I'm refinishing hardwood floors to my home that are polyurethane coated, getting the old finish removed is a problem, even top quality sanding sheets lose their edge very quickly. I'm using orbital sanders of various sizes. The propietary chemical paint removers won't even take the shine off. Anyone know of an effective polyurethane stripper that will not stain the wood floor?.
- Thread starter jordan1
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Take the door to a dip and strip service, approx £30, money well spent, and the door will be as clean as new, all the mouldings clean as a whistle. I been doing my daughters been flushed with hardboard and painted white, original was brown stain and some sort of polish, spent hours and hours, with strippers danders various papers, powere washer to get the paint stripper off, then sanding and sanding-- time + money, down to the stripper shop, £30 door like new- not wortht the time and hassle trying to do it your self. Some pics of three doors so far, sprayed and stained glass panels in top, front door just got a stained glass panel upgrade
Its a large area floor not a door
, I realy must read the thread correctly- Sorry my misstake
so sorry didnt realize that, I had a hell of a job trying to strip the brown gunge they had used I`ve been in the trade 50+ years, sadly the staircase was the same-- and the dinning room. must have had a 5 gallon drum of brown varnish, Tried various strippers, and got recomended a "trade" one, I sent off for a 5 litre, it was better than stuff from the local shops, but not "WOW" tried cellulose thinners, petrol, brake fuid. The stairs and dinning were just a long labour of love, hopefully never again, biggest prblem was the sandpaper and belts no matter what the grade, clogged up in minutes as the stuff melted with just a wee bit of friction. Various Hand scrapers were my best success
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brightspark
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a quality hot air gun and scraper 1st then sand off
Hot air gun and calour torch,
Must admit to trying it on our selection of brown gue, evenwent beserk with the calor gas torch in desperation. It went guey alright, hardened off and was easier to remove, it just wasnt practical to do it in any quantity. Definatly worth a go being on a flat surface. Used caustic soda years ago. !!!!
Stan
Must admit to trying it on our selection of brown gue, evenwent beserk with the calor gas torch in desperation. It went guey alright, hardened off and was easier to remove, it just wasnt practical to do it in any quantity. Definatly worth a go being on a flat surface. Used caustic soda years ago. !!!!
Stan
brightspark
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propane torch and scraper is faster if your handy with the torch and dont burn the wood
zx9
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That is what I have had to do in our '30's London semi- hot air gun and scrape off the molten glue before it has time to harden. Not a nice job, open the windows and take down the smoke heads before you start.
(OT. On the subject of dipped and stripped doors, some but not all of ours became paint sponges after dipping, it has taken several rounds of decoration to get a paint finish that still looks good after a few months)
I've had several Victorian / Edwardian houses over the years, and they all had at least one layer of the brown shellac based gunge under whatever had been painted on later.
The best way of doing mouldings I found was a blow lamp to warm an area, then 'roll' it off with a stiff scrubbing brush with natural bristles. It's important to only rub in one direction to roll it off, do not actually scrub, and do not use a plastic bristled brush. There is an art to getting it to the right temperature without burning, and if you do you can expose perfectly clean uncharred wood. It does take patience though.
The best way of doing mouldings I found was a blow lamp to warm an area, then 'roll' it off with a stiff scrubbing brush with natural bristles. It's important to only rub in one direction to roll it off, do not actually scrub, and do not use a plastic bristled brush. There is an art to getting it to the right temperature without burning, and if you do you can expose perfectly clean uncharred wood. It does take patience though.
Polyurethane is a different ball game, it is so hard and chemically resistant that is why I need a suitable chemical remover. May try MC in gel form but don't know if it will discolour the wood as caustic would. Torch is a no no as to try and remove poly without scorching at some point over dozens of square meters of flooring would be impossible. Not replaceable and have no spare. Have also tried thinners, acetone and some removers sold as 'super strong' which, as I have said, doesn’t even take the shine off. Must say that when it is removed I shall be refinishing with similar. Only reason for stripping is that there are many marks that need removing that go through to bare timber so can't just remove them alone.
marlinspike
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Is this in your new bungalow? Can't offer any advice really, other than what has been suggested. I did use a brand of paint remover from B and Q called Diall which worked better than Nitromors on a cast iron fireplace. I think it's their own brand as it was pretty cheap. It might soften up the polyurethane a little.
Your Cebora welder is still serving us very well btw. Very happy with it and we often talk about what a nice day we had coming over to pick it up.
Your Cebora welder is still serving us very well btw. Very happy with it and we often talk about what a nice day we had coming over to pick it up.
Hi, bungalow is new to us. Glad the MIG is still ok, good machine, often wish I'd kept it can't get in with my new TIG.
Cheers
Aren't familiar with those, tried googling, have you a link?.
You're not thinking about sanding mesh sheets are you??
