I'm refinishing my first floor this weekend as an experiment (I own and live in a duplex, the floor is in the apartment, not mine..) after which I may go on to finish my own floors.

I've read some books and watched a video by the Tauton Press, and have a few questions.

I have the ability to rent a silverline SL8 drum sander, which is a tilt forwar type sander with a cam actuated sand paper clamping system. I can also rent a Clark EZ 8 drum sander, with a lever that lowers the drum to the floor, but a flat bar with bolts that clamps the paper to that drum. On the one hand, the lever device seems easier to control than tilting the Silverline machine, but on video I watched they claimed the bar type clamp may cause an incidence of chatter while sanding in some instances.

Can anyone give me insite into which Con outweighs the other?

My other question involves the finish I bought(Bona Seal & Bona Traffic) and when to do the full floor troweling of the Bona Pacific filler. On the finish, I haven't purchased any tools for application yet. Any advice there?

On the filler, the video seemed to indicate the filler should be done after the first sanding run. The instuctions from Bona indicate I should do it just before the final sanding cut. Since I'm refinishing this floor and there's some old adhesive on it, I'll likely use 20 grit on my first cut. Is filling it after such a rough cut a problem?

I'm a fairly brave do-it-yourselfer, but I'm begining to wonder if I have over stepped my bounds in trying out Traffic. Any pitfalls you might alert me to would be very appreciated.

i have'nt used the clarke sander but i have used a silverline SL 8, i'd easily take a lever-action sander over a tilt sander any day of the week as its much easier to use and chatter marks can be sanded out with a canterbury or other similar machine later in the process anyway

I rented one of those silver line,tilt things a long time ago. What a piece of crap!

Go with the Clark EZ-8. See if you can find one that has the expandable drum system instead of the bar clamp. If you are starting with 20 grit, I'd 20, edge with 36, cut with 40, edge with 60, full trowel fill, drum with 60, spot fill, edge with 100 then drum with 100. Then hardplate and screen with 100. Don't forget to clean floors well after each grit and before filling. Bona makes a roller for applying Traffic. I'd use that for the field and a good brush or cut in pad for edges and tight areas. When mixing the finish and hardener, strain the product after mixing and before using. Traffic is notorious for little bits of crud in it. At nearly $100.00 a gal, you think they could eliminate the crap in the finish.

LISTEN TO GARY!!!

i used the silverline on a job with 40g paper on old tassie-oak and the dust pick-up would clog up after one or two runs. steer well clear of them.
i have used bona traffic with the rollers they supply and have had excellent results, in fact i dont use any other waterbase anymore. but like gary said make sure u strain the product well as it does have a lot of white crap that forms in the product

Thanks for the advice on the sander and finish. I was too close to the time I needed to work to find a source for the Bona roller applicator, but I''ll make sure I'm properly outfitted next time. I learned a substantial amount from my work this time.

I could not find a clark with an expandable drum, so I went with the silverline and suffered no ill effects. That being said, I'll look harder for a new Clark machine for the next floor(I have 4 more rooms to do over the next year, 800 square feet). I didn't run into the crud problem with the traffic, though I'm surprised, because I had to mix a partial gallon for the last coat, and I didn't screen it.

I haven't found a good way to tack a large floor yet. We actually used small tack cloths after twice vaccuuming it, and still ended up with grit.(The grit was mostly sand particles, you're not claiming Bona has that crap in their finish right?) After the first coat, we used a vaccuum again, and a swiffer mop, and that cut down the problems immensely.

Needless to say, the technique of applying the finish has a longer curve for me than one coat. By the end of the last coat, my wife and I had some pretty good teamwork going, and we could plow and cut pretty effectively.

Lastly, the rental company has crap for abrasive selections: Drum and edger: 20,36,80,100 . The skip from 36 to 80 seemed the worst, so we have to do two cuts at 80 to make it okay. Next time I'll find a source for my own abrasives.

Thanks again for all your help.