Where can I rent a floor sander?

[rosaespanola 10]

I'm buying my first house and I'd really like to sand and varnish the floorboards in the lounge so I can leave them exposed instead of buying new carpets. Has anyone had any experience of this? I've never done it before, so I have some questions...

 

- where in Sheffield rents sanding machines, and roughly how much are they?

- how long is it likely to take me to do a 12' x 13' room?

- how easy is it to do, since I've never done it before?

- when you hire a sander, is everything included or do you have to buy/hire extra bits as well?

 

I know it can be fairly expensive to hire machines like this, but I'd need to buy a new carpet anyway so if it's no more expensive then I'd much rather have a wood floor.

[rosaespanola 10]

Anyone? Someone in Sheffield must have done this before!

[Blackcherry 10]

I'll be needing to hire a sander in a couple of weeks and I'll be hiring from Brandon Tool Hire on St Mary's Road - their website was down today. You can contact them on 0114-275 5179. Also I found this really useful website with tips for sanding floors - see below.

 

http://www.sandedfloors.co.uk/faq.html

 

there's also a sanding link to the left of the page.

 

Good luck!

[Loops 10]

I probably wouldnt attempt to sand a floor again really.

 

Tried it in a house I bought, it got on my friends chest and it isnt an easy job as its a big machine. You will need to make sure you knock all the nails in before you start and then of course once sanded you have to still varnish! Laminate floor is much better!

[joeyannie 10]

I hired from HSS. Their web site gives you all the prices for hiring various things.

For a big room you'll need the sander but also probably to hire an edging/corner hand held one.

You get a set of sanding belts or pads and a safety kit (gloves, earplugs, mask etc) with the hire, but you will probably need to buy extra sanding belts (they have a returns policy on any unopened packs so get excess then return what you dont need instead of getting half way through the job and having to dash out for more!)

I found it pretty hard work, the machines are very heavy and its hard to control and stop it digging grooves into your floor (which then can't be sanded out).

Having had a go myself I would recommend getting a professional to come in and price up the job for you and then decide if its worth the money to get someone else to do it rather than doing it yourself! good luck though!

 

http://www.hss.com/g/5412/Floor_Sander__240v.html

[yorkiepudd 10]

Definately use Brandon Hire - if you go on a Saturday morning, you get Sunday for free!!!

[Kitty_77 10]

Yep.. I'd go to Brandon hire too. Before you hire the machine though, I'd recommend having a look at the floorboards - you'll need to remove / knock in using a nail punch everything sticking up from the boards, which can take almost as long as the sanding itself! If you can do that before getting the machine you won't waste time sorting the boards out while the machine sits there unused.

 

I'd also recommend getting as good a mask as you can, and goggles, as the dust does get bad...

 

Worth it though!

 

Good luck,

 

kitty.