Published on 9 January 2014

Posted in Floor Sanding

“When it comes to floor sanding, I have found out that there is quite a contrast between the months of December and January. In December I was frantically dashing around from client to client sanding their floors in time for Christmas. When Christmas Eve finally arrived I vowed that I didn’t want to see another wooden floor for at least a week. Even the manager at my local floor sander rental shop must have been sick of the sight of me, although he did slip me a nice bottle of brandy in appreciation of all the floor sanders I had hired from him during the month.

When I got over the New Year festivities I was refreshed and ready to start work again so I sat back ready for the ‘phone to start ringing.

How wrong was I!

It seemed that the whole world had gone to sleep and any demand for my floor sanding prowess was simply just not in contention.

So, to occupy my lonely days, I decided to do a little investigation work on the types of floor sanders that were available to hire, just to make sure that in the future I would be renting the correct floor sanding machine for the job in hand.

I began by searching the internet using the search terms; floor sander rental, sanding machine hire, floor sander hire and then added my location. Quite a few familiar company names popped up, so I clicked through their websites to delve deeply into the many types of floor sanding machines they offered for hire. One thing I noted quite quickly is that some of these hire firms referred to their machines as belt sanders. I was always under the impression that a belt sander was a hand-held tool for sanding down planks of wood; however, it became apparent that the term belt sander hire could also refer to the hire of a floor sanding machine.

After flicking through a few of the sander hire sections, I was fairly content that I been selecting the right machine for many of the sanding contracts I had been undertaking, although I probably hadn’t taken enough advantage of the floor sander plus edge sander combination deals, as many hire firms were offering these as a bundle at an all-in-one price.

I hadn’t had much call for the economy sanders as these seemed a little lightweight for the projects I had taken on, but the Bona 10-inch belt sander alongside its’ namesake edging sander was the combination I had used most often. The Lagler Trio sander was also a popular item in the fleet of the more specialist hire shops. I found from first-hand experience that the Lagler gives a great finish to a hardwood floor, but more often than not, I had used the Bona sander before I could use the Lagler, but to make sure that a client was suitably impressed, a Lagler finish was a must!

I also noted that some hire firms has started to become a little more flexible in the hire periods. In the past quite often it was a one day or weekend hire and then straight onto a weekly rate. This could sometimes make a job uneconomic if it went to three or four days. One hire firm was now offering one day, two day, three day, four day, five day and even six day hires. This would certainly help with my quotations for jobs that were going to take more than a couple of days, but not as long as a week.

So whilst, I was twiddling my thumbs waiting for business to pick up, I had made sure that I had my entire floor sanding rental contacts, with the products they have for hire and the accompanying hire rates, all neatly filed away. So the next time I was ready to start a job, I would have exactly the right sanding machine lined up from a local flooring sanding hire shop ready on day one.

In the meantime, I just hope that the bloody ‘phone rings soon………………!”

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