Hardwood Floor / RO Sander

[Mike Burke]

Hello, I am planing on upgrading my orbital sander.
I need to do some hardwood floor work in our hallway and need something more that my little palm orbital sander.

Looking at the Bosch ROS65VC 6 or ROS65VC 5

Just wondering what you think about size...the 6" or the 5" ?

I'm thinking the 6" for starters beings I will be on the floor doing some large areas. Then later getting the 5" plate.

Any suggestions ?

Thanks

[Rod Sheridan]

I would suggest renting a floor finishing sander for that job....Rod

If you want a ROS, buy a Festool or Mirka......Rod

[Donald Cole]

The depot rents RO floor sanders now and they are great. If you are doing a significant amount of floor they are worth getting.

[Mike Burke]

Thanks Rod...
I will be renting a floor sander. I have done 4 bedroom floors so far but now we are in the hallway and the Douglas Fir flooring is running perpedicular to the walls.
The hallway is only 43" wide so I cant run the drum sander against the grain....so I am have to use the edger on all of it.

The RO is for the last finishing stage of sanding...and scuffing in between coats of the finish.

[Dan Hulbert]

I'd check around a bit and look for a jitterbug sander. Think vibrating sander that uses 12x18 or larger sanding sheets. I rented one from HD in MA many years ago to do a floor and it worked great. Easy to control, gets right up to the edges, never needed and edge sander.

[Richard Wolf]

I have this Bosch sander and think this may be better for your need. It's a great sander, but I wish they had a 5" version;

https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-Variable-Dual-Mode-Electronic-1250DEVS/dp/B0001408SO/ref=asc_df_B0001408SO/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310828259700&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14918068672884758199&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009900&hvtargid=pla-567687828882&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=65583250281&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=310828259700&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14918068672884758199&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009900&hvtargid=pla-567687828882

[Tom M King]

Lowes, around here at least, rents these. It is a giant, heavy ROS with three heads. It would do your job fine, and is not hard to operate. Much, Much better than on your hands and knees.

https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-203939-Varathane-Finish-Sander/dp/B0078IUXO0

[Scott T Smith]

I would suggest renting a floor finishing sander for that job....Rod

If you want a ROS, buy a Festool or Mirka......Rod


^^^ What Rob said.

^

[Tom M King]

An edger is a lot of work, and it's easy to screw something up with one. You have to run it bending over, and it's a straight disk sander.

The machine I linked to had three random orbit heads. The disks are hook and loop, and come a few to the pack. Buy more than you need, and any unopened packs can be taken back to Lowes with no questions asked. It would be almost impossible to screw something up with it.

The machine is heavy though. That's what does the work. It might weight a hundred pounds. The dust collection is very good. The little bag does need to be emptied fairly often, but it's not hard to do.

I have a lot of experience finishing floors, or at least one every year for 33 years, and a few since then. I used to own a drum sander, but sold in the early '90's. I used the machine I linked to for finishing an Oak floor in an addition on our house in a 16 x 24 foot room. It might have taken a couple of hours to go through all the grits, but I don't remember exactly. It's not much work running it. The work is in getting it in, and out of the truck.

There are a number of variations of such RO floor sanders, and any of them should do about the same thing that this one will.

I'd advise to skip the edger. I've never seen a pro run one that didn't end up needing some scraping here, and there, and you are guaranteed to have some gouges in that floor with one.

[Mike Burke]

Thanks Tom,
Have you used the machine you linked...or any RO floor sander for refinishing old floors ?
You might see in my photo that ours is old fir that has shellac on them.
How do they cut the old shellac off ?
Thanks

[Tom M King]

Once. I refinished a 1934 Pine floor with one. I can't remember the size of that floor, other than it was 40 feet long on the third floor. It did a nice job. Don't skip grits. They have information at the machine display, in the paint department of Lowes, that includes how many disks you need per square foot.

Start with the coarsest grit, and it will cut the finish off. It's certainly not as hard to take off as a modern floor finish.

