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I have a cherry floor in a rather narrow (40″) hallway. The boards go perpendicular to the length of the hall.
I would like to re-finish this floor, but cannot figure out how I would go about it. A drum sander wouldn’t be able to fit in a narrow space. A hand-held belt sander makes my back hurt just thinking about it. Any suggestions would be most gratefully appreciated.
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I saw a new floor sander on This Old House that meets your needs. It is an orbital sander with four pads (about 6" dia.) one on each corner of a square area. The machine looked to be about 15-18" wide and, because it is orbital, it would work well for you. If is probably rentable.
*I've used the orbitals and they work well. I've not seen what Mike moran described though. the unit I used (which incidentally was a rental) had square pads that were about 20" x 20" they are available in the same grits as the drums and you won't have the worry of gouging the floor. I did a 7' x 11' kitchen that had a lot of odd juts from cabinets and a drum sander would have made it look like a disney ride.