# Forum Home Renovation Flooring  Preparation for floor sanding - how to protect walls and skirting

## barrysumpter

Hi all, 
Renos are starting to wind down. 
We'll be finishing all the painting soon and will be sanding the baltic pine floors. 
We need to know how to prepare/protect the walls and skirting for the sanding. 
i.e. Do we finish the skirting painting completely?
      Or do we hold off on the last coat etc. 
      Either way how do we protect the freshly painted walls and skirting board?
      Or do we need to? 
I'd be very instrested in hearing from anyone who has had their floors sanded (sandless 'ish' sanders) recently and what they did to prepare and their opinion as to what they would have done better to prepare better, etc.

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## Dusty

Have it all painted and finished, including the skirts. 
If the floor sander is any good, he shouldn't mark the skirting or arcs during the sanding and coating. If, god forbid, they do get touched then it's really a simple task of doing a couple of (very minor) touch-ups. Shouldn't be a big deal. 
When getting a quote/s stress the point that you don't want the fresh paint damaged and gauge the reaction of the floor guy. If he reckons it's impossible _not_ to mark the skirts, then you might have a slob on your hands. If, on the other hand, the sander doesn't seem to be too concerned and is quite confident that the skirts won't get damaged then you just might have a good tradesman on your hands. 
The reason I prefer them to be finished is that often when the final coat is applied on the skirts a fair bit of paint ends up on the floor, making the edges look pretty ordinary.

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## Gooner

Personally I would have done the floors first and removed the skirts, then painted the walls, painted and replaced the skirts. 
When I did my floors (and I'm no professional) I was suprised how little (virtually none) damage I did to the skirts. If the sander is careful with the edger, there shouldn't be too many problems with the skirts I would think.

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## barrysumpter

Hi Dusty and Gooner, 
Thanks to both for the positive and constructive replies. 
The skirting boards were completely repaired and sealed as part of the major plaster restorations.  So the skirting boards have to stay where they are. 
The drop sheets from Bristol are so thin the paint seeps right thru and marks the floor.  Which is why I'm glad to be sanding the floors last.  I'vew also noticed that I can trail the paint accross the floor when I step in it. 
Its OK when I do it but very agrovating when an electrician does it especially after warning them about it.  LOL. 
I've folded the drop sheets double now.  But no extreme care will prevent the floor from getting some paint marks.  
Now that I'm writing this I could have sandwitched the plastic sheets in between the drop cloth folds. 
And agree with Dusty to be very careful in touching up the skirting afterwards to minimise the affects on the newly sanded floors.  
I used a color advisor from Bristol Paints.  Far to expensive, in my opinion for the advice given.
Although the decision for which colors to use was considerably shortened.  The colors the wife loves but I have my doubts.  The type of paint advised fell far short of our requirements. 
Especially now that I've almost fininshed and that I have just this morning read that the almost white oil based paint he advised will turn yellow after only a couple of years.  Even more so since I told him we plan to be living in the house for the next 20 years and I wanted to pick paints and colors that would last for the next 20 years. 
The oil based paint for the arch, doors, picture rails, etc compared to the water based paint for the ceiling, cornise, walls, etc is very hard to work with.  6 hours to dry and 16 hours for second coat.  Compared to water based of 30 mins and two hours. 
I'll oil base paint in the mornings having to return every 30 minutes to check the running or melting.  It goes on thick in the cool mornings but the warm afternoons caused the paint to thin and run considerably.  Not cool at all. 
Its my opinion that its so bad the oil based paint should be outlawed by environmentalists.  The smell, the mess, and the adverse effects on inhalation should be seriously taken into account.   
Although the mineral turps clean up is a considerable water saver.  The mineral turps itself is toxic.  
On the subject of clean up, is there a faster less water use way of cleaning up water based paint on brushes?
Will mineral turps help to clean off the still wet water based paint from the brushes?  
I've also been using the considerably more expensive 38mm 3M blue tape from bristol.  Yes, I tried the free hand approach, but using the tape, in my opinion, is considerably faster with considerably better results.   
And was perviously aware that removing the tape will remove some of the paint and touchups should be considered a necessary step in the painting process.  The 38mm size for me is just enough to catch both the water and oil based paint runnings. 
Considering how much tape I've used, the touch ups are minimal, in my opinion. 
I'm just curious if anyone knows if removing the tape very fast compared to removing the tape slowly will affect the paint removal outcome?  
I've still got a considerable amount of skirting boards to paint, I think about 70 meters, and will be using the blue tape to mask the painted walls. 
Should I use the blue tape on the floors to protect against the oil based paints?   
Or perhaps a blue plastic drop sheet wedged into the space between the skirting boards and floor?  Although I see this being easily pulled out negatring its use. 
I'll have to mention that I mistakenly relied upon bristol clarks to help calculate the amont of paint needed.  I questioned one calculation that required I purchase an extra 15 liters of paint and was too distracted by all the other details at the time to hear the warning bells going off and went ahead and purchaed the paint at the time.  Later discoveing it was not needed and luckily have NOT opened the container.  But was very disappointed to find out the would NOT take the paint back.  Stating they couldn't do anyting with it.  And that it was up to me to get the calcs and colors correct. 
I recall having an issue with a color from Bristol a few years back, where I have pointed to and circled a color on one of their charts but the clark used the wrong mix of colors (I might even have written about it here) where a young gentleman was able to re-adjusted the color to match correcly.  This I understand now was a once in a lifetime acception and was lucky to have been able to take advantage of the young gentlmans experience at the time and is NOT a reflection on how Bristol operate on a day to day basis. 
For me, I only used Bristol because they used to have a Bristol shop in Glen Iris which was just a few blocks away.  
To be fair, I should mention also, that by using the color advisor I was able to get a discount on paint items.
But, Since Bristol is privately owned franchises the discounts vary considerably between shops.  And for me the shops are a considerable distance away from me and each other. 
Next time, I'll be trying someone else.   
Also, Is there any other preparations to make for the floor sandings?  Should I be trying to clean up the floor just beneath the skirting boards, etc?  
Thanks all.

