Sanding your own floor is a big DIY job to take on, and it's easy to start unprepared. Halfway through a first pass is not the time to discover you've got no way to punch a nail head down, or that the belts you bought don't fit the machine you hired.
This is the full kit list. Seventeen items, what each one actually does, and where it fits in the process. The video below walks through the same list, and we've included timestamps under each item so you can see it in action.
17 Things You Need to Sand a Floor
A quick note before you start. The big machines are almost always hired rather than bought, and the consumables are almost always bought separately. Hire machines rarely come with abrasives included, so it's worth checking what belt and disc sizes your machine takes before you order anything.
1. Drum or Belt Sander
The main machine, and the one doing the heavy lifting. It strips old coatings and levels the timber across the open floor. Most DIYers hire one. If you're in Melbourne, we hire out drum sanders from our Hastings warehouse, but you'll find them at most hardware stores and hire outlets.
2. Sanding Belts
The belts are where most of your sanding budget goes, and where cheap products cost you the most time. Ceramic belts stay sharp far longer than standard aluminium oxide, which means fewer belt changes and a more consistent cut across the floor. You'll need a range of grits, typically working from a coarse first cut through to a fine finishing pass.
Our ceramic belts to suit hire machines come in 203mm x 480mm, with 203mm x 750mm and 300mm x 750mm sizes for larger machines. If you'd rather not work out grits yourself, our Sandpaper Bundle covers the full progression in one go.
3. Edger
A drum sander physically can't reach the perimeter of the room, so an edger handles those last bits against the skirting. It's a smaller rotary machine, and it's the one most likely to leave marks if you get heavy-handed with it. Like the big machine, an edger is a hire item that should be available from your local hardware store.
4. Edger Discs
The consumable for the edger, and you'll want them in the same grit range as your belts so the edges finish to the same level as the field. If they don't match, you'll see a visible band around the room once the coating goes on. Our edger discs are 178mm x 22mm, which suits most standard hire edgers.
5. Hand Scraper
For corners, tight spots, and anywhere the machines can't reach. A sharp scraper takes old coating off cleanly and gives you far more control than trying to force a power tool into a corner. The key word is sharp, so a blade file is worth having alongside it to keep the edge keen as you work.
Have a look at the Allway hand scraper with the soft grip, or the standard two-edge version.
6. Hammer
Nothing special, but you'll want one within reach the whole way through. Its main job is driving nail punches, though you'll also use it for lifting the odd loose board or tapping something back into place. A striker hammer with a decent weight to it makes the punching work quicker.
7. Nail Punch
Possibly the cheapest item on this list and one of the most important. Any nail head sitting on the timber will tear a sanding belt to pieces the moment the drum hits it, and belts aren't cheap. Go over the entire floor before you sand and punch every head below the surface. A 3mm flooring punch is the right size for most timber floors.
8. Wood Putty
(3:00 – 3:34)
Once the first passes are done, you'll have nail holes and small imperfections to fill before the final sand. Filler goes in, cures, then gets sanded flush so it disappears under the coating. A general wood filler handles nail holes and small cracks.
If you're dealing with actual gaps between boards rather than nail holes, that's a different product. Our Timber Gap Fillers collection covers the full range, including trowel fillers for doing a whole floor at once.
9. Putty Knife
For working filler into holes and levelling it off flush with the surrounding timber. Overfilling just means more sanding later, so a decent blade with a bit of flex in it makes the job faster and neater. Our Allway putty knives come in a few widths.
10. Buffer
A square or rotary buffer is what pulls the whole floor together. It blends the transitions between the drum sander and the edger, and removes the swirl and chatter marks that different machines leave behind. Skipping this stage is one of the most common reasons a DIY floor looks like a DIY floor. You'll find them at hire outlets alongside the drum sanders.
11. Buffing Discs and Screens
Screens are less aggressive than sandpaper, and the mesh lets dust pull through rather than clogging the abrasive, which is why they last well and finish so evenly. You'll need a mesh screen back to hold them, plus the screens themselves. For smaller buffers, our 150mm buffer discs do the same job.
12. Orbital Sander
A handheld orbital is used along the edges of the room and in any spots the buffer can't quite reach, so you can get the perimeter to the same smoothness as the rest of the room. If you don't already own one, any hardware store will have one that's perfectly adequate for a single floor. For hand work in tight corners, an Allway palm sander is a useful addition.
13. Orbital Sanding Discs
Same principle as the belts and edger discs: match the grit to whatever stage you're up to, and keep the progression consistent with the rest of the floor. Our 150mm ceramic orbital discs fit most standard handheld sanders.
14. Vacuum Cleaner
The most underrated tool for a floor sanding job. Any dust left on the floor when you coat is dust that's locked in permanently, and there's no fixing it afterwards without sanding back. Vacuum the floor, then the skirtings, then the floor again, and wipe down surrounding surfaces if you need to. Any decent shop vac will do the job.
It's also worth fitting a proper dust collector bag to your machine while you sand, since collecting the dust as you go is far easier than chasing it later.
15. Coating Products
Now for the exciting stuff. The finish is what everyone actually sees, so it's worth thinking about how you want your floor to look rather than grabbing whatever's closest. A water-based polyurethane system gives you the most durable surface and typically goes on as a primer plus two topcoats. A hard wax oil penetrates the timber instead of forming a film, which makes it easier to spot-repair down the track.
Browse our Coatings & Varnish collection or the Hard Wax Oil range, and give us a call if you'd like help picking a system for your floor.
16. Roller and Frame
Coating rollers are not paint rollers. A proper floor-coating roller lays the product down in an even film without shedding fibres into your finish or loading up too heavily. You'll want a quality roller sleeve and a 250mm frame to match, or a microfibre ultraslim if you prefer a finer lay-off.
17. Coating Brush
For cutting in around the edges of the room, doorways, and anywhere the roller can't reach neatly. Work the brush ahead of the roller and feather the join so there's no visible line where the two meet. A 75mm coating brush covers most jobs.
Getting Set Up
That's the full list. The machines come from a hire yard, and everything else you'll want on hand before you start, because stopping mid-job to chase a missing consumable is how a weekend project turns into a fortnight of back and forth.
You can browse our full Sandpaper & Abrasives and Tools & Accessories ranges, or take a look at our machine rental options if you're in Victoria. For a full walkthrough of the process itself, our step-by-step floor sanding guide takes you from prep through to the final coat.
And if you'd rather not take it on yourself, give us a call on 0451 326 307 and the Quicksand Flooring team will handle it.
FAQs
Do I need to buy all of this to sand my own floor?
No. The three machines are hire items, and most people already own a hammer, a vacuum and maybe even an orbital sander. What you do need to buy are the consumables, since abrasives, filler and coating products aren't included with a hire machine.
Why can't I just use sandpaper from the hardware store?
You can, but it'll cost you more in the long run. Floor sanding machines run hot and hard, and standard abrasives wear out fast under that load. Ceramic belts and discs cut cooler, last longer and give a more consistent result across a whole floor.
How many grits do I need?
Most floors need at least three passes, starting coarse to strip the old finish and level the boards, then working progressively finer. Never skip more than one grit at a time, or you'll leave scratches from the coarse pass that only appear once the coating goes on.
Can I hire a floor sander and get everything else from you?
Yes. We hire out drum sanders, edgers and buffers from our Hastings warehouse, and stock the belts, discs, screens, fillers, coatings and tools to go with them. If you're not sure what fits your machine, get in touch before you order.