Step By Step:
Hey guys! Sanding and Refinishing your floors is not as daunting as you may think! You just need to follow these steps:
1-100% You need to rent the push belt sander for the most efficient sanding. I tried to use the push-orbital sander but it did nothing in the beginning stages.
Use a 36-40 grit for your first (and sometimes) your second. Old floors settle and subfloors do too so often times, the first pass is just getting the high-points in your floor.
2- Use a floor-edger. You want to get in as close to the wall as possible in step number 1 because this sander you have to use bent over and on your knees. Its hard on the back so the less use, the better! Sand the floor up to the same grit that you did in step 1.
You might burn the floor in this step because in my experience the floor edger is very intense. But thats OK. It comes out easy in step 3.
3- Use your hand held orbital to take out any burn spots or stubborn spots that didn't sand down. Again, in this step you need to sand to the same grit that you already have.
4- Step 4 is optional, but THIS is when the push orbital sander comes in handy. It's good to use this one now, because you can get grits up over 200 AND it reaches into the wall so your entire floor finishes the same.
TIP: Over-Buy your sand paper. Trying to push your paper to the limit only causes burns and more time lost.
***If you are staining the floor I HIGHLY suggest that you DO step number 4 and sand up to over 200 grit. However I am not staining it and I am just using a matte clear coat so I anded up to 120 and that was good enough for the desired look I was trying to achieve.