Nowadays, many people prefer polished concrete floors for the aesthetic and spotless look of their house. But how can you sand your concrete floor and achieve the perfect result?
As this task is a bit more difficult than other normal DIY projects, you must be careful and follow the instructions properly! However, we assure that you can complete the task with a satisfactory result after reading this post!
Continue reading to find out how to sand concrete with a sander effectively!
How To Sand Concrete With A Sander In 5 Steps?
Preparation – What To Do Before Starting The Work?
It will be helpful if you are fully prepared before jumping into the process. You definitely don’t want to go shopping for materials in the middle of the task, right? So, before diving into “How to sand concrete?”, you will learn about what to equip in advance!
First, you need to prepare a floor grinder (or scrubber) and a floor sander (avoid wet machines for best results). The machines will help you get the job done much easier than doing it manually. Believe us; those are totally worth your money!
Next, get the tape and epoxy resin to seal the cracks and holes in the concrete surface. These two things are extremely important if you want a beautiful cement surface after sanding. We also highly recommend you to wear a protective suit while working. Additionally, it’s important to use N95 masks and gloves while working with epoxy resin to protect yourself from any potentially harmful fumes or skin irritation.
In addition, you should buy a mop, because the floor will be quite dirty and you will have to clean it a lot. Plastic sheetings are helpful, too, since they can keep the house dust-free.
Lastly, hand-held diamond pads are also vital for sanding places where your machine can not reach through.
Procedure
After finishing the preparation, let’s head to how to sand concrete effectively. Keep calm, and we will show you the instructions right now!
#1 Fill The Holes
Before you start sanding, remember to clear the furniture in the room, cover the walls, vents, and other necessary surfaces to avoid dust.
Use a prepared mop to clean the floor with water; this step will remove all grit and other particles on the surface.
You may cause some holes in the surface while working. But don’t worry, because we already have duct tape. Besides, don’t forget to let the floor dry before performing the next work!
Fill any cracks and holes that are already there or caused when cleaning with patch mortar. You can choose a variety of colors that better match the surface tone.
#2 Polish The Surface
It’s time to polish the floor! We suggest you opt for a sander with 30 or 60 grit sandpaper to sand. Start the job in one corner of the room, then slowly move a wider radius around.
Each time you move the sander, make sure to make vertical passes. Particularly, each pass should cover half of the previous passes. Such a pattern will not only give the maximum concrete smoothness but also completely fills the holes.
Please be extremely careful when moving through areas with rough objects. We don’t want you to get hurt. Besides, you must move the sander back and forth continuously until the surface becomes completely flat. Do not let the machine standstill, or it will scratch the floor.
More tips on how to sand concrete evenly and easily are to divide the floor into different zones to focus on one particular area. In detail, you can use plastic sheets to separate the floor areas from each other.
#3 Clean The Surface
Be mindful of changing the sandpaper to ensure the quality of the work; using time is up to you. In particular, use a mop to scrub through the sanded floor between each sandpaper change to remove dirt and debris.
Seal any remaining or newly formed cracks with epoxy resin, then wait for the resin to dry before continuing with sanding.
#4 Let’s Repeat
Start a new run at the opposite corner from where you did the first round, performing the same vertical passes.
Once the sanding is complete, repeat the surface cleaning step. Do it carefully and passionately, and you will get the deserved results.
Continue sanding in two more times, but now you do it from the center to the sides. Don’t forget to wipe the floor after every sanding!
As soon as you are done with the cleaning, apply a coat of concrete glue to the floor, wait for it to dry, and change the sandpaper to 80 or 120 grit.
After that, repeat steps 2 to 4. You may consider switching to even finer paper after you’re done with 80 or 120 grit if the floor isn’t smooth enough. Still, it is necessary to keep repeating the steps until you reach the ideal level of 1500 grit.
#5 Apply A Sealant
If you’ve read this far, you probably acquire how to sand concrete pretty hard, right? Congratulations, you have passed the hardest part!
The following steps now will be much simpler. You just need to let the floor dry before applying a protective coat to the finished product.
After the floor is dry, apply a layer of glue to the sanded floor. This stage will help protect the glued surface from dirt and negative environmental impacts.
Conclusion
That is all the information you need to know on the topic “How to sand concrete with a sander?”. Even though it is tricky initially, you can still get flawless concrete floors by carefully following the steps and tips.
Hope this information will be resourceful for your home renovation work. Good luck in decorating your home!
