Start in the middle of your floor and sand from end to end, overlapping each pass by just an inch or two. You’ll do this several times—once for each grit of sandpaper you’re using. In between stages, clean the floor to remove dust and dirt.

When prepped and equipped for the task at hand, executing a smooth floor sanding relies on three key techniques: Always sand with the wood grain Use broad, overlapping strokes Make progressively finer grit sanding passes

You will have to sand around the edges of the room with the edging sander and sand the rest of the floor with the large drum sander. If you have really, really uneven floorboards, you should start by sanding (with the large drum sander) diagonally to the floorboards to even the floor out and then move on to sanding in the direction of the boards.