Hi all,
I am sanding my fir flooring and am encountering an issue in 2 rooms (both roughly 100 SF). These rooms had carpet over vinyl tile over hardwood; we pulled the carpet and the tiles and now I want to refinish the hardwood. However after only 10 SF or so, the 36 grit sandpaper is already totally gummed up. Any suggestions as to how to proceed? I would prefer to avoid a chemical stripper that could get lodged in the cracks between floorboards and interfere with the topcoat later (will be a water based poly). Would it work to use 20 grit in just these two rooms for my rough cut?
thanks,
Drew
Replies
You are correct, don’t use a stripper. It will get into the cracks and seams and will not allow for even staining. You just have to keep at it and go aggressive. Be careful though, some of the older vinyl tile was adhered with asbestos adhesive, don’t want to breathe that stuff.
Get some crushed dry ice. Pour on floor. Chip away at brittle adhesive using stiff putty knife, 4" wallpaper razor, 5-in-1 tool. Sweep dry ice to new area.
Be sure to provide adequate ventilation.
Frankie
200 square feet? Why bother? Replace it.