Hello All,

New homeowner here trying to DIY my floors.

I used my Porter Cable random orbital hand sander w/ a rented U-Sand Pro: (http://www.u-sand.com/u-sand/professional-sander.aspx)

I started w/ 40 grit U-Sand and then used the Porter Cable w/ a 40 grit to do the edges. At times I really had to work at the edges, even turning my Porter Cable at an angle to the floor to concentrate on tough problem area right near where the quarter round will go.

I then used 60 grit w/ the U-Sand all the way around..... the U-Sand gets right up on the edges, unlike a drum sander.

Next was 100 grit w/ the U-Sand including baseboard areas.

And finally 100/120 foam-backed finishing pad w/ the U-Sand all the way around including the baseboard areas. (I'm not staining, very hard to see fine scratches even under bright light and 6in away from floor)

I noticed white/hazy/cloudy marks on a lot of the baseboard areas. Here are photos of the flooring meeting up with the stone fireplace:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8970927@N04

This area was especially tough as I had to be very controlled in walking the Porter Cable hand sander up to the stone so as not to mark up the stone itself, but get the old finish off. I definitely angled the hand sander here a lot for extra control. This was all done with the 40-grit and then with the U-Sand went over this area including all of the rest of the floor with the higher grits.

So I figured I just didn't take enough time to get out the 40-grit marks on the baseboards. Last night I put on 150-grit paper on my Porter Cable hand sander and it made it worse....it just seemed to extend out the white haze ("photo 1 (3)").

Any suggestions? This 1030 sq. ft. is kicking this newbie's butt!

150 grit on palm sander wont do a thing on 40 grit edger marks, or 60 and 80 for that matter. You could go back and smooth out those areas with the edger again up to higher grit then screen whole floor . Trouble is being a newbie you might wreck the floor worse . You probably already made some deep dish marks in the floor. Try 40 or 60 grit on the palm sander near the wall then go up to finer grits and re-screen whole floor. It might take a while but that's probably your safest bet. Wont fix dish mark but will soften edger swirls

I worked on it yesterday....

It was a question of bridging the gap between the 40 grit and the 100/120 foam backed finishing discs. I went back to Home Depot and found the foam backed 100/120 discs, but they were only hook and loop and only in 6in (I had a 5in PSA pad on my Porter Cable haha). I also bought 60 grit PSA 5in pads.

Hit the edges of the rooms with the 60 grit in the area the pictures were taken. There were some uneven areas the 60 grit helped to even out. i then went over it with the 6in hook and loop 100/120 foam backed pad...how'd I get it to stick? A little 3m spray adhesive and it stuck well enough to sand with.

It was all about using the same grits as I used with the U-Sand and not skipping grits. It blended in decently well. I appreciate the advice.

I posted pics b4 I started the project as well:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8970927@N04

Thanks again for the help everyone!