaining low spots that the industrial sander could not reach.  In the meantime I will be sanding the windows and skirting boards, which will also be painted.

I did not have time to sand the veranda, and just as well.  I figure now that using the industrial sander on the veranda will bring up a more serious problem of uneven boards, so I plan to sand each board individually with the belt sander.  The veranda does not require the same standard of work as the interior flooring, so I do not anticipate a very big effort, although the large veranda has the an area equivalent to 3 rooms.

Before sanding the living room I took the opportunity to remove two brick hobs that I had built on each side of the fire place in the late 1970's.  My mortar proved to be stronger than the brick and I had a difficult time removing the first two layers of bricks with a hammer and chisel.  I told Paul of my difficulty and the next day he delivered his Kango hammer drill which made the rest of the job much easier.

Paul also helped me out with a problem that I had in removing the kitchen door frame.  He delivered two very sharp hand saws that allowed me to make amazingly smooth cuts of the frame at floor level.