Hi,

This is my first post. So please pardon my basic questions.

I have removed the carpet in the living room and the hardwood floor is exposed which is old and in bad conditions. Now I want to refinish it. I am living all by myself. So I have to do everything myself without getting too much help. I have two questions:
1/ I want to rent a sanding machine from Home Depot. The floor is nailed down. For some reason some nails are not fully set into the wood. I can feel with my hand the nail heads are popping out a little . Normally they are not noticeable. However, I worry that it may cause damage to the sanding discs. Should I check every inch of the floor to make sure all nails are flushed before I start using the sanding machine? Then after the wood is sanded down the wood surface will be lower than the nail head. Wouldn't that cause damage to the sand discs again? I just don't understand it. Or is it that the sanding disc can also sand down the nail to the same level as the wood? I thought the sanding disc can only sand down the wood which is softer but not the nails.
2/ I cannot move all furniture out of the living room and refinish the floor because they are heavy and I do not have people to help me. What I want to do is to move the furniture to one side of the room, and work on one half of the room at a time. My biggest concern is the finish coat (probably polyurethane). I did a google search and people warn against applying coats in sections because they don't blend together. However, another person said the if the dividing line is along the seams of the plank then it will not be noticeable. What do you think?
Thanks.

yes..countersink the nails and sink them well enough to not have to ask this question again.

2)..you run a risk doing a room in sections plain and simple..you may get lucky, or you may not..your advantage is along a seam..but not a guarantee..

lastly..invite a friend over and ask form some help...everyone has at least one..

If you're looking to complete a DIY project on your sand and refinish it's worth spending the time and reaching out for help to remove all of the furniture from the room to apply an even coat. It's not worth the risk having and uneven blend due to seperating the floor coating in parts. Once you apply an uneven coat you'll have more work in the end fixing that. You'll be much happier with the outcome in if put in the extra leg work in the beginning.

Justin Jones