Floor equipment rental covers four jobs rather than one: taking a covering off, grinding or polishing the slab beneath, sanding timber, and cleaning what is left. Day rates run from about $40 for a hand held sander to $300 or more for a ride on scraper or a large grinder. The floor decides which family you need, not the size of the room.
Four families, four different machines
Removal machines drive a blade under tile, vinyl or glued carpet. Grinders and polishers work the concrete itself with diamond tooling. Drum and orbital sanders belong on timber and nothing else. Scrubbers, buffers and sweepers clean a finished surface. Asking the counter for floor equipment gets a question back about which of those four you actually mean.
The tooling deserves more thought than the machine
A grinder is only as good as the segments on it, and the yard supplies those separately by bond and grit. Sanders take belts and discs by the box. Scrubbers take pads by colour and hardness. Underestimate the consumable and the machine stands idle while somebody drives back for more, which is how a one day hire becomes two.
Check the power supply before you book
Small units run from a normal outlet. Larger grinders, ride on scrapers and three phase scrubbers do not, and a house or a small commercial unit may not have what they need. Ask the counter for the voltage, phase and current draw, then confirm the building has it. Where it does not, a hired generator becomes part of the plan.
Concrete dust is the part people skip
Cutting or grinding concrete puts respirable silica into the air, which OSHA regulates in construction and which an ordinary shop vacuum will not handle. Hire the dust extraction rated for that machine at the same time, not as an afterthought, and keep it running. Wet methods suit some machines and make a different mess you have to plan for.
Questions people ask about floor equipment rental
Do I want a scraper or a grinder to take up tile?
Take the tile and most of the adhesive off with a scraper first, because a grinder loaded with soft mastic clogs within minutes. The grinder then removes the residue and flattens the slab. Booking both on the same ticket usually costs one delivery rather than two.
Will a rental scrubber work on a rough garage floor?
It will clean it, but pads wear fast on an unsealed or broomed surface and the squeegee struggles to recover water from an uneven slab. Ask for a brush deck rather than a pad driver on rough concrete, and expect to make more passes than you would on a sealed floor.
What supply does a large floor grinder need?
Bigger planetary machines commonly want 220 volts or three phase and a dedicated circuit, so a domestic outlet is not enough. Give the counter the building supply you have and let them match the machine, or hire a generator sized for it alongside.