Edger left white hazy/cloud after sanding

[Bster13]

Hello All,

New homeowner here trying to DIY my floors.

I used my Porter Cable random orbital hand sander w/ a rented U-Sand Pro: (http://www.u-sand.com/u-sand/professional-sander.aspx)

I started w/ 40 grit U-Sand and then used the Porter Cable w/ a 40 grit to do the edges. At times I really had to work at the edges, even turning my Porter Cable at an angle to the floor to concentrate on tough problem area right near where the quarter round will go.

I then used 60 grit w/ the U-Sand all the way around..... the U-Sand gets right up on the edges, unlike a drum sander.

Next was 100 grit w/ the U-Sand including baseboard areas.

And finally 100/120 foam-backed finishing pad w/ the U-Sand all the way around including the baseboard areas. (I'm not staining, very hard to see fine scratches even under bright light and 6in away from floor)

I noticed white/hazy/cloudy marks on a lot of the baseboard areas. Here are photos of the flooring meeting up with the stone fireplace:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8970927@N04

This area was especially tough as I had to be very controlled in walking the Porter Cable hand sander up to the stone so as not to mark up the stone itself, but get the old finish off. I definitely angled the hand sander here a lot for extra control. This was all done with the 40-grit and then with the U-Sand went over this area including all of the rest of the floor with the higher grits.

So I figured I just didn't take enough time to get out the 40-grit marks on the baseboards. Last night I put on 150-grit paper on my Porter Cable hand sander and it made it worse....it just seemed to extend out the white haze ("photo 1 (3)").

Any suggestions? This 1030 sq. ft. is kicking this newbie's butt!

 

[havasu]

Does the white haze wipe off with a wet paper towel? If not, you are probably dealing with a thicker finish on the edges (which is normal) so more sanding with a 40 grit would be necessary to ensure a great refinishing job. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Bster13]

No, after vacuuming and wiping down, it's something with the grits I've messed up. Perhaps grinding down too hard on the edges to really take out the old finish that was hard to get to.

 

[woodguy]

That is called the picture frame effect. After sanding you need to use a 60 grit screen on the buffer and then a 100 grit. The entire floor needs to be sanded with the same grit. Changing to a lighter grit only makes it worse.

 

[davidh]

The harder you sanded on the ends , closed the grain up , grab you a piece of 40 grit , yes that is right I said 40 grit and hand sand the ends and sides and any off sets where the edger was run , then if you want to run buffer ,


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[Nick]

1] You only skip every other grit . not 40-60-100

100 grit is not going to take out the scratches the 60 makes .

2] your last grit of paper should be followed by the same grit screen to remove those scratches .

3] Never toe the edger , or the rotary for that matter . Try using some acetone with a 400 grit steel wool around the edges . Then your sanding pattern with your paper and screen.

 

[EliteFloors]

What kind of finish did u use? How was it applied? It looks to me like there is still wax on the floor. Also the u sand actually will pull all the soft grain out of an oak floor if u use a fine grit like that. that's why the grain looks so funny


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