Wooden floors have regained their former popularity. And this is not surprising, because they are environmentally friendly, durable and practical. Wooden flooring can make a home cozy and warm, as well as harmoniously fit into almost any interior.
Parquet board is an inexpensive and versatile material and visually almost does not differ from parquet or solid wood. Parquet is more durable and with proper care will last several decades. Massive plank floors are the most expensive and aesthetic type of wood covering. Despite this, it is very practical - grinding of a wooden floor can be carried out an unlimited number of times.
Preparing the room for do-it-yourself work
Before you start grinding, you should carry out preparatory measures:
- Free the room from furniture, electrical appliances, curtains, carpets and other interior items.
- Check for protruding self-tapping screws or nails on the floor surface.
- Remove baseboards.
- If the coating is old, it should be checked for damaged elements and the strength of attachment to the floor base.
- Cover doorways with a damp cloth to prevent dust from entering neighboring rooms. Despite the fact that most grinders are equipped with bags for collecting dust, it will not be possible to completely get rid of it.
- The grinder motor creates a large starting load. Therefore, before using it, you should make sure whether automatic plugs and wiring can withstand such a load.
Grinding tools
It is necessary to prepare the tools:
- sanding machine;
- cycle or angle grinder for grinding hard-to-reach spots;
- sandpaper from No. 40 to No. 120;
- vacuum cleaner;
- putty;
- varnish, brush.
When working with a wooden surface, the cycle quickly becomes unusable. In order to save the tool, it should be periodically grinded. For this purpose, a whetstone of about 15 cm, previously moistened with water, is taken. The cycle should begin to sharpen, holding at an angle of 45 degrees. It is advisable to purchase a diamond bar, it will last a long time. After completion of work, it should always be washed and thoroughly dried.
Do-it-yourself sanding process
For wooden floors to have a good view, they need constant care. To extend the service life, it should be processed every 5 years. A set of measures for the restoration of a wooden floor:
- removal of varnish;
- leveling the floor surface;
- putty cracks;
- grinding;
- opening with varnish.
Stages of work:
- First you should clean the floor of varnish or mastic. This is conveniently done with a sponge dipped in white spirit.
- Before grinding, the abrasive must be threaded into the machine. For initial processing, number 40 is taken, this is the roughest type of sandpaper. The first pass is made diagonally to the direction of laying the boards. Paper changes as it wears out. When working with coarse-grained abrasive, do not press the machine too hard.
Important! Switching the machine on and off is carried out only while driving. Otherwise, hard to remove traces will remain on the surface of the coating.
- In each of the subsequent passages, finer sandpaper is taken, and the grinder is shifted half the width of the drum. Starting the second time, they move along the fibers. The floors from the boards are sanded only in the direction of the wood fibers. During all stages of work, you must watch so that the cable does not fall under the drum.
- If grinding is planned in four stages, then the abrasive is taken in the following sequence: first No. 40, after No. 60, then No. 80, at the end No. 100 (or 120). When working in three stages: first No. 40, then No. 80 and at the end No. 120. For high-quality, uniform operation, the machine should not move too slowly or quickly. Also, you can not allow the delay of the machine in one place, otherwise it can take too much.
- Prior to the final sanding, fill the gaps between the boards with a paste of the appropriate color or a mixture of dust obtained from the initial sanding and PVA glue. Wait for the mixture to dry.
- The floor surface in hard-to-reach places (under stairs, in corners, under batteries) is easiest to grind using a “boot” manual machine.
- At the end of the work, thoroughly vacuum the floor. Next, you can apply the first coat of varnish. For a beautiful coating, the varnish must be applied in three layers. After the final layer has dried, the floors must be washed with warm water and soap so that they do not stick.
Types of grinders
Grinders come in several varieties:
- surface grinding;
- drum;
- angular.
Surface grinding machines are used to process floorboards laid by the floating method.
To process large floors, a drum type grinder is used, having a weight of about 80 kg. Using such devices, the floorboard is processed, but they are not suitable for working with parquet.
There is a screw on this machine that adjusts the degree of load on the engine.
The operation of the drum should be controlled to prevent overload and spontaneous shutdown of the machine.
If the voltage supplied to the device is not large enough, then the machine will not be able to work at full power. In this case, relieve pressure on the engine, and also disconnect all electrical appliances from the network. If this does not work, you may have to look for an alternative power source.
Grinding in hard-to-reach places is done with the use of angle-type machines, popularly called the “boot”.
Using a grinder when grinding yourself
Also, for grinding work, you can use such a simple device as a grinder. Its use is possible due to the presence of petal circles. They can polish the floor to almost perfect condition.
If using a conventional machine, the grinding process takes a large amount of time, then using a hard circle of the grinder, you can reduce it to 7 hours.
With this device you can remove protruding knots and bumps and not be afraid to touch the nails or self-tapping screws protruding on the floor surface.
When doing the work yourself, you need to stock up with sandpaper of varying degrees of graininess. To get an excellent result, you should not save on such inexpensive consumables. You should know that the finer the fraction of the circle, the more often it becomes clogged.
All types of grinders use dust bags. Unlike them, the grinder does not have such a device, and therefore all wood-shaving waste scatters in different directions. Knowing this feature of it, you should first prepare for the work on sanding the floor with your own hands - get a respirator and goggles.