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## Dusty

Barry.
Given the effort you're going to with getting the paint right, I strongly suggest that you get your floor sander to be super careful. 
What I do, in cases like yours, is prior to doing the edge sanding with the edging machine, I actually go around the edges with a small angle grinder with custom sandpaper discs. This allows me to get right up the the skirt, to clean the paint up and leave a nice crisp line. With that done, I can then do my edging without having to press too hard against the fresh paint with the edger, therefore eliminating any chance of it being marked. 
Works for me. 
Below  :Arrow Down:  is a link to some pictures outlining what I'm talking about. 
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/OAbJtGBJqJGBwjX8KQWPug?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_W9_r7o5T27I/SfJfuj-W1MI/AAAAAAAA-w4/l1heIvAQuhE/s400/Skirts%2C%20Arcs%2C%20Paint%20%26%20Sanding%201.jp  g%2026-06-2008%2010-31-09%20AM.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/clintfudgefloorsanding/SkirtsArcsPaintSanding?feat=embedwebsite">Skirts, Arcs, Paint &amp; Sanding</a></td></tr></table>

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## barrysumpter

Hi Dusty, 
Thanks again for the reply. 
I've already had a very good look thru your web site and wish you had quoted for us.
Out of the 6 called 5 showed up and only 1 was able to provide a professional presentation, quote, and references. 
None had a supporting website. 
None of the references, mentioned anything regading having to do anything prior to or following the sanding.
But I was more interested in the quality of work and communcations during the questioning. 
I've used an angle grinder before and would find it very difficult to control in such a delicate and precise situation.  Unless you've mastered the control with perhaps an accuracy jig of some sort. 
I'm wondering if I should use a paint scrapper and scrape the paint dropping from the floor around the scurting boards? 
Thanks again and all the best,

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## barrysumpter

Hi Dusty, 
Now that I've sorted out how to look thru the series of photos from your post... 
That overspray is criminal unless it was you knowing you could sort it out.
Its 1000 times worse than my drippings.
And reminds me of the overspray on the ceiling above my front porch/veranda that distroyed the tuckpointing. 
Just out of curiosity, Is this the average paint issues you have to deal with or is it the extreme?

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## Dusty

The amount of paint on that particular job is probably a bit worse than what I'm normally up against. To the point, when I walked in to start that job the first thing I said was "Wow, what an awesome painter, he even managed to get some on the walls" :Rolleyes:  
Still, rather than bitch and moan about the paint on the floor, as it's a fairly common occurrence, we just learn't to deal with it as best we can. :2thumbsup:

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