USEFUL TIPS FROM START TO FINISH Sanding of wooden floors A GUIDE IN THE CORRECT USE OF FLOOR SANDING MACHINES 1 SANDING WOODEN FLOORS Sanding wooden floors Wooden floors are on the rise. The be maintained. Most important for as well as the D.I.Y.-guy a few tips beauty of nature gives comfort and the looks of the wooden floors is with this manual in order to ensure prestige. They can be used any- the sanding job. The LÄGLER com- the best results on the floor. where in the house and are easy to pany wants to give the professional How to use this manual 1. Preparing the floor for sanding ...................................................................................................................................3 2. How to choose grits properly ......................................................................................................................................4 3. Important items while working with HUMMEL ..........................................................................................................6 4. Floor sanding with a belt sanding machine HUMMEL ..............................................................................................8 5. Fine sanding with HUMMEL or TRIO ........................................................................................................................12 6. Edging with edge sanding machine UNICO .............................................................................................................14 7. Working with other machines ...................................................................................................................................16 8. Removal of cracks and joints ...................................................................................................................................19 9. Last cut ........................................................................................................................................................................19 10. Varnishing of wooden floors .....................................................................................................................................19 11. Intermediate sanding with TRIO ...............................................................................................................................20 12. Final coat .....................................................................................................................................................................21 13. Maintenance of coated wooden floors ....................................................................................................................21 14. Special tips and safety ..............................................................................................................................................21 Safety precautions .....................................................................................................................................................23 The following manual shows the The writer can not be held responsi- most common methods. For special ble for any accidents or damages re- appliances use these methods as a sulting from the use of this manual. base and adjust. 2 1 PREPARING THE FLOOR FOR SANDING Preparing the floor for sanding NEW FLOOR For best results and a safe work- pieces of your floor have to be fas- ing environment the floor has to tened. be cleaned before sanding! Loose OLD FLOOR Check for nailheads on old floors. Joints that are wider than 1/24“ (1 mm) To remove old paint try to do your Use a punch to sink them into the have to be closed with pieces of sanding only backwards. wood. Sanding over them may dam- wood. Wide joints cannot be closed age your sanding belt or sanding durably with a filler. Skirts have to be drum and leave marks on the floor removed for proper edging. later on! CHECK THE KIND OF FLOORING Mosaic parquetry: All the cuts have Strip flooring and planks: All the Exception: Old planks with big dif- to be done in a 45° angle in order to rough cutting has to be done in a ferences in height. First cut with avoid different abrasion on soft and 7° - 15° angle. The fine cuts are done the plank to level the high points. hard grain. in direction of the wood. Then proceede as with regular strip flooring. Old worn out planks first ... then rough sanding cut along the plank ... under a 7° - 15° angle to level the floor. Fig. 1 How to level old plank floors. 3 2 2 HOW TO CHOOSE GRITS How to choose grits properly The natural beauty of a wooden floor and soiling. After the rough cut the Start with as fine a grit as possible. only shows after proper sanding. floor has to be leveled. The fine grits Quality of work, speed and expenses are only used to remove the sanding are a direct result of your choice of The choice of grits and the amount marks of the rough grits. grits. of cuts on a new floor depend on overwood and underwood, soiling Never jump more than one grit. Fine sanding belts are cheaper and uneveness. Figures 2 to 6 show Otherwise you will have a hard time than rough ones! the importance of the sequence to remove the marks of the one of grits. The rough grit is used to before. remove overwood and underwood COMMON SEQUENCE OF GRIT! G16 G24 G30 G36 G40 G50 G60 G80 G100 G120 G150 Fig. 2 That´s your normal range of grids. THE GRIT The grit of a sandpaper tells you the size of one grain. To separate the different grain a riddle is used. The number of the grit gives you the amount of meshes of a riddle per square inch. 4 2 2 HOW TO CHOOSE GRITS Fig. 3 Sequence of grit for floor sanding. The proper se- quence is most important for your succes. Fig.4 If you jump too far from one grit to the next it is im- possible to remove sand- ing marks. Fig. 5 Time and amount removed 3 cuts G 40 - G 60 - G 80 Fig. 6 Using finer grit on the first cut you need less time and waste less wood. 5 3 3 WORKING WITH HUMMEL Important items while working with HUMMEL RELATION BETWEEN OFFSET AND WASTE One pass means: Lower drum, move backwards in the same track, lift Big offset brings less waste and vice forward to turning point, lift drum, drum when you reach starting point. versa. reverse direction, lower drum, move Fig. 7 Your offset influences your waste. 6 3 3 WORKING WITH HUMMEL PRESSURE SETTING IN RELATION TO THE SEQUENCE OF GRIT Your HUMMEL has three pressure GROB (rough), MITT (medium), FEIN settings, that are related to the grits. (fine). Fig.8 Fig 9 Adjust drumpressure according to grit you use. Adjust your walking speed to the grit you use. Fast Fine grit means low drumpressure. walking means fine grit. WALKING SPEED IN RELATION TO SEQUENCE OF GRIT Your walking speed has to be even much faster with a belt sander than Fast walking => less waste! and not too slow. You have to walk with a drum sander. 7 4 4 FLOOR SANDING WITH HUMMEL Floor sanding with a belt sanding machine HUMMEL TEST CUTTING In order to avoid deep sanding marks If you are satisfied start working. If or consider to do two fast cuts with it is better to start with a fine grit. you are not either go down one step your fine grit. Do your first pass with grit 50 or 60. Fig. 10 Working plan for the HUMMEL 8 4 4 FLOOR SANDING WITH HUMMEL STARTING As you see in figure 11 always start One pass means forward and back- ing and turning points of your second on the left and offset to your right. ward in the same track (see fig. 7). cut should be in another area than If you do it the other way your left Never offset more than 85% of your the ones of your first cut. Never stop hand side wheel will always run on drum. with a lowered drum. the uneven floor and transfers all the waves directly to the drum. You will Try to have your starting and turning not get an even floor! points in areas with less light. Start- Fig. 11 Always offset to the right so your left hand side wheelrruns already sanded part all time. 9 4 FLOOR SANDING WITH HUMMEL SANDING ACCORDING TO SEQUENCE OF GRIT Each square in figure 12 symbolizes two choices of grit, left hand and for the right one in the first square, one cut. In every symbol you have right hand bottom side. If you opted stick to it in the second square. HOW TO WORK THE DIAGRAM • Check your kind of floor (strip, • If you are not satisfied with the • If you use a HUMMEL for fine sand- mosaic or else). result of one cut it´s possible to ing you have to consider the main repeat it. direction of the wood. • Do a test sanding with grit 50/60 and then decide which way to go. • We recommend the use of the three-disc sanding machine TRIO • Your advancement in the diagram for the fine sanding. That is the only depends on the looks of the floor machine that guarantees an even after the cut. floor without sanding marks. ATTENTION Stick to your sequence of grit and Check your wheels and drums for don´t jump more than one. residues before you start on a new job and after the first cuts on old To ensure good quality sanding you floors. have to clean your floor after each cut. 10 4 FLOOR SANDING WITH HUMMEL Fig. 12 Diagramm for use of HUMMEL 11 5 FINE SANDING WITH TRIO OR HUMMEL Fine sanding with TRIO or HUMMEL FINE SANDING WITH TRIO TRIO starts with grit 60 on wood. In most cases you could get around If you are redoing laminated floors Either use paper or mesh and go up with 60 paper or mesh. The direction and don´t succeed with 60 grit it is in grit depending on the kind of finish of sanding doesn´t matter with TRIO possible to go down to 40 grit. you want. but it is advis-able to move forward all the