When sanding a floor, you need a floor sander, but if steps are involved, you'll also need an edge sander. Both must be used carefully to produce good results. A floor sander is a more powerful version of a drum sander (figure A). A cylindrical piece of sandpaper fits over the drum (figure B), and a lever drops the drum to make contact with the floor. The machine must be moving when contact is made. Dropping the drum on the floor when the machine is stationary may cause the drum to cut divots in the floor. Sand in a back-and-forth motion, going over the same strip of wood several times (figure C). Start out with 36-grit sandpaper, then move up to 60- or 80-grit sandpaper, if necessary. An edge sander is used to sand steps, edges and other hard-to-reach surfaces ( figure D). At its base is a replaceable sanding disc that rotates at high speed (figure E).
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