Good afternoon, my name is Dave and I am in the process of installing a Doug Fir hardwood floor in my new construction project. I have a 1 bed apartment (400sqft) and a Single family house (1350sqft) that will have all the same floors. My goal is to install, sand and finish the flooring myself.

I have a couple questions:

The wood is clear vertical grain Douglas Fir 2'' wide. Once the floor is down I am prepared to sand it. What sandpaper grain progression should I use? What is the finest grit I need before finishing?

I purchased a pretty old and heavy Porter Cable 12'' drum sander and Edger. Is there a site you recommend to purchase sand paper from? By chance one that will sell by the foot or is 25yards the standard? Also, do I need to use an oscillating sander between each grit change or just before the finishing or don't worry about it?

Thanks for the help.

Dave

You can try a local flooring distributor or even a flooring contractor to supply the sandpaper.
You may start with 50 grit at a slight angle since there is no finish to remove. Sometimes a 40 grit is necessary if the milling has much overwood to flatten.
Then 80, sanding with the edger to 100 grit before the 100 on the big machine. If you get any drum marks, sand diagonally over the spot, then straighten out with the same grit before moving on.
When sanding the final paper move as quickly as you can since you are only removing the scratches from the previous paper. Back up as fast as you can, using the hold back strap to keep in alignment with the strips with just enough pressure on the drum to keep it on the floor..A sanding hold back strap keeps your arms and back from fatigue and transfers the work to your hips. You could jerry rig a rope that goes around your waist and criss-crosses in front with a loop around each handle, with the cord in between to keep it out of the way. If you have a helper to keep the power cord out of the way, it helps, too. To blend the edges with the field you can use a pad under the 100 edger to keep a light touch after the big machine is finished. Some 16 inch buffer drive pads for the 100 grit final screening have a 7 inch pad in the center already cut so it is easy to remove then use with a 100 gritdisc between the rubber pad and the sandpaper. You will probably need to rent a buffer to get any fine chatter cleaned up with a 100 grit screen. Pick up the 100 grit screen and a purple, or white drive pad when you find the drum sander paper.
I use two papers and a backer paper with the grit side against the edger pad so the papers don't slip when you sand smooth with a 60 grit around the edges. The 100 disc with a pad on the edger doesn't take off much but helps blend the two machines, instead of hand sanding with 80 grit where they meet. A paint scraper kept sharp with an 8 inch mill file for the corners, and to scrape any scratches the 100 edger paper misses, is necessary to go around door casings.

WOW!!!! Thank you so much for taking time to write such a detailed response.

I really appreciate it.

Dave

I am assuming that you can use the right shim paper to get the sandpaper to hold on the drum with out problems like the paper blowing from being to loose or too tight in between the dogs that hold it. Each grade of sand paper will require a shim so it can tighten onto the drum, except a rough paper that is thick enough to hold by itself, without another one inch wide strip of finer paper between the ends of the paper as it goes through the dogs so the wrenches can tighten it firmly.
I've seen mechanics who can not figure this trick out so they can run the machine.
Usually there will be s sheet of paper on the machine when you get it, so this helps a lot.