Since the sanding process can remove a lot of surface your floor needs to be at least 3 4 thick.
A place that you can rent a hardwood floor sand.
The groove overlap is typically about 1 4 inch thick.
Unless you plan to sand many floors in your lifetime the best choice for do it yourself floor refinishing is the random orbital sander.
At the home depot tool rental center you can find everything you need to keep your floors looking beautiful including polishers and floor sander rentals.
If your floor is thinner than 3 4 you may want hire a pro to avoid accidentally sanding down to the subfloor.
You ll need two kinds of sanders for the process.
You must sand the floor completely several times over with progressively finer sandpaper in order to make sure the floor is as smooth as possible before refinishing it.
You have to remove the finish on the floor before you can properly sand out all the scratches and imperfections that have accumulated over the years.
If you choose to refinish keep these things in mind.
Typically you would do this with a drum floor sander a large piece of equipment you can rent from home improvement stores.
Sure it may take longer to remove old finishes than it.
Solid hardwood boards are 3 4 inches thick and each has a groove milled in its side that overlaps the tongue of the adjacent board.
Once you re done sanding you can stain the floor.
A tongue and groove floor cannot be sanded as many times as a plank floor.