www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

Hi,

I've recently lifted the carpet on my stairs (there's a lot of them!) and landing and would like to sand them. They're not in the best of states of repair (painted and somewhat scared) but are the original boards. Both the tread and the riser obviously need to be sanded. I've been looking at the choices of hand sanders and there seems to be a wide ranging in cost from £30 (Performance Power) to £200 (DeWalt). I appreciate you probably get what you pay for but I was just wondering if anyone has any advice? What have you used to get the job done? Do you need to go for the high end of the market?

Thanks for taking the time and any help appreciated.

You will need a sander that can get into the corners and so I would suggest one of these as it is also a very effective sander-

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/Tool_ ... f_180E.htm

You could probably get a random orbit sander for the larger aeras as well.

I'll second the recommendation for the PMF-180E. You should be able to find one in your local B&Q for £60.

It's an amazing sander and as a saw it comes in handy for sooooo many other things. Think of it like a mini jigsaw on steroids.

The only problems I've had with it are 1) the corners of the sanding pad have melted a bit; 2) cheap sanding triangles don't hold onto the velcro of the sanding pad that well. It's easily worth the money but also budget for a few extra pads if you're going to do tons of sanding. I suspect this will be a problem with other sanders too.

I would go along with the PMF-180E for the corner bits - great multi-purpose tool.
The main areas would suit an Orbital sander. I got a Ryobi Cordless Oribital sander and it is really nice to use - much better then a 1/3 Sander IMO

I'm Glad someone started this thread I was about to do the same, however I would like to add, are there any sanders like this one that can extract the dust effectivly, unlike the sorry excuse for power tools manufacturer Black and Wrecker

MultiMaster has a great vacuum attachment.
Recently filled and sanded shelving, while it was still full, no dust to clean up afterwords.

Lidl have recently had a detail sander on sale for £9.99 so you will probably still find them in your local store....they had packs of sanding sheets also.

http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages ... ander.ar10

I bought one of these sanders the last time they had them in as a throw away item....however after giving it a good hammering it's still going strong. The duct extraction system on it is very good when hooked up to your vacuum.

You can't go wrong for a tenner can you

i have a maccalister (b&q) delta type sander. its alright i guess for smaller jobs. id also go and buy a dewalt dw443 random orbit sander if i had a large area to sand. they do a good job

Thanks for the replies folks.

I had a look at the bosch in focus for £60, it has a nozzle to attach a vacum, plus I love boshe stuff and I'm working on everything I own being Bosch, so its a natural choice for me.

Thanks