What is Dustless Floor Refinishing?

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What is Dustless Floor Refinishing?

Traditionally, dust collection for floor sanders consisted of attaching a cloth bag to the exhaust pipe of the sanding machine and taking a “something is better than nothing” attitude. It was better than no collection but it was still very messy, not healthy and left a lot to be desired.

Tom & Peter Flooring  Dust Collection System Refinishing operated within the Greater Chicago Area. Tom specialized hardwood floor refinishing services for existing hardwood floors using the latest tools in dustless hardwood floor sanding and Eco-friendly, water based hardwood floor finishes.

Ordinary sanding equipment produces a massive amount of dust that can spread throughout the entire house or commercial property. Wood dust from traditional floor sanding offers many hazards to your health.

As you probably may already know refinishing hardwood flooring requires a lot of sanding.  Sanding wood creates dust, and when you are doing a few hundred to several thousand square feet of flooring it can amount to a lot of dust.  The airborne dust created while sanding wooden floors is not only messy; it’s a known carcinogen and extremely hazardous to your health and the health of the workers refinishing your floor. Remember, it’s not just wood dust but also the chemicals that have been used to previously finish the wood will also become airborne. Over time, hardwood floors will eventually get scratches and dents. We are here to help you. Our DCS floor sanding method is the safest, clean and environmentally friendly choice.

We provide a unique system that is 99% dustless that is healthier for you and your family. uses modern dustless wood floor refinishing equipment because it’s not only cleaner but much safer.

The dustless sanding process also saves time and in the end offers a superior finish on your floor. We understand that each hardwood floor is unique and we will tailor to the condition of your hardwood floor and get the results you’re looking for.

Tom & Peter Flooring using the patented Oneida Vac Dust Containment System has thrown that method of collecting dust out exhaust of the sanding machine is put in its place. Cyclones are centrifugal separators that use gravity and air speed to separate material from an air stream. The cyclone spins the dust-laden air In place of a bag, a super efficient cyclone that attaches to the stream and drops the dust out of the bottom into a clear dust cup. The air stream which now has only a small amount of ultra-fine dust in it, exists the top of the cyclone and goes through a high-efficiency cartridge Filter. The filter removes particles down to below 1 micron in size filter. The dust that is separated into the bottom cup is carried away by a vacuum pump through a 1
1/2″ diameter hose that transfers the dust outside the work area to a 35 gal. drum. The drum uses another small cyclone to drop the dust into a plastic bag. The airstream continues through the pump and through a last filter that removes any fine dust from the air used to convey the dust from the sanding machine.

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  • No mess to clean up after we leave – in fact, our promise is that your home will have less dust in it when we leave than when we arrived
  • No Harmful Dust To Breathe
  • Less Masking Time Required
  • Protects Your Health a cleaner, healthier environment for the homeowner, workers and pets
  • Produces Higher Quality Results
  • The smoothest, most uniform result possible
  • The ultimate in environmentally friendly floor sanding
  • A smoother, more uniform final product by removing the dust that could contaminate the finish coats
  • Your home will be back in service much more quickly than with traditional sanding methods

In order to sand a hardwood floor to bare wood you need to use three or four machines:

  • Belt Sander (We use the Bona Belt HD)
  • Buffer or Lagler Trio
  • Edger
  • Orbital sander (optional)

Belt Sander Basics

The workhorse of the floor sanding process is the belt sander which grinds the floor flat. Belt machines have an internal impeller fan that collects dust. This fan is spun by a belt connected to the motor which turns the sandpaper. In the case of the Bona Belt Hd or Lagler Hummel the Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM) that the machine produces is approximately 260CFM. That is a pretty huge volume of air. In order to evacuate the excess air, the machine uses a bag or connected vacuum to collect dust. Some belt machines actually produce more CFM than some vacuums can match. The problem is exacerbated once you split the vacuum and operate more than one machine at a time.

Buffer or Lagler Trio – Buffers are essentially a round spinning disc brought from the janitorial industry to the wood flooring industry. To collect the dust, most buffers have a simple fabric skirt surrounding them with one or two ports to attach a vacuum. The trouble is that the skirt is not always in perfect contact with the floor and if the vacuum is inadequate (because more than one machine is in use) buffers can create dust. The Trio is different from a buffer because it contains a built in vacuum, HEPA filter, and skirting that extracts dust at a rate that exceeds the rate of dust production.