Sanding wood floors is a daunting task, but it is a job most homeowners can tackle successfully.

Step 1: Prepare the area to be sanded by removing all furniture, floor coverings, floor vents and light-fixture covers. Cover outlets and switch plates with blue painter’s tape. Cover windows and doorways with plastic sheeting. Facilitate access to the room by attaching a reusable zipper to the sheeting on one or more of the doorways.

Step 2: Remove any staples or nails protruding from the surface of the floor. Use a putty knife and hot water to scrape away any residual floor adhesive.

Step 3: Remove quarter round or shoe base trim along the edges of the floor to reduce damage and create a more professional finished look.

Sanding wood floors is a daunting task, but it is a job most homeowners can tackle successfully.

Step 4: Fill nail holes and cracks with a good-quality wood filler. For floors with excessive nail holes and crevices, trowelable wood putty can be spread over the entire floor surface and then sanded away with the first pass of the floor sander.

Step 5: Begin the sanding process by using a floor edger and 50-grit sandpaper to sand along the perimeter of the room.

Step 6: Repeat the process a second time with 80-grit sandpaper and finish the job with a final sanding using 100-grit sandpaper.

Step 7: Properly install 50-grit sandpaper on a drum sander and stand with the sander along the far wall, about two-thirds back from the corner. Tip the sander back off the floor, turn it on, lower the sander to the floor and begin sanding along the grain of the wood, walking toward the back corner. Using a continuous motion, slowly raise the sander off the floor as it nears the wall.

Step 8: Lower the sander back to the floor and begin walking backward, sanding the path that was just made.

Step 9: Work across the room in this manner, sanding each path once forward and once backward.

Step 10: Turn around and begin sanding again from the opposite corner of the unsanded portion of the room. Work across the room as before, sanding each path once forward and once backward. Stagger the ending point of each path to avoid unwanted sanding tracks on the floor.

Step 11: Repeat the drum sanding process again with 80-grit paper. Finish with a final sanding using 100-grit paper.