I have beautiful hardwood floors in my kitchen but they have been hidden for decades by vinyl, linoleum and tar paper. Any tips on how I can get the tar paper up without destroying the floor? I am going to sand and refinish but want to do as little damage as possible. Thanks!
The code requires installing an approved material to slow the spread of fire between floors and adjacent vertical and horizontal cavities — here are the allowed materials and required locations.
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Replies
I ran into this type of glued backer b/4
I see notched trowel marks in your picture. It resembles the glued down backer of old sheet goods.
You might try a couple things. What worked for me was a pull scraper, and a misting bottle. I used water to soften the black stuff-made gunk. But it did come up. Enough that a sander was able to clean up the rest w/o wasting paper.
However, this area was only 5x5. Took 2-3 hours of hard work.
If it's just the tarpaper that has stuck itself down then a simple petroleum solvent (mineral spirits, eg) is probably the way to go. But of course extinguish all flames and be mindful of ventilation.
You will inevitably have some staining of the wood that will be difficult to remove, but you can count that as "character".