Donalson refinishing hardwood floors is easy, with your challanger just get you the same type of sand paper they use on dry wall (not a paper more like a mesh) put a white cloth pad on the challanger and then the sand mesh paper under that cloth if there is no finish on the floor just use a fine grit sand paper, use the mesh kind or a sand paper with velcro on the back so it wont fly off, if there is still a finish then start with a low grit and finish with a high fine grit. I put plastic up on the walls for easy clean up and to keep dust from spreading threw the house. Then wash the floors really good so there is no dust remaning. add a stain if you want, then a coat of poly urithane with a lambs wool brush, instead of urithane you can use tungs tree oil Mark Delay posted the web sit somewhere this stuff is more expensive but looks good. after you lay your first coat let it dry and inspect it for bubbles, if it has not been finished for a long time you will probably get bubbles because the dryness of the wood as the coat sinks in the wood releases air. If you have bubbles then take the finest grit sand paper you can find and very lightly sand, then apply next coat this coat should not bubble, if you want to add a third or fourth coat feel free to
ps the stair tool Maark Delay sells works good around edges just get you some sand paper from lows that has velcroe on the back so it will stick.
There is real good money in doing this for work also I did my mothers but before I did it she got to estimates one for $1000 and one for $700 for 2oo sq ft, took me about 6 hours one day and three the next and this was the first time I had ever done this and she and I were happy with the results.
Jon's post shows that actual floor sanding can be done in some situations with the Challenger. However, at just 65 lbs. it would be considered by professional floor refinishers (sanders) to be a less than ideal tool for this type of work. When I speak of floor refinishing, I am referring to what is termed recoating. Prior to applying an additional coat of finish to a wood floor's dulled and/or scratched polyurethane finish, the floor shoud be cleaned and then abraded slightly, with eith a fine grit sanding screen or a maroon abrasive pad. Several floor finish manufacturers offer a kit for doing this type of work, including Varathane, Basic Coatings, and Bona-Kemi. I would not recommend that someone be out there offering full sanding floor refinishing if all you own is a Challenger. Floor sanding can be a very complex undertaking, and is best left to those who do it full-time for a living.
I have applied tung oil finish after subcontracting the heavy lifting (the actual floor sanding) out to a professional sander.
