A bit to do with sanding

Phew it’s been a long time since I last posted and I forget what I’ve been up to. I do know that it had a bit to do with sanding so I’ll try and recap on where I am with that.

Well firstly I got me a lovely new carpet. It was delivered on a Friday morning a couple of weeks back and fitted by two speedy carpet fitters who were in and out like greased eels. The did a fabulous job and the room is looking splendid.

Actually that room should be looking splendid as I had an attack of the re-patching. As mentioned in my last post I couldn’t resist a bit of filling here and there, well it went on and on and now even a pedant like me can barely spot any imperfections. Anyway this filled a number of my evenings but the carpet visit Friday hailed for a new start in competitive sanding.

The plan with the sanding was to get the carpeters out of the way, empty the large room of the odds and sods that had amassed there and then head over to HSS tool hire in Darlington for a pre-booked floor and edge sander bundle that was booked for a Friday PM to Monday AM window. The schedule would be tight but it was attainable, even with a welcome visit to see Izzi booked in for the Saturday it could be done.

Anyway the carpeters were on the dot timewise and they were very rapid, the room that needed to be emptied was laden with tools and furniture from my bedroom but with a bit of selfie-discipline it was done on schedule. The Darlington trip involved a bit of a detour for roadworks but I stll got there with little of the afternoon gone, the round trip was a lengthy hour of driving even without the detour so it did eat into the day a little.

Lovely Bouncy Carpet

The guys in the shop were very helpful and loaded up my car with the sanders, a drum one (that weighs a tidy ton) and a rotary edging one, they then kitted me out with a variety of papers (what I didn’t use I didn’t pay for) and sawdust bags.

I hot footed it back to my house, I picked up some bits for Screwfix (safety goggles and stuff) on the way and on getting home I struggled upstairs with the floor sander. A quick scan of the instructions, a reel of flex with a cut off switch attached and the sanding sheet loaded and I was ready to go. Following advice given in the store I started the sander rolling before lowering it to the floor and splaaaat the sander shredded the paper and spat it out across the room.

Hmmm my cunning plan and associated scheduling was in need of some revision.

Next sheet of paper and grrrrrr-wham much of the same, the next one I managed to get a run out of before zzzzzzzzzzz-splut and it did it again.

Off to the computer now and googling “Hiretek drum sander shredding paper” got a few results. I tried them all, the one on re-tightening the paper after a run was a good idea but it took a couple of goes to get a single run before I could even try this one out. I tried aggressive super sandy paper, whirrrrr-pop, I tried thin polishing paper, nnnnning-crack not a thing worked.

By this time I was getting through paper at a rate of knots, this sander was faulty and needed to go back. Unfortunately though my experimenting had taken some time and Googling HSS tool hire revealed though that the branch had already closed. I then realised I had my lovely daughter the next day and that I would looking after her at nine and I needed to get this back to Darlington… before I picked her up.

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The next morning started at six…

Anyway stuff in car, drove to Darlington, guys in store apologetic about sander but cagey about what was wrong with it, they then refunded all my cash, told me I’d not have to pay for the paper I’d shredded and that they would have one for me next weekend – I’d turned down the offer for to be delivered later that day as I no longer had any time left to do the work in the remaining weekend time.

Anyway my daughter turned out to be rather ill and I spent the day on the couch with her, feeding her water and watching Adventure time.

Next morning not feeling 100% I managed to do a little bit of work before I succumbed to what Izzi had been suffering the day before.

Two days of hell ensued, illness that I’d not enjoyed since the flu I’d had a couple of months back.

Not content with keeping it to myself I managed to pass it onto my parents – to whom I’d also passed on my flu – and we all spent a miserable couple of days before things settled down.

No work done on the house that week.

Anyway the following Saturday I had an AM collection at HSS for the full bank holiday weekend. This would be great it would give me plenty of time to get the work done and have a fabbo new shiny floor pretty damn soon. So again a very early start and up and at them in the car to Darlington in the glimmering morning light.

“Hello, I’m here for the sander”

“We don’t have a sander booked and the whole of the area is booked up solid too”

Flippity floo

“Best we can do is a free hire next weekend, we’ll only charge you for the paper.

Great, so that’s two weeks I’ve lost, three round trips to Darlington and two mornings getting up at the crack of dawn.

On the way home I dropped into Screwfix for some bits… I was tempted I nearly bought a sander.

Two hours later, back in Screwfix, one expensive Makita sander, oodles of paper, a hedge trimmer and a strimmer.

So on top of the time, the trips and the lack of sleep I now have a dint in my wallet I can ill afford. I think I was just being a bit bloody minded there.

The sander though is brilliant, it took some getting used to, in fact first off I managed to suck the power lead into the belt. It was really alarming how sudden, quick and violently it did it, it made me aware that it wouldn’t just give some wandering fingers a light sanding but it would probably pull them out at the roots, I wore gloves after that. The lead took a half hour to remove and was a bit shredded, a bit of electricians tape later though and it was good to go.

Making some progress sanding

The sander took some time to master, the trick is to not force it, I did manage to melt the carbon mat on the bottom to start with but it works well without it. Seriously though forcing this sander isn’t the way to work it, dragging it steadily backwards tends to get good results on stubborn stains, forcing it can work but you still have to be gentle and controlled when you do it. Tipping it up at the edges works well to get into the crannies but one must be careful as it’s a damned sight more dangerous than it appears. The belt centering knob works brilliantly but it is unnerving doing this with the belt running at full tilt.

Anyway another weekend gone and a rather exhausting time spent on my hands and knees sanding and I’ve managed to get the top layer of crap off the boards. This wasn’t planned, it was meant to be a comparatively leisurely run up and down with a drum sander and none of this on ones knees business. Still though, I know have a rather wonderful sander and I seem to know how to use it.

Not a full loss but seriously money is getting very tight and the sander is not something I intended to spend money on.

Izzi, parents and yours truly feeling better though.