"Davej" wrote in message
...
Went to Home Depot yesterday and see they have two sanders for rent.
One is a belt sander and the other is a large orbital. Both are
intended for floors. I just need to take the varnish off an old floor.
Is the big orbital the best tool for this? The room is 15x20ft. Any
idea how long this will take me or suggestions on the grit to begin
with? Thanks.

To answer your questions if I can.

At the local HD they had two types of sanders the Clark Square buff machine
and a large orbital with 4-6 heads.

All of the posted responses to date have been discussing the merits of a
true drum sander and a smaller single wheel orbital sander. The response I
have read are correct for those machines but do not address the questions
you asked.

I have never used the multihead orbital. I have used the square buff model.
It does a decent job for old finish removal if the floors are in otherwise
decent shape. The beauty of the machine is that you can not ruin your
floors with gouges like a newbie would with a drum sander. I did an
acceptable sanding job on about 750 square feet in one hard 8 hour day.

When I say acceptable I mean is was okay for rental property. I am not sure
I would have been satisfied if I had to look at it every day. A few more
passes with the finer grade of paper might have made it better.

Unless your market is radically different from mine I think with some
careful shopping that you may find that you can get a real pro to do sand
only for no more than twice the true cost (machine, paper, misc) of the
rental. This was the choice I made the next time I needed a different house
sanded. The real expense of the refinish is the many trips needed to
properly finish the floor over several days.

Good luck with your project.


--
Colbyt
Please come visit www.househomerepair.com