Cleaning up finish not removed during drum floor sander process?

[new2diy]

Hi,

I’m wondering how do I clean up finish marks that weren’t removed by the drum floor sander (likely due to cupping and/or uneven floors)?

I made several passes with a 36 grit paper. I’d say I removed 99% of the finish but still have a few more marks on the edges.

next steps:
1) use carbide scraper to scrape off remaining finish?
2) keep doing passes with a drum floor sander over the entire area of the room (start from one side and overlap each pass
3) pass the drum floor sander ONLY over the sections with finish not removed to get them off (doesn’t this risk making the floor more uneven since I don’t overlap passes over the entire area of the room?)

thank you for all your help

 

[C.J.]

It looks as if the remaining finish is in some gaps or lower spots than the rest of the floor. How deep are those spots? One option would be to hand scrape the existing finish then fill in the low spots with a filler meant for hardwood floors.
http://www.woodwise.com/I usually sand up to 60 or 80 grit then do my filler. Let that dry then sand up to 100 grit.

 

[new2diy]

It looks as if the remaining finish is in some gaps or lower spots than the rest of the floor. How deep are those spots? One option would be to hand scrape the existing finish then fill in the low spots with a filler meant for hardwood floors.
http://www.woodwise.com/I usually sand up to 60 or 80 grit then do my filler. Let that dry then sand up to 100 grit.

Thanks for the reply. Okay great to hear.

I was under the impression that you had to keep sanding with the drum floor sander until ALL the finish is removed and you only see the raw unfinished wood.

Good to know that’s not the case.
I’d prefer not to rent the drum sander again as I have already 3 times and don’t have anyone to help me carry it upstairs, can I do this wood filler and sanding with 100 grit by hand or with something like a dual action sander?

 

[C.J.]

Yes you can do the scraping and sanding of filler with a palm sander. One thing to think about is that every sander sands differently. The edger, drum sander and a palm sander all sand different and that difference will become apparent when you apply stain or finish to the floor since it will take differently depending on how the sanders have finished the wood. What you want to do is to blend all these different sanding types together. This is where a floor buffer comes into the picture. Yes that means another rental. Lol. Anyway you will want to screen the entire floor before you apply any stain or finish. This can be tricky because you mentioned you wanted to go dark. You’ve gotta be careful you don’t leave buffer swirls on the floor because the stain will highlight those but if you don’t screen the floor you will certainly have a halo around each room.

When you’re all done hopefully you will have some appreciation as to why you were quoted 5K.