Sanders

[florrie]

Just spent 3 days filling in god know how many holes in my living room walls! However, now is the time to sand down the polyfilla and sandpaper or a sandpaper block is a bit too much like hard work for lil old me!

As i'm only sanding small areas at a time can anyone suggest a suitable sander i could use?

Thanks in advance

 

[JohnD]

Use a scraper.

Also, if, when applying it, you use a broad filling knife (much more flexible than the similarly-shaped scraper) you should be able to press it very thinly over the hole and leave very little to smooth off later.

 

[Tozzy]

Cheapy £6-8 detail sander with supplied sandpapers from your local DIY super store.

you use a broad filling knife (much more flexible than the similarly-shaped scraper)

Yea, I'm not sure if the offer is in Wilko nationwide, but there is an offer on where you can buy 3 filling knives for £2.99 . I was very annoyed after seeing this offer as it was not so long ago that I bought myself a filling knife at £1.30. Scrapers aren't really the ideal thing, but would still work . I think the difference is which JohnD already stated is that the filling knives are more flexible and also they tend to have a pointed edge for when smoothing in against tight edges and corners.

 

[beem]

i'd get a palm sander as they are alot lighter if you need to be holding above your head on walls. A cheap one is fine as it's a pretty basic thing and unless you are going to be using it alot then you can probably get away with a 15 quid one. Detail sanders have really small sanding areas and ideally you want a large one to get the filler as smooth as poss. A half sheet sander would be better but try holding that above your head for any length of time.

I agree though, the secret that our decorators use is to fill with those really flexible metal blade things so that there is almost no sanding to do.

B.