Sanding floors or painting - which first?

[Kaymo]

Hi,
Working on a living room where I have floors lifted, cables being run, small area plastering and all sorts. Once all of the uproar and messiest stuff is done I will be left with floor sanding and varnishing and painting. Just wondering from people who have done both together which they would normally do first.

Most of the floor sanding sites say leave that till last, so it would be paint walls, sand floor and finally varnish floor, but sanding the floor is one of the messiest tasks, and in one sense it might make sense to get that out of the way now while the room is already dusty.

I'm thinking of:
sanding floor,
fully cleaning the room,
covering floor,
painting,
and as final paint coat is drying...
varnishing the floor.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[jacko555]

Sand last. Easy to mark / dirty a freshly sanded and untreated floor while decorating. Decorate top down

 

[foxhole]

Sand last and it will destroy all decorating.Very easy to protect a finished floor for decorating .

 

[Kaymo]

Interesting. Two opposite opinions. I can see the logic behind both though.

 

[jacko555]

Sand last and it will destroy all decorating

Does "destroy" have a touch of hyperbole? Do professional floor sanders also redecorate after doing a floor? Or will a good dusting and hoover sort it?

Either way, a good dusting and hoover is needed, if it's before or after decorating.

 

[Mr Chibs]

If you are talking about a floor drum sander, then I’d sand then cover the floor, then paint and be careful

Once painting complete I’d Then finish the floor, as there may be damage/spillage from painting that can be sorted pre oil/varnish etc.

 

[Kaymo]

I may try to get away with my belt sander, rather than hire the drum. Its a modern-ish solid wood floor on top of original floorboards so its only a light-ish sand to take back to the wood for a re-varnish (currently scratched to hell), but I know from past experience that the moment any electric sander comes into the picture you get a room full of dust.

I know that the pro's normally come in last, but then they don't want to have to split the sanding and varnishing, or have to re-sand because a painter has spilled paint and let it seem through the dust sheets!

I think my thinking on this, in terms of sanding, covering well, painting then varnishing last, is validated from the posts so thanks to all.

 

[phatboy]

I may try to get away with my belt sander, rather than hire the drum.

You will regret it about 2hrs in! You will likely create dips as you go, and have a bloody sore back. Well worth hiring the drum sander, which you can hire with good dust extraction.

 

[Kaymo]

You will regret it about 2hrs in! You will likely create dips as you go, and have a bloody sore back. Well worth hiring the drum sander, which you can hire with good dust extraction.

I did a previous room with my belt sander and it was ok. That was a smaller room, but it was sanding down original floorboards which I think will have been tougher than this which is just a light refinish.

But its a good point, I'll maybe try a small section with the belt sander tonight and that will give me an idea. To be honest, if the hire shop was just around the corner I wouldn't hesitate, but the distance I need to go to collect colours things a little.

 

[Kaymo]

Going to make start on the floor next week, and I was thinking of going with an oil finish instead of the current varnish. Just wondering if there are any issues in changing from varnish to oil. I'm presuming it will be fine as the varnish sits on the top, so if its sanded off I can't see what problem would be, but always worth asking.

However, I have no idea what kind of wood this is as it was down when we moved in and I should probably take that into account when choosing a finish, so if anyone could enlighten me that would be great.

I am wondering if it is Bamboo? It is solid wood (or grass if its bamboo)!