Wood Floor Rehab Project.....

[Corey Hallagan]

I am currently in the middle of a livingroom remodel. Today we tore up the old carpet. We expected the wood floors to be trashed as they have been covered with carpet for 30 of the 40 year old live of this house. We found floors that have some discoloration in the wax coat but the floors are in good shape. What I would like to do is remove the wax and top coat. IS there a product out their that will do this without much sanding? We want to avoid sanding altogether if we can, otherwise we will just either install a new floor over it or a new laminate floor. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Corey

[Mike Wilkins]

If wax is the only thing that has to be removed, then mineral spirits/paint thinner will remove it. You will have to use several applications to remove this as any wax residue will interfere with any top coat you plan to use.
You could also use a buffer with steel wool after the wax is cleaned to scuff the wood for better grip of the top coat.
Good luck and watch those fingers.

[John Brennaman]

Corey,

Is the reason for not wanting to sand because you don't want dust all over the house or is it the difficulty with the sander? Our local Ace Hardware store rents sander that vibrates instead of spins. It looks much like a floor buffer. It is very easy to control, gets up close to the walls without beating them to death and leaves a very smooth finish much like a finishing sander. I used it when I installed hardwood in my dining room and hallway. Since there is no spinning motion it didn't spread dust as much as I first thought it would. However, I won't tell you there was no dust at all because there was.

John

[Richard Wolf]

Cory, it seems that if you have good wood floors you should use them. Maybe even calling in a pro to just do a light sanding and than you can work your magic on them.

Richard

[Corey Hallagan]

Thanks for the responses guys. I appreciate it. Did some checking around today and located a product that I will use.
First, sanding is the optimum route to go, I know that as I have refinished one bedroom. Turned out great. The reason we want to avoid sanding... I have textured the walls repainted ceilings, painted the walls, installed new fixtures, sliding door etc. Our plan was to rip up the carpet and cover with laminate, however we were suprised to find floors that were in very good condition, one pet spot that ate the finish away but ok other than that. No checking seperated boards etc. So going sandless is a must per the boss :) and the boss gets what she wants.
Basically the product is a stripper that will take the floor down to the wood with a cabinet scraper and steel wool. ( i will probably need to sand a few spots when the wife isn't looking anyway) then I can restain and top coat. It will be about 3 X the work of just sanding, I know that going in, but a nice wood floor will beat the best laminate out there anyday so I would like to go that route if I can. If it doesn't turn out, it is just labor lost pretty much. If it turns out, it will save me about 1500 in cost of new laminate for the 18 X 20 room.
John, Ace here doesn't have that machine, they have this other so called dustless machine that I used on the bedroom I refinished. It left way to much dust which I kind of expected but with that project, we did the floor first before any other surfaces.

Thanks guys,
Corey

[John Brennaman]

Corey,

Saw the other post about your surgery. Procedures today are so good that I'm sure they will have you in and out in no time feeling like a new man. I will be praying for a speedy recovery.

John

[Sam Shank]

This is a job I do not envy. I sand house floors, and couldn't imagine doing it this way. Good luck!

Some pros have some very fancy dust collection equipment nowadays. They sell buffers with a little cyclone right on top. They also sell units to put in your van, and then long hoses to connect. The advertise these in the mags as 'dustless' but you know they aren't. Nothing is messier than sanding a floor. Usually it's the final buff with 120 that gets all the fine dust.

[Rob Russell]

First, sanding is the optimum route to go, I know that as I have refinished one bedroom. Turned out great. The reason we want to avoid sanding... I have textured the walls repainted ceilings, painted the walls, installed new fixtures, sliding door etc. Our plan was to rip up the carpet and cover with laminate, however we were suprised to find floors that were in very good condition, one pet spot that ate the finish away but ok other than that. No checking seperated boards etc. So going sandless is a must per the boss :) and the boss gets what she wants.


Why don't you plan to sand but cover everything with painter's plastic? Tape it to the baseboards and the top of the wall. Tape stuff to the ceiling with the low tack purple tape that won't peel anything off. By completely covering your walls and ceiling, you can sand and then vacuum to pickup any dust. Take the plastic down (a bit carefully) and you won't have any dust in back of the plastic.

Just a thought.

[Corey Hallagan]

Thank you John! Appreciat it. Sam, we will see how a test section goes!! Rob, primary reason is the wife won't have any part of it! No more dust she says! Like I say, I may pick up a belt sander and hit it in the end to remove some of the residue when the boss isn't around. I am sure there will be some. First we will see how the test section goes.

Corey

[Corey Hallagan]

I did a test with the finish remover. NO Way! Would take me about 5 weekends on my hands and knees. I will button everything down in plastic like rob says and get the new Varathane machine and sand it. Will post photos or progress as I make it. Won't start the project until after the surgery.

Corey