Hardwood Flooring Refinishing – Seems to be Splotchy after Buffering
Hello Reddit,
We’re refinishing our hardwood flooring. We rented a drum sander and edger and sanded with 36, 60, 80 grit.
After this course of all the pieces regarded nice, the one minor situation we’ve is the distinction between the edger and drum sander.
To repair this we had been instructed to lease a ground buffer and sand with a 100 grit display screen. After we did this the one room ground appears “splotchy now”. The opposite flooring we didn’t “buff” look first rate nonetheless.
I’ve hooked up just a few footage displaying the splotches/unevenness.
Pictures right here: https://imgur.com/a/EOO2zBw
Is that this regular and can look okay after we stain it?
Or ought to we lease a orbital sander and go over the flooring with 100 grit?
Thanks
Edit: Flooring are crimson oak from the 1960’s.
Comments ( 2 )
Those look like drum marks from the drum sander. I DIY’ED my red oak floors with a random orbital using the same paper progression. So no drum marks for me, but much more time sanding….
You could probably go back over everything with a random orbital with 80 grit and see if those marks come out. Then finish with 100 if you want. I stopped at 80 grit and am happy with how my floors turned out.
I did not stain my floors. Just sealer and poly. However, based on other posts I’ve seen, those marks will show up in the stain. You want to be sure you get them all out. Also, be on the lookout for scratches left behind by your edger. They are hard to see on the raw floor. If you get down close, you will see them. You want to take them out as well.
The buffer is showing you the flaws / low spots that were left by sanding. They are there on the other floors, you just can’t see them yet.
If you’re just doing a clear finish, it will likely hide some of this effect. You’ll see the uneven surface with glancing light, but otherwise probably won’t notice. If you stain, the stain will absorb unevenly and look pretty bad.
Ideally you go over everything and get it all nice and even. It’s a lot of work, but worth it in the end. You could risk it with a clear finish. If you wanted to try that, I’d do a small test area first if possible to see if you’re happy with the results.