You can avoid this dilemma by screening and re coating a procedure that refurbishes the old finish without.
Sanding vs scraping floors.
But i don t really like the surface they leave behind when compared to a nice 180 grit sanding.
It uses a disc of sandpaper rotating at high speeds.
These are capable of very fine cutting over a variety of grain directional changes characteristic of parquet floors producing a finer finish than sanding.
An edge sanding machine allows us to sand right up to the walls and get in small tight places like corners and closets.
Sanding abrades the surface leaving scratches everywhere.
Scraping actually cuts the wood fibers leaving a sharper contrast of the grain in porous woods like oak and walnut.
That s not to say you can t get a killer finish prep with a well tuned scraper its just not my preferred way of doing it.
Sanding is fine if you re planning to paint over the surface anyway.
When we sand hardwood floors with a belt sander we also have to use an edge sanding machine because a belt sanding machine can only get so close to the edges of the room.
In this instance the goal of sanding isn t to remove every last speck of.
Unlike sanding which requires tackling the entire floor you can buff only small areas of your floor if needed.
For example if you have a shallow nick or small scratch on your hardwood floor you may be able to buff it out by hand without refinishing the entire floor.
Which method is better.
Call me lazy but i would much rather sit there and let the sander.
As for results it depends on the final finish.
Sanding the floor erases the scraping and your hand scraped floor is now a smooth floor.