KingoflondoN

I am moving into a house and the landlord has given me free reign to decorate as I please. The dining room floor is wood that has been painted grey. The land lord mentioned plans to paint it brown. I am curious if I would be able to use a palm sander and sand it with rough paper then sand it again with fine sand paper, vacuum the dust up with a shop vac then stain and varnish it. I have done wood work in the past and am proficient with basic woodworking but am not familar with wood flooring.
I am a stay at home mom so time isn't to big of an issue, I just don't want to damage the floor. Our budget is pretty small so I figured a lot of time and elbow grease would hopefully do the trick. The room is about 120 square foot.
It is an old farmhouse probably over 100 years. Tomorrow I am going to do a thorough examination of the floor, I don't know if they just painted it because it was easier than having it redone.

KillswitchProudPenguinfan

You could, but your lease might be up by the time you finish. The way to sand wood floors is with a drum sander, which you can get from a rental yard. You have to be careful when you use one. It's easy to sit too long in one spot and gouge the floor. When you rent the drum sander, you should also get an edge sander. Both will come with coarse, medium, and fine media. Use them in that order. After you finish, vacuum any dust, then apply your stain and a minimum of 3 coats of polyurethane. Be sure to allow the stain to dry completely, and scuff the floor between coats of poly with 220 sandpaper or 000 steel wool. Vacuum the dust before applying another coat. If you use oil based stain, use oil based poly. Water poly over oil stain will quickly blister. Hope this helps.

EDIT: Doing the floor your way will throw a lot more dust in the air than using the drum sander, which has built in dust collection. Seeing as you're a stay-at-home mom, that probably isn't good for the kids to be breathing. Good luck.

Horton

you don't need a drum sander you can use the buffer type machine , they make all sorts of sanding pads for it, A drum sander might be a bit too beefy for that

GaryB

unless you have a lot of time on your hands .better to rent a floor sander and be done with it in no time at all.just don't let the sander sit in one spot keep it moving and when you pick it up get the proper grit belts for it..but if you want to do it by hand i would use a paint stripper first.then sand.

AlexN

Woodtick is correct on how to refinish. But, consider, why did someone paint the floor. May be the wood floor is very stained and poor quality. After all the work of sanding, the wood may be just cheap low quality construction grade planks.

bobo

There are a lot of different types of paint removers that will take the paint off down to bare wood. I would suggest using one of them to start with before you start sanding. Then you will be able to tell what the wood looks like and whether or not you want to sand and varnish or repaint.

AmberC

Using a sander of any type clogs up with the paint. Use a chemical stripper first to get rid of the paint and any other old finish. Now sand lightly and stain.

Lamia

I just have some ideas in my head but i haven't really tried any of them but i'll just say them

If you plan on sanding the floor i hope you know your going to want to take the floor molding off and it will have to be replaced along with any thresholds so you can sand all the way as you can. If they are real wood floors like you say they are probally a good thickness so don't worry about sanding to much. I Would think a belt sander would be the best becuase you can take a rubber ball and easily un-clog the sand paper it paint get in the sand paper. then wipe up saw dust with a wet cloth then stain it.

To make the job easier, You could also try taking some paint thinner, and just wiping the whole floors, it should disolve the paint really good, then you can sand it down, probally make the job a little eaiser and get the paint out the way. (know that paint thinner has a strong smell and is probally toxic.)

CS

Don't sand paint, because it could be led paint. I'd carpet over it. My guess is a dog urinated on the floors and ruined them. No one paints good wood floors.

EmilyC

A palm sander will take forever, and you'll probably have carpal tunnel syndrome by the time you're finished. Save the elbow grease part for the actual varnishing. The quick way is to go rent an orbital sander at Home Depot or wherever they rent them around there. Get lots of paper for it, you get a refund on what you don't use. Drum sanders are great but not recommended for a first-timer. They can take too much off too fast. Use your palm sander for the edges the big sander can't get at. You can easily do all the sanding in a day in such a small room. You'll use extra paper because paint will clog it up, but it sure beats applying paint stripper to a whole floor. If the floor paint is really old, consider that it might be lead based and take appropriate precautions, and you should get a test kit at a paint store to find out if there's any doubt.

Before you sand, check for nails sticking up and pound them below the surface or they'll tear up the paper.

They may have painted the floor because it's not fine wood, but even not-so-fine wood floors can look great when re-finished. Make sure to follow the instructions for the finish you choose, and pay particular attention to getting all the dust off the floor before you varnish. Taking a lot of trouble over that will really pay off. If they recommend a lambswool applicator with the finish you choose, it's well worth the cost. It can be difficult to use a brush and get a good job on a floor.