Sanding Floors – Tools, Materials and Safety

Sanding floors interests you? Maybe you have found yourself staring at an unsightly timber floor every time you walk inside your house. Now it’s time to take action. A restored timber floor can transform your old worn house into a fresh and beautiful home. If you are thinking of undertaking the task yourself, there are a few tools and materials you will need to get prepared, not to mention some safety concerns. So sit tight and read on!

Sanding Floors – Tools

There are a few essential tools and machines for wood floor sanding that you need for your timber floor sanding project. I thought I would get the main tools out of the way first because if you aren’t in the floor sanding business, you will have to go and buy or hire these tools. So first off you need a double sided scraper, a putty knife and nail punch, an orbital (disc) sander, and a belt sander.

In addition to that you will need a few other tools that you may have around the house. Prepare a vacuum cleaner, a screwdriver, hammer and chisel. You can buy all these tools from Bunnings, and you can hire some of the machines I think.

Now that you have the tools, you will need to round up a few materials.

Sanding Floors – Materials

So as far as materials go, you will need some duct tape, masking tape, several rags, heavy plastic sheets, drop sheets, timber putty, a sanding block and sandpapers.

Now that you have all the tools and materials together, it’s important to think of safety.

Sanding Floors – Health and Safety

Sanding floors kicks up a lot of dust so make sure you wear a dust mask. Working with machinery is always dangerous, so make sure you read the directions carefully before using them. Wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) as recommended by the manufacturer. If you are hiring the machines, see if the guys at Bunnings can give you a demonstration or quick induction. I would hate to think that after following all my advice in this article that you got injured because I didn’t tell you about the risks involved. Depending on what floor sanding project you’re working on, you actually might need to get council approval. So contact them before you start! And if you are interested in sustainability and going ‘green’ I recommend the Green Lifestyle Magazine – Green Living Made Easy.

Considering most people in Brisbane only sand their floors once or twice in a lifetime, you can see why they forgo the expense and hassle and get a professional floor sanding service in to do it for them! But if you would like to know what do after getting your tools and materials together, read this article on the next steps in sanding floorboards. Then learn how to sand a timber floor using the three phases. Don’t forget to calculate all the costs involved as well and weigh up the pros and cons of doing it yourself.