Tilt the machine up in the store, and make sure the Velcro is in good shape. Also, pick one that the skirt is complete all the way around, and have a strong helper handy so you don't break one of the plastic pieces that holds the brushes around the perimeter. I unloaded one by myself once, and broke one of those pieces. The handles on top of the lower, round part are in the right place, but it's much better with two people.

[Mike Burke]

I have used a drum sander on our other rooms so I understand about the grit progression. These Douglas Fir floors tend to me a little soft in areas and sand pretty easy once you get down to the fresh wood.
Nice Straight grain though.

How close do these machines get to the edge ? Will I still need to get the edger for the edges ?

[Tom M King]

You will not need an edger. I scrape the corners. You don't say where you are, so I have no idea what you have access to. I use scrapers sold by Horizon Forest Products, which is a chain supplier to floor pros.

They have scrapers made, with no brand name, but use Red Devil blades. I like them better than any I've used before, and I doubt I have missed trying many. I use a 1", and sharpen it with a 6 or 8 inch smooth file. You might think a wider scraper will do more work, but you can put more pressure on the narrower blade. Their plain, wooden handles are large enough to press down with one hand, and pull with the other.

[Mike Burke]

I live in southeast Iowa...there is a menards close by and looks like they have the machine that you linked to for rent.
I can scrape and sand the corners easy enough. I have had to do that on the other rooms I'v done.
A lot of the shellac chips of when I scrape it...that old shellac is nasty stuff. I always wear a mask.

So they get right up to the base board ?

I do have 3/4" quarter round that I put on the bottom of the base.

I'm looking at your site...impressive !!

[Tom M King]

It's been a while since I've used that machine, but I don't remember having to do anything along the edges. I think the disks go out to the edges of those brushes. If not, it won't be much, and with what you've done so far, I'm sure you can figure it out.

[Mike Burke]

Here is just part of the hallway that I am going to work on. Thank Tom for your advise
405174

[Jim Andrew]

I purchased the Bosch ros65vc just a couple weeks ago, and it is an awesome sander. Both the 5" and 6" pads work on it. I would probably rent the big ros sander from the big box store, using the roughest grit paper they have, and use the Bosch sander to sand it down finer before you finish it.

[Tom M King]

That machine will sand it plenty smooth enough. I have a floor buffer that is normally used for final sanding before finish, but never needed to use it when renting that machine. It might be worth using a small one between coats of finish. I do use the buffer for that.

[Mike Kees]

Tom is the sander you are talking about a Large RO ,like 24'' across ? I have used one like this to do 2-3 floors ,operates just like a power trowel.When I needed extra weight I just got one of my kids to sit on it.:D I also rented a drum sander once and that did not work out as nice.

[Tom M King]

These have three round 6" (if I'm remembering that right-might be 8") random orbit heads. The machine is plenty heavy enough by itself, but is easy to glide across the floor at whatever speed you want to. One slow pass with each grit works fine-no need to move it all around. I think the large square, or rectangular ones are more for between coats of finish. This does the whole sanding job. I think it's about impossible to dig in anywhere with it. You just pull the handle down to the floor to tip the bottom up, and the sanding disks are hook and loop to change. I even sanded the top of a large dock with one once.

[Mike Burke]

Sounds like I'll be looking at that machine Tom.
Thanks for your input and expertise. It's helping a lot.
I have used the edger and it is Easy to screw things up in a hurry.


I purchased the Bosch ros65vc just a couple weeks ago, and it is an awesome sander. Both the 5" and 6" pads work on it. I would probably rent the big ros sander from the big box store, using the roughest grit paper they have, and use the Bosch sander to sand it down finer before you finish it.

Thanks Jim for your comment on the sander. I'm looking at it for a replacement for my small porter cable palm sander.

[Peter Christensen]

I had a buddy sand his Oak dinning room floor with a 6" air powered Dynabrade RO sander. He sanded off all the finish and then went through the grits to at least 180, he had a ready supply of sandpaper. It wasn't a sander with a vacuum attachment either but it looked good when he was done even if he had to vacuum the whole house a few times. ;) He also wears anti-vibration gloves to save his hands.

