I need to hire someone to sand + finish my newly installed floors. They are maple with a 1' wide full room border with a 1" Braz cherry strip. Perhaps someone could outline the steps (which are different from a typical new floor sanding) such as additional buffer sanding and/or hardplate so I can qualify the mechanic.


Thanks

The steps are basically the same except the finisher needs to know how to sand a border. I usually sand most borders with an edger but if yours is 12", it may be wide enough for a belt floor sander to sand most of it. As always, try to qualify the person you are considering to hire with references, looking at previous jobs, professional associations, years of experience, and common sense. With maple flooring, the density is fairly uniform so heavy hardplating won't be necessary but the sanders used must be in good working order for a wave and chatter free floor. Ask to see a previous floor that is similar to the one your having done. Don't even try to stain it!

I think its more important to ask about results rather than specific methods. There are a number of ways to reach a certain result and it is not the customers need to understand them all. For example, what Gary writes is correct, but I learned as an apprentice in San Francisco, where it seems every floor has a border that the standard method was to use the big machine on the border and purposely go out into the field cross grain about two rows. Those cross grain scratches get cleaned up when the field is done and the mechanic could feather up to the border, at worst, just barely scratching the borders first board. Those scrathes were easily cleaned up with a scraper. Eliminated 90% of the edging and was an eficient method routinely done by professionals. It may just not be the method known by the mechanics you interview. Keep an open mind.