That sanding project in my hallway took way longer than I thought

I decided to refinish the hardwood floor in my small hallway. The internet said it would take about 4 hours total. I am now on day three and still have one corner left to do. The issue was the old finish was really thick and gummed up my sander fast. I had to stop and change paper every 15 minutes. Has anyone else hit a surprise like this with old floors where you just can't get through the layers?

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spencer_johnson222mo ago

Wait, you had to change paper every 15 minutes? That sounds brutal. I tried sanding an old porch floor once. Thought I'd blast through it in an afternoon. Got about three feet in before the sander practically caught fire. Turned out the previous owner had painted it with some kind of marine varnish that was like concrete. Ended up renting a drum sander with 12 grit paper and still had to go over it twice. Some old finishes just laugh at consumer grade stuff.

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matthew_owens92mo ago

The "practically caught fire" thing reminds me of my buddy who tried to refinish his parents' old stairs. He said the sander started smoking and the paper was just shredding like wet cardboard. Turns out someone had put like six coats of shellac on there over the decades. He gave up and just painted over it, honestly can't blame him.

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