[Mike Burke]

Well it was a busy Saturday
Rented a U Sand from the local rental place. It worked pretty good. Lots of disc but made it through all the grits (36,60,80) and it looks pretty good so far.
The U Sand gets right up to the edge good so I did not need the edger..thats great. I did a little hand sanding on the edges and in the corners.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NKSRV8JGjsv7Z23e9

Now I have a couple problems that I am facing.

The transition between rooms. This is the wall way and all the adjoining rooms have been finished.
Im not sure the color and finish it going to match perfect. Im not sure what to do here. I could sand a straight line here and and have a distinct line. I don't suppose I would want to use any kind of threshold here.

The other issue is when they put carpet down they used tack strip between the rooms and the thresholds are full of nail holes.
Is there any filler that i could use that might match color wise or should I just leave them for care character ?
You can kind of see the door way threshold here.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EjoaiWp41YHUX8W37

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ssEQrwrQeFoQt7At8

(https://photos.app.goo.gl/ssEQrwrQeFoQt7At8)

[Mike Burke]

Well it was a busy Saturday
Rented a U Sand from the local rental place. It worked pretty good. Lots of disc but made it through all the grits (36,60,80) and it looks pretty good so far.
The U Sand gets right up to the edge good so I did not need the edger..thats great. I did a little hand sanding on the edges and in the corners.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NKSRV8JGjsv7Z23e9

Now I have a couple problems that I am facing.

The transition between rooms. This is the wall way and all the adjoining rooms have been finished.
Im not sure the color and finish it going to match perfect. Im not sure what to do here. I could sand a straight line here and and have a distinct line. I don't suppose I would want to use any kind of threshold here.

The other issue is when they put carpet down they used tack strip between the rooms and the thresholds are full of nail holes.
Is there any filler that i could use that might match color wise or should I just leave them for care character ?
You can kind of see the door way threshold here.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/EjoaiWp41YHUX8W37

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ssEQrwrQeFoQt7At8

[Tom M King]

When making a transition on a floor with boards running longitudinally through the door opening, where I didn't want to redo the floor on the other side of the doorway, I've done it once before.

Using a straightedge, I cut a fine line with a knife where I wanted the transition, halfway under the closed door. I used that little cut line to catch the edge of a scraper, and scraped the floor to be finished down level with the sanded floor. This didn't harm the old finished room at all. If there is going to be a line there, that's different on opposite sides, the line needs to be perfect. I don't believe that can be done by sanding.

Sorry, no good answer for the tack strip holes, but if there is a threshold with such holes that can be changed, I'd change it.

[Bill Dufour]

I bought a used 12x18 floor sander for about $400. Sell it later for no loss. Is see them for sale sometimes at Hoe Despot. Wore out 1.5 5" ROS sanders to redo the living room and hallway. Buy the paper online . I used a carbide scraper made by sandvix to remove the finish before sanding. I would never trust myself to not do damage with a drum sander. Guy I bought the sander from said by the time complete one house you will figure out the drum sander but you will gouge the floor several times before you figure it out.
Bil lD

[Rich Engelhardt]

Go to Lumber Liquidators & pick up some transition strips. They by far have the largest selection & best prices. It will both cover the carpet strips tack holes & raise the height of the threshold up so there isn't a huge gap under the door(s).

[Jim Dwight]

I hired somebody to do most of my floor refinishing but I did one bedroom and hallway myself. I used a drum sander from Home Depot. It was much smaller than what the professionals had but it worked for my little job. I did put a line or two in the hallway but nobody has noticed so far. The home depot I rent from also has orbital sanders that use big sheets of paper that would seem better for this hallway. I edged with my Bosch DEVS1250 which worked great. It has a turbo mode which really speeds things up. But one handed control is a bit of a chore due to size and power. I used ZAR putty which comes in lots of colors. I was very happy with it. It dries fast and doesn't seem to shrink.