Sanding and varnishing floorboards

oxygen_old

Hey. As you might see from a previous thread of mine, I just lifted the carpets in my relatively old house, and there are oak floorboards underneath. I intend to sand and varnish these, was just wondering if anybody had any suggestions on how to go about it? Which varnish is most long lasting, staining etc.

A friend told me to sand varnish, re sand and re varnish? He didn't say what varnishes or why I would revarnish twice.

I have a 4 inch belt sander that I own. thx

wasim21k

i did this, sand floor boards are not easy task, few things i want to share here which i learn from this experience always buy knee pad and never ever buy cheep it worth spend few € extra on them.
buy two type of sand paper hi grade and low.
first rough sand all floor board and them use fine sandpaper.
now about varnish its up to you what colour u want and what type of finish you need. if you sand between varnish coat it will be a professional finish but again depend on you if you want to do it, there is different sandpaper for this purpose.

ooh sorry about varnish two time first time, you'll see varnish is just vanish before you finish room. so you need 2 coat of varnish minimum.
for good price shop around and buy varnish for floor as floor varnish is hard and lost long.
and good luck

fatboypee

I can add to this a bit too:

1. DEFINITELY buy knee pads.
2. If the areas are large consider renting the big heavy sander from the hire shop, especially if you've old floorboards.

3. Sanding and varnishing between coats is a pain in the a*** but WELL worth it.

4. I used a solution of white spirit and water to clean the floor after each sanding, being very thorough before the last coat of varnish.

5. I used Diamond Coat varnish and a bristle brush (lightly), I tried the floor rmohair roller but it didn't give a good result for me. Diamond coat is expensive but IMHO worth every penny as the finish is really good.

Lastly, its a royal pain to do (and get right) and if you know a reputable chap who is cheap enough, in hindsight I would have considered paying him to do it... (could'nt afford it then or now tho)....

FBP.

loyatemu

its a dirty annoying job (and I used a proper floor sander - I imagine it would be fairly backbreaking with a belt sander).

if you can afford to, pay someone to do it.

oxygen_old

thx for the feedback guys. Yea, I dont want to, but I will have to put down
two layers of varnish. I bought some knee pads all right.

lads if ye are still around I have a couple of questions:

wasim21k; Will sanding between coats of varnish not just lift the previouse coat of varnish?

fatboypee, when you used white spirit and water to wash the floorboards after sanding, did it mark/soak in to the floorboards at all? What mix did you use?

thx

oxygen_old

yea, might rent an orbitalsander. Was worried that it would leave an orbital(circle) mark on the floor tho.

Cant afford to pay someone to do it, I have a couple of weeks off from work coming up anyway

fatboypee

Leave the windows open, the White Spirit solution evaporates very quicly leaving no trace. What it does is it removes any possible grease from the surface, letting your varnish take better... Sanding between coats gives a real glassy shine effect as it evens out the layers. The top coat is really nice after that.

2 coats ? Nah, at LEAST 2 coats. I did 3 and it looks superb.. (kness still not the same but hey)...

FBP.

wasim21k

what i did in first coat i just varnish and then let it dry after second coat again just varnish it without spending time that much (quickly mean without touch work or redoing) and let it over night and in morning i sand it and after that varnish and it took about 2 hour for one small room. for finish.

oxygen wrote:

wasim21k; Will sanding between coats of varnish not just lift the previouse coat of varnish?