I pulled up my carpet and found hardwood floors underneath, however, they are covered with carpet glue. Yuck! What's the best way to redo the wood floors to make them nice again?
2007-10-19 14:51:44 · 10 answers · asked by kindabi_chy1 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Do It Yourself (DIY)
Mineral spirits is the answer. Give it time but be careful, it will attack your hardwood floor finish. If you get in trouble, scrape the glue off, sand, stain and polly the effected area. Hopefully is is an inconspicuous area
Good Luck!
2007-10-19 19:18:16 · answer #1 · answered by Derek 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Before doing anything, make sure the wood is still thick enough to sand and refinish. If it has been done before it may be too thin. If that is the case, your only option is new flooring. If you have enough wood here is what I would do.
Some carpet glues will soften with water. I would wet a towel and lay it on the floor. After an hour, test with a scraper. If it works you can work on the floor in sections. If water doesn't work, ask at a flooring store, there might be a specialized glue remover. If that fails it's time to experiment. I would start with denatured alcohol, then mineral spirits and move to progressively more volatile solvents until I found one that works. You will want to remove as much glue as you can before sanding. If you don't, the glue will clog the sandpaper in just a few seconds.
If the old finish is shellac, you will want to strip it off with alcohol before sanding for the same reason. Shellac clogs sandpaper. If the finish is varnish or polyurethane , it can be sanded. Start with a course sandpaper and switch to finer grits until it is sanded with 120. After vacuuming, use tack cloths to pick up the rest of the dust. Now you are ready to refinish. After all this work, do not skimp on polyurethane. Use a good oil base poly and do more than the standard three coats. I usually use two coats of a shellac base sanding sealer, brand name Parks or Zinnser. Then I finish with four coats of Varithane floor finish. I want my floors to be dog and kid proof. Make sure to give adequate drying time between coats and sand lightly between coats of urethane. Water base poly is easier to use and dries faster, but oil base poly dries to a harder and more durable surface. Don't forget to use dust masks when sanding and a respirator when coating.
2007-10-20 02:42:00 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
sshoreke has given the best answer that I've seen on here. One thing to add....the easier way to see from my experience how many times a hardwood floor has been sanded is to look at the wood from the side by pulling up the grate on a floor vent. Hardwood is connected by a tongue and groove sytem, if it is the same distance on both sides of the tongue, then you're good to sand. If it's half way the distance that the bottom side is to the groove, you got one MAYBE two more sandings left. Most hardwood floors are good for three sandings, possibly four. Hope this helps!!!
2007-10-20 09:46:56 · answer #3 · answered by stormbrk 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Rent a sanding machine, and sand them down. You will need to hand sand the corners. Check with your paint store, to find what is the best finish for your particular hardwood floors. I use three coats of Spar varnish, lightly sanded in between, and a final coat of polyurethane.
2007-10-19 15:01:41 · answer #4 · answered by Beau R 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
depends on the glue. You are gonna have to play with some chemicals. Try laquer thinner and also try acetone. See if any make the glue "sticky". It is dissolving if it is getting sticky. If that doesn't work, you may have to scrape. Scrape with the wood grain.
2007-10-19 18:11:43 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would try mineral spirits. It takes wood glue off wood floors.
2007-10-19 14:58:35 · answer #6 · answered by Rick K 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
us a solvent based cleaner, not eco friendly i no but it does work best, then lightly sand the surface, little at a time, large sanders can and do ruin natural wood in the wrong hands,if it is natural wood, love it and it will love you back. to Finnish it use a natural, wax or high quality sealer, machine applied, it'll last for years
2007-10-19 15:29:26 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
mineral spirits or paint thinner. I cleaned some up last week. If it's set lay a rag on it and put paint thinner on rag and leave set till it softens the glue then wipe up.
2007-10-19 16:30:49 · answer #8 · answered by James 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hope this helps!
2015-05-01 17:09:30 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Beau r Said it all !
Sand it, seal it, THATS IT!
GOOD LUCK!
2007-10-20 10:37:48